The LGCW’s spring concert featured songs that tell stories: folk songs, love songs, songs of history, and songs that are just plain fun! Repertoire included:
A light-hearted and family-friendly performance, the concert was followed by a free spaghetti dinner for all concert goers.
The LGCW proudly presented the pop/jazz artist, Suede, on Sunday, May 20 at St. James' Episcopal Church's Parish Hall. Suede, one of the nation’s best jazz vocalists, entertained (to thunderous applause!) our many wonderful supporters at the LGCW’s annual Shop With Suede fundraiser.
The popular Suede, now living in Provincetown, MA, is originally from Baltimore. Her recent release, "Suede, Live at Scullers Jazz Club," has received many accolades including a "must see" recommendation from PBS! Her voice, captured on earlier recordings, ("On The Day We Met:, "Easily Suede", "Barely Blue" and The Flirtations' "Three") has garnered high praise from critics and devoted audiences from Boston to Australia.
But wait. There's SO much more! Suede has appeared on the nationally aired NPR radio shows, Metro Connection, The Faith Middleton Show and West Coast Live, from D.C., Hartford, CT, and San Francisco, respectively. PBS picked up the "Suede, Live at Scullers Jazz Club," DVD for airing on any PBS station nationally for fund drives. Suede is THRILLED to be able to support PBS in this way, being a BIG fan of their work.
Of course we also continue to celebrate the fabulously exciting, aforementioned DVD, "Suede, Live at Scullers Jazz Club." Get your copy of this limited edition now before all those PBS fans buy them up! Be sure to visit Suede's web site and buy a copy today!
Shop With Suede is the annual auction and concert to benefit the LGCW. Auction items included weekend getaways, adventurous dining, tickets to area shows, and many other treats! The St. James Parish Hall provided a unique setting for Suede's silky, sultry, bluesy, and jazzy music.
Let's go to the Hop! It happened Saturday April 28 at St. James Episcopal Church's parish hall. Everybody had a wonderful, entertaining evening!
LGCW happily continued our annual tradition of singing at All Souls Unitarian! The LGCW and the All Souls Jubilee Singers provided an amazing musical experience this past Sunday.
Later that day we presented a benefit concert in support of the Rockville Unitarian Universalist Church's Rainbow Youth Alliance. The following is a note of thanks from the music director at UUCR.
Dear Friends:
I was delighted to hear how beautifully you are singing these days! You are a fine, fine musical group. The sound was warm and your dynamics were splendid. And the repertoire you offered was very meaningful to all. I hope you are as proud of yourselves as I am. I'm so glad that you chose to do this concert for us. I know you boosted the moral of the parents and young people of The Rainbow Youth Alliance (RYA). I hope you had as good a time at UUCR as you gave to your audience. Our doors are always open to you.
With fondest affection,
Myra
Our program featured repertoire from our recent winter concert (“Peace by Piece”) and provided a preview of selected works from our spring concert (“Stories and Songs”).
Program
Wow! What an amazing concert - Peace by Piece, a musical affirmation of the power of people to build a lasting peace for the world!
Pop and jazz song stylist Suede, the “Diva la Difference,” and the Enchanted Strings Ensemble joined the LGCW for its winter 2007 concert “Peace by Piece.” Peace by Piece was a diverse program of choral works dedicated to the theme of “waging peace” in the world. The concert was sponsored by Hoopla Traders and Capitol Hill Bikes.
Celebrated for her “unstoppable spirit and moxie,” as well as her “pure, clear, marvelously musical voice,” Suede brought her incomparable vocal interpretation to performances of “We Are,” “Never, Never Land,” “Cherish Your Doubt,” and “Peace by Piece.”
The Enchanted Strings Ensemble and the LGCW chorus performed "Nava", by Kazem Davoudian. The piece is an extraordinary blend of Persian and Western instruments, percussion, song leaders, and chorus. The text, a poem by Sulfi poet and mystic Rumi (1207-1273), celebrates the many diverse aspects of humanity "colors" that make up humankind's "rainbow". The poetic text urges the listener not to sit quietly if one sees injustice or a lack of harmony in any color even if its not one's own color. We in the LGCW embraced the opportunity to learn this challenging work and have appreciated the return embrace from the local Iranian community.
