Members of SFGMC with San Francisco Mayor Edwin M. Lee, November 16, 2015.
Once again, YOUR chorus is making history. In October 2018, the Chorus will be celebrating its 40th Anniversary by taking a concert tour to China. It will be the first LGBT chorus to make such a tour.
SFGMC Artistic Director Dr. Timothy Seelig writes: "We are absolutely thrilled to be making such a momentous tour. The LGBT community in China is truly in its infancy and we feel it is the right time for such a significant concert tour. We have already made contact with groups in the cities we hope to visit and they are over the moon with excitement."
With the guidance of concert tour promoters ACFEA, the Chorus will be collaborating with ChinaSF to make the tour both exciting and meaningful. ChinaSF is the entity in San Francisco charged with innovative and economic exchanges with China.
Members of the Chorus performed this week at ChinaSF's 7th Anniversary celebration, making the official announcement of the upcoming tour. In attendance was San Francisco Mayor Edwin M. Lee who, when asked by Tim if he would go on the tour with us, said, "I would love to!" We plan to hold him to that!
We will be seeking all manner of assistance and support to make this milestone trip possible for all of our singers. More on that later!
In October 1978, the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus became the first choral group in history to proudly step out and include sexual orientation in its name. The LGBT movement now spans the globe, but there's still work to be done to ensure equality for all. Tim notes, "It is the right time and the right place for SFGMC to take its message of hope and encouragement to China."
SFGMC Artistic Director Dr. Timothy Seelig and two members of the Beijing Queer Chorus on Tim's recent trip to Taipei for the first ever Asian LGBT Choral Festival, where he represented SFGMC. Choirs performing came from China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and the United States.