Wednesday, March 21, 2012

San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus

Tuesday night Marty and I went into San Francisco for  dinner and a concert with friends.  Dinner was at Dobb’s Ferry  and the concert was the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus.

First dinner, we did small plates.  Marty and I shared crab cakes, mussels and clams, and a lettuce wedge.  Others had chicken, fried pumpkin cake, eggplant, and sturgeon.  A very tasty meal. I want to go back and try the pizza, it looked and smelled great going to other tables.

The concert featured songs by Stephen Schwartz and he was there to sing also.  I will be truthful, I did not recognize his name.  But I recognized his music.  He had also written an incredible song just for this show, Testimony.  Thursday the CD will be released.  This song will break your heart.  It tells the stories of gay men hiding being gay, being bullied, attempting suicide. I cried.

Stephen Schwartz has also written an opera.  An incredible young woman from San Francisco had sung in it in New York.  She sang two arias for us last night.  I am not a fan of opera but Melody Moore could convert me.

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This is the program for the concert. 

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Part of the stage of Davies Symphony Hall.  I love the acoustical rectangles that hang down.  They reflect what’s in the spotlight during concerts and pick up the lighting.

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Full disclosure this is a bad picture.  It was taken during the concert, no flash, by my IPhone.  I wanted you all to see how huge the Chorus is. You see the men on the upper right, there are that many not shown on the upper left.  There are 306 men singing.  The sound is a clear one voice, you can understand every single word they sing.  It is an amazing sound.  You can hear them sing on the link above.

I hope you read their history on the link above.  Marty and I have gone to their concerts for several years.  The music is wonderful and the work they do in the community is outstanding.

If you are in the Bay Area, check out the concert in June.  Tickets go on sale soon.

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