Enchanted Strings is a greater Washington area based music ensemble provides inspiring learning in Persian Inspirational Music. The Iranian-born composer, conductor, performer, and teacher Kazem Davoudian founded the Enchanted Strings Ensemble in 2003. Integrating Persian and Western instruments, the ensemble specializes in performances of Maestro Davoudian's compositions, and has performed at such prestigious venues as Wolf Trap, the George Washington Masonic Memorial, the Lyceum, and the Kennedy Center.
Other composers on the program included Jennifer Higdon, Alice Parker, Brian Tate, and Gwyneth Walker. From the Hebrew folksong “Nations Shall Learn War No More” to the Buddhist mantra “Gate Gate”; from the Irish lament “Johnny We hardly Knew You” to the prayer of St. Francis “Let Me Sow Love” – the program offered a message of hope and included testaments to the enduring belief that “peace by piece, we bring this world together.”
Several works performed at the concert will be featured on our fourth commercial CD, tentatively entitled “Collaborations,” being produced throughout the 2006-07 season.
C.Paul Heins (LGCW Artistic Director) and the Fabulous Suede! The Enchanted Strings Ensemble and the LGCW.
Photos by Digital Photographer Cyndi Smith (cyndismith.smugmug.com) Thanks Cyndi!
LGCW was proud to be part of the performance of Kazem Davoudian’s “Nava,” with the Iranian String Ensemble at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater on Dec. 1, 2006. The performance was conducted by the composer.
“Nava” is a stunning setting of Iranian poetry celebrating humanity’s diversity. The Farsi poem likens human diversity to colors in a rainbow, and it urges listeners “not to sit quietly” if we perceive a lack of harmony or witness injustice.
LGCW's Spring Concert - June 18, 2006 was a Huge Success!
Thanks to all who helped with the production of the concert - especially our sponsors and supporters.
The chorus presented life lessons learned from the Musical Theater. This performance had musical selections from the shows Wicked, Rent, Into the Woods, West Side Story, Grease, The Wiz, Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserable and more!
Repertoire for the concert included:
"Festival of Extravagant Welcome" - April 22, 2006 at the Little River United Church of Christ in Annandale, Virginia.
Little River UCC is an open and affirming United Church of Christ which organized in 1955 while taking a strong stand for integration.
In December 2004, as part of its God Is Still Speaking! campaign, the UCC denomination aired nationally a 30-second TV commercial which showed two bouncers turning away "unacceptable" people from a traditional-looking church: persons of color, a single mother, someone in a wheel chair, and a same-sex couple. Then the screen read: "Whoever you are, wherever you are on life's journey, you are welcome here." (View the ad at www.ucc.org.) When CBS and NBC refused to run the ad – saying it was too controversial – the denomination reaped tremendous positive publicity and as a result, many UCC congregations saw a significant increase in interest and visits by newcomers (a phenomenon which continues to this day).
LRUCC welcomed the actor-bouncers to their church on Saturday, April 22nd for a "Festival
of Extravagant Welcome!" The actors reprised their classic roles at one set of the church building’s main doors, turning everyone away, while lots of LRUCC members lavishly welcomed everyone through the next set of doors. The main event of the evening was a concert of 3 acts - each act reflecting the rich diversity of the community.
Suede was amazing - her voice and trumpeting left the audience standing and pleading for more!
Thanks to all who made this important LGCW event a great success! We proudly presented the pop/jazz artist, Suede, on March 12th at St. James' Episcopal Church's Parish Hall. Shop With Suede is an auction and concert to benefit the LGCW. Auction items include weekend getaways, beach weekends, adventurous dining, tickets to area shows, and many other treats!
