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I will be sending out the newsletter, while the Newsletter Editor is in Japan.
Kindly note if there are no updates received to newsletter@sglc.org, I will not send out the newsletter for that week.
KC Fonzi
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Thursday 25 April – There is NO REHEARSAL this week.
Thursday 2 May - Rehearsals will resume at Glebe Town Hall.
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As always post-concert we like to get your anonymous feedback on how the concert went for you. If you performed in Rise Up please click the link below to complete the survey which will be open until April 30th:
https://forms.gle/gcYznWskhs957PWw5
If you experience any questions or problems please email Mim at membersrep@sglc.org.
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Submitted by Neil Hendry, President
It was wonderful to be part of the Hand in Hand Festival, such a joyous atmosphere and some really good singing. Sad to see that most of the other choirs with the exception of the Beijing Queer Chorus did not feel comfortable including any direct reference to their LGBTQI membership. I was also surprised to hear that most of them are auditioned which seems a strange way to fight for equality. Their repertoire was very varied but rarely included songs that directly relate to the LGBTQI experience. I guess these all signify how uncomfortable they feel being overtly out in a society that struggles to accept them. Also it was poignant that we were asked not to take photos in case people could be identified and outed.
Our Waseda University concert was on the day of the first hearing of the Tokyo District Court into the constitutional challenge against the ban on same sex marriage. We wanted to sing outside the court but our hosts at Waseda University asked us not to as they said they were concerned for our safety. We did drive to the court and sang Marry Me in the bus. The concert was well attended with around 200 audience and we were hosted by their International Culture Centre and the Gender Centre. A private university, it appears to provide good support for LGBTQI students though individuals appear to find it hard to be open about their sexuality in general.
We shared information about Australia, the choir and the LGBTQI situation in Australia.
I was very pleased we had chosen Fukuoka as our second location. KI and their local representatives had done a great job at promoting our visit and we arrived to find an article in the local paper following an interview we had done in Tokyo. This was followed by a live radio interview at Love FM which appears to be a progressive mainstream station.
The concert at Chikushi Jogakuen University was a huge success. An all female university, it has started a diversity program on the 1st of April and we were billed as the launch event. We sang in a wonderful concert venue to an audience of around 300 mainly female students with some older audience members. They were extremely enthusiastic and the Vice President spoke beautifully about how a choir is a wonderful symbol of diversity as many unique individual voices blend to a harmonious whole. I understand that this concert was also covered by print and video media but we weren’t interviewed. It was sad that Helen and Anni had met some women in the lesbian bar in town the night before and asked if they would like to come and they said they were too scared they would be identified as lesbians if they came. Pip spoke beautifully about the LGBTQI fight in Australia and related it to her families experience.
Our friendship concert that evening was a wonderful opportunity to share time with members of the LGBTQI community in Fukuoka in a closed environment. We were joined by the BSJ Brass Band and around 50 audience members. After a 30 minute set we shared dinner and then had a Q&A session about the choir and the struggle for equality. I met a lovely guy, probably in his early 40s who still was not out to his parents and who has a boyfriend in China he sees once a year. He cried when I asked about what he thought his parents might feel if they knew he was gay and said he was concerned about his future as he got older. But he still professed to be happy. I felt so sad.
All along the way we promoted the fact that visibility is an important way to gain acceptance as people realise we share the same humanity and emotions and are more alike then we are different. It’s hard to know if anyone will feel able to act on that but we certainly demonstrated that acceptance has made our lives better and we encouraged them to keep pushing.
I believe that we achieved as much as we possibly could thanks in a large part to the organization and outreach of KI and their local partners. In particular Miki and Taichi understood completely what we were trying to achieve and worked tirelessly to help us make a difference.
This whole experience makes me wonder how we could better support the LGBTQI members of the Asian community in Sydney who must face some of the same prejudices.
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Gig Request – Mother of the Year Awards
Each year Barnardos Australia host the Mother of the Year Awards which celebrate and acknowledge mums from all over Australia. Their national event this year is being held on Thursday 9 May, between 12noon -2pm and they have asked if the choir could perform "I Am Australian” (we have also been invited you to stay and enjoy these awards). The even is being held at View By Sydney, located at Pier 2, 13 Hickson Road, The Rocks.
Please check your diaries and I will asking for a show of interest at rehearsal.
Performance Opportunity – Never Let Me Go
Adriano Cappelletta, a writer and performer, has created a show called “Never Let Me Go” which the journey of Sydney’s gay community from the early 80’s to during the outbreak of AIDS. It focuses on two key political figures, Health Minster Neal Blewett and his senior advisor Bill Bowtell (a young gay man) who were the architects of Australia’s successful response to HIV and AIDS. With the gay community, they devised a plan which would educate and bring together disparate groups including doctors, politicians, sex workers, drug users and the gay community to learn from one another and build relationships. They helped turn AIDS into a health issue rather than a moral one and in their efforts, Australia had the lowest HIV infection rates in the world. Adriano hopes to communicate that even through the fear and adversity, AIDS showed the world that gay men and women are human and they share the same hopes and fears and they have an enormous capacity to love.
Adriano is looking for a small group of singers to join in final chorus of HOLD ME KNOW by The Thompson Twins. The singers will enter just before the end of the show and join the other actors/singer on stage. This is a moment to represent the community of people who stayed together and cared for one another during the AIDS years and the multitude of individual lives and stories.
Rehearsal may be just one three hour music call with the show’s music director, Steven Kreamer sometime in April depending on availability. Then there are four shows which happen at Griffin Theatre in May. He’s looking for 5-10 singers per night.
Wednesday 8th May Tech and First Show at Griffin Theatre 7pm
Thursday 9th May: 2nd Show 7pm
Friday 10th May: 3rd Show 7pm
Saturday 11 May: 4th and final show 7pm
If you are interested please contact Adriano directly at adriano.cappelletta@gmail.com
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Sydney University Graduate Choir will be performing Messe Des Mortes by Francois-Joseph Gossec at 3:00pm on Sunday 6th May 2019. Our program for 2019 begins with an Australian premiere: the Requiem Mass by François Joseph Gossec (1734-1825). Composed in 1760, Gossec’s Requiem made him famous overnight. Having moved from Belgium to Paris as a young musician, Gossec came under the influence of Jean-Philippe Rameau and Carl Stamitz. This Requiem was truly ahead of its time, demonstrating Gossec’s ability to achieve dramatic and spectacular sound effects. Its inventiveness is such that it is considered to have influenced the requiems of both Mozart and Berlioz.
Soloists: Soprano: Anita Kyle Contralto: Keara Donohoe Tenor: Matthew Reardon Bass: Christopher Richardson
See Graeme Bartlett for more info.
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