Company Profile
The Stonewall Chorale
Company Overview
Based in New York City, the Stonewall Chorale is the nation's first LGBTQ+ chorus. The Chorale's mission is to amplify LGBTQIA+ voices through a dynamic and diverse choral repertoire, and unify the greater community through the transformative power of music.
The Chorale originated in December 1977 as the Gotham Male Chorus, specializing in Gregorian chant and Renaissance music. In 1979, women joined the chorus for the first time, and the name was changed to the Stonewall Chorale.
The Chorale typically performs three concerts a year and makes appearances at special events throughout the tri-state area. The Chorale aspires to change the world, one concert at a time.
Company History
The Stonewall Chorale originated in December 1977 as the Gotham Male Chorus, and specialized in Gregorian Chant and Renaissance music. In 1979, women joined the chorus for the first time, and the name was changed to Stonewall Chorale, the nation’s first Lesbian and Gay chorus.
In 1983 at Lincoln Center, the Chorale opened the first national festival organized and sponsored by GALA (the Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses), now an international organization with more than 150 member choruses.
The Stonewall Chorale is among the various LGBTQ interest groups that emerged in major cities and proved crucial to creating support networks during the AIDS crisis. Stonewall has performed in public, community, civic, and corporate venues, and remained – for more than four decades – a reminder of the power of music to foster community.
In celebration of its 40th season in 2017, the Chorale commissioned a new composition for choir and instrumental ensemble from esteemed choral composer James Bassi. This commission presented us with a unique opportunity to give the international choral community a new major secular work that reflects the vision and values of not only the composer, but the choir for whom it was commissioned.
Cynthia Powell assumed the position of Artistic Director of the Stonewall Chorale in September, 2002. She has conducted choirs throughout the NY metropolitan area and currently serves as Music Director of The Welsh Congregation of NYC and Organist/ Choirmaster of Temple Sinai in Tenafly. As a pianist and organist, she toured the U.S. and Europe with Meredith Monk’s opera ATLAS, Monk’s Celebration Service and Quarry at the Spoleto, USA Festival, and the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis and Lincoln Center. She has conducted Stonewall’s collaborations with Meredith Monk at Merkin Hall and at the BAM Next Wave Festival.
A graduate of Westminster Choir College, she guest conducted the choir at Sarah Lawrence College, the St. George’s Choral Society in NYC and the International Choral Festival in Havana, Cuba. She has produced recitals and concerts to benefit Bailey House, the animals injured in the Exxon-Valdez disaster, and Doctors without Borders. Cynthia is also the conductor of Melodia Women’s Choir of NYC.
Notable Accomplishments / Recognition
Over the span of its 48 seasons, the 80+ member Chorale has become an important cultural presence in NYC's performing arts, presenting three concerts a year in venues that include Merkin Hall, Carnegie Hall, Church of the Ascension, Riverside Church, the Guggenheim Museum, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Hailed by ClassicFM as one of the “12 best LGBTQ+ classical music ensembles around the world,” the Chorale’s repertoire ranges from great classical works to contemporary pieces by cutting-edge composers like Ricky Ian Gordon, Eric Whitacre, Chris De Blasio, Meredith Monk, Gerald Busby, Ola Gjeilo and Tõnu Kõrvits.
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