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A landmark concert uniting the Portland Gay Men’s Chorus, Portland Lesbian Choir, Rose City Pride Bands and Bridging Voices youth choir to assemble more than 400 performers at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall to celebrate PGMC’s 45th anniversary was sold out Sunday, March 30. With state Rep. Rob Nosse (D-Southeast Portland) in the audience, “Our New World” seemed a culturally safe bet. But as I took my seat, PGMC archivist Stuart Zimmerman told me that his choir’s concerts in the ‘80s were protested by homophobic religious groups. None showed up this night, and while the rising tides of transphobia and homophobia from the Trump administration on down were understood, they failed to dampen the mood. “Our New World” was a show of numbers, onstage and in the audience, supporting the LGBTQ+ community and demonstrating of how live group music unites both sections.
Both choirs are open to people of all gender identities. Membership is contingent more on vocal range than how singers identify. PGMC takes tenors and lower, while PLC accepts altos and higher. Each choir stood on nine risers, though Bridging Voices has around two dozen members, but both adult choirs together needed every step of 13 risers. Program highlights included PGMC’s “The Awakening” by Joseph Martin, which employed the choir’s full range, along with RCPB’s rendition of “Of Our New Day Begun,” an arrangement by Omar Thomas commemorating the people killed 10 years ago by a domestic terrorist in Charleston, S.C. It would be hard to top the show’s climax, which saw both choirs accompany RCPB for Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony, but they tried anyway with a lighthearted encore of Natasha Bedingfield’s shamelessly sunny feel-good banger “Unwritten.”