The popular Suede, now living in Provincetown, MA, is originally from Baltimore. Her most recent release, "Suede, Live at Scullers Jazz Club," has received many accolades including a "must see" recommendation from PBS! Her voice, captured on earlier recordings, ("On The Day We Met:, "Easily Suede", "Barely Blue" and The Flirtations' "Three") has garnered high praise from critics and devoted audiences from Boston to Australia. A fan of the LGCW, Suede was accompanied by Janice Friedman on piano and Max Murray on bass.
But wait. There's SO much more! In the last year, she appeared on the nationally aired NPR radio shows, Metro Connection, The Faith Middleton Show and West Coast Live, from D.C., Hartford, CT, and San Francisco, respectively. She also flew to LA to air a TV show called "Flaunt Live!!" AND, PBS has picked up the new DVD for airing on any PBS station nationally that is interested in playing it during the upcoming Spring Fund drive. National PBS is plugging it as a "must see" to all station programmers, putting it on the cover of the catalog going to each station nationally. Suede is THRILLED to be able to support PBS in this way, being a BIG fan of their work.
The chorus traveled to distant lands, to times long past, and to places within our own histories as GLBT people, through an exciting and adventuresome program which included works in Hebrew, Polish, Russian, and Spanish; ancient folk songs and brand new musical gems; songs that inspired, songs that made us laugh, and songs that touched our hearts.
Featured composers included Elizabeth Alexander, Alexandre Gretchaninoff, Antonin Dvorak, and Joshua Jacobson, as well as local composers Ysaye Barnwell and Deen E. Entsminger. The chorus also sang the delightful arrangements of “Derry Air (O Danny Boy)“ by David Mooney and “Sweet Betsy from Pike” by John David Ernest.
LGCW sang to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the GLBT Arts Consortium's annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Remembrance. Various D.C. artists performed at the Capital Hill Presbyterian Church. It was a moving and energizing experience! Read what the Washington Blade wrote about past Remembrance Performances.
LGCW performed at the University of Maryland’s World AIDS Day commemoration at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. People from the University of Maryland’s campus and local community joined together for informal performances, readings and personal reflections. Many different and amazing art organizations performed! Everyone discussed ways to take action in the continuing world AIDS crisis.
The LGCW and the UM Health Center presented the commemoration. LGCW Selections include:
Everything Possible highlighted family friendly fare! The LGCW performed works by John Rutter, Robert Convery, Gwyneth Walker, Billy Joel, Ysaye Barnwell and others on Sunday, June 19, 2005 at the Capitol Hill Presbyterian Church.
“The LGCW is committed to building community by building bridges through music. ‘Everything Possible’ spoke to experiences of children and childhood and featured a concert production of John Rutter’s The Reluctant Dragon – a musical fairytale depicting a Dragon who prefers writing poetry to war. It explored themes of prejudice and reconciliation. Although the concert was programmed with children in mind, the messages are ageless,” said music director C. Paul Heins.
Admission included a post-concert spaghetti supper in the community hall of the church with entertainment by various vocal ensembles from within the chorus.
Other works performed included Robert Convery’s “Not About Cheese”, “The Rose, the Briar, and the Bicycle” by Gwyneth Walker, Joan Szymko’s “It Takes a Village”, “Lullaby” by Billy Joel, “Everything Possible,” by Fred Small and three works by Sweet Honey and the Rock’s Ysaye Barnewell – “We Are…”, “No Mirrors in my Nanna’s House,” and “On Children,” with text by Khalil Gibran.
Wade in the Water, the January 2005 concert offering of the LGCW, covered a broad spectrum of choral music as we highlighted the physical and metaphorical characteristics of water.
Repertoire included the following and more!
Click here to view the Program Notes for the concert.
LGCW sang to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. at the GLBT Arts Consortium's annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Remembrance. Various D.C. artists and the LGCW performed in a moving remembrance of Dr. King. Read what the Washington Blade wrote about previous year's Remembrance Performance.
LGCW and many different art organizations performed at the University of Maryland’s World
AIDS Day commemoration at the Clarice
Smith Performing Arts Center.
LGCW Selections included: