Choir fundraiser for queer equality

dublin | rights, freedoms and repression | event notice Friday November 28, 2008 13:28 by Paul McAndrew - Cork Workers Solidarity Movement (personal posting) paul at queer dot ie

lesbian and gay choir fundraisers for MarriagEquality and Gay Switchboard

This year's GLORIA 'Breath of Heaven ' Christmas Concerts will be in aid of both MarriagEquality and The Gay Switchboard.

(Gloria is Ireland's lesbian and gay choir, twice past winner of the National Choral Festival )

They will be taking place on both Tuesday 16th December and Thursday 18th December in St. Anne's Church on Dawson Street. The concerts start at 8pm, however the doors open from 6pm and we would advise arriving early as it does fill up quickly, so you don't want to be disappointed
Look forward to seeing you there

Start your Christmas season with Gloria!! We are delighted to invite you to our annual Christmas concert, ‘Breath of Heaven’ at St. Ann’s Church, Dawson Street, Dublin 2 on Tuesday 16th and Thursday 18th December. The show kicks off at 8pm under the baton of our Musical Director, John Francis Murphy.
Free tickets are available on the door from 6pm, but early arrival is advised as the church fills up quickly. Stick around afterwards for a glass of wine and a mince pie or two on us!! Looking forward to seeing old faces and new on both nights!!

Glória, Ireland’s lesbian and gay choir was founded in October 1995. An ad placed in Gay Community News invited singers interested in forming a choir. About 25 people came along on that first night – some of whom still sing with the choir – and today the choir has a singing membership of 44.
The choir’s repertoire is wide ranging from musicals to madrigals and classical to camp. The songs are chosen sometimes to surprise, sometimes to challenge, but always to entertain.
Glória was established to provide a safe and comfortable space for gays and lesbians to meet and sing together and to promote a positive image of gay and lesbian life in Ireland. The choir has performed extensively throughout Ireland in Dublin, Cork, Carlingford, Waterford, New Ross, Mayo, Sligo, Limerick and Galway. Internationally, the choir has travelled to perform in London, San José, California, and Montréal in Canada. In 2008, they will travel to Florida to participate in the GALA Choruses’ international festival [www.galachoruses.org]
In a history littered with wonderful events, one of the choir’s more exciting highlights was winning the Gerry Ryan “Find José a Choir” competition. An overwhelming response by national text vote led to Glória being selected from over 30 choirs throughout the country to sing with José Carreras at the Point Theatre on 30 April 2005. The reaction was fantastic with the Irish Times saying “their youthful, well disciplined sound proved ideal for their unaccompanied encore She Moved Through the Fair. Under their own director Liz Powell, they turned this to a moment of chilly poignancy whose contrast with Carreras’s outpourings couldn’t have been starker” (Irish Times 2 May 2005)
The choir has had considerable success in competitions, winning 1st prize in the Navan Choral Festival (2000, 2002) and at the Cork International Choral Festival and the New Ross AIMS Choral Festival in 2004. Glória was placed in the top 5 of the RTÉ Lyric FM national Choirs for Christmas competition in December 2003. Glória performed by invitation at the 50th Cork International Choral Festival in April 2004 and performed a world premiere of a piece commissioned by New Ross Choral Festival the following May. Glória has been broadcast on RTÉ News2, RTÉ Radio1, BBC NI, BBC Radio 4, RTÉ Lyric Fm and CBC (Canada Broadcasting Company). Glória performed live on the Late Late Show on 29 April 2005 and was the subject of an extensive Irish Times article on the same day.