Tom Burtch has been a singing member and historian of SFGMC from 1985 to 2022. To celebrate the Chorus' 25th anniversary in 2003, he created a PowerPoint presentation for the members to capture the history of the group. He updated it in 2022 as part of the 44th season. It is an incredible 45 minutes we are proud to share.
The materials used in this presentation are from the archives of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus managed by the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Historical Society of San Francisco. Any errors or omissions may be reported to [email protected]. You can learn even more about SFGMC on our About Us page.
A special thanks to Bobby Jo Valentine for the PowerPoint to Video Transfer, and Marco Solorio for the additional Video Support.
Transcript
Hi, my name is Tom Burtch. I've been a singing member of the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus for 37 years, most of those as its historian. As we approached 2003, the 25th anniversary season of the Chorus, I put together a presentation documenting that first quarter century of our history. What you are about to see now is an updated version of that, which takes us to 2022, the 44th season of the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus. I trust there will be another historian that will update this later. In the meantime, please enjoy the first 44 years of the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus.
In the 1970s, there were only a few gay social outlets, primarily, political groups and bar supported athletic teams. 1978 changed everything. Harvey Milk was sworn in as the first openly gay person ever elected to public office in California. Jon Sims created what was originally called the San Francisco Gay Marching Band and Twirling Core in the spring. And then in October, he posted notices on telephone poles about the formation of a gay men's chorus. The first rehearsal was held October 30th. Dick Kramer was appointed the first musical director. On the night of the fifth rehearsal, Harvey Milk and George Moscone were assassinated. The chorus joined the Candlelight March to the Civic Center and had their first performance on the steps of City Hall.
Hank Plante:
The Chorus was born, not in some rehearsal hall, but here on the steps of San Francisco City Hall. Born on one of the darkest nights in this city's history. It was the candlelight vigil, the night of the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and supervisor Harvey Milk. A group of gay men who had previously met to try to start a chorus, spontaneously started singing on the City Hall steps.
Mark Leno:
For those of us who were in town that fateful night in 1978, 25 years ago, when in an act of spontaneity, the chorus assembled and saying a Mendelssohn hymn, which will never be forgotten. And I just want us to remember that the incredible magic that the Gay Men's Chorus has produced since that night, dozens and dozens, I don't know how many such choruses there are now around the world, that we not take this for granted.
Tom Burtch:
We were formally introduced to the community on December 20th, by Jon Sims at the band's holiday concert. The excitement was palpable in the auditorium of Everett Middle School as can be heard in this recording of our first song, If They Could See Us Now.
(singing).
The chorus began making waves from the start. Our first year, we sold out two concerts as a result of the publicity boost, when the San Francisco Chronicle rejected the graphic for the Lovers Too Concert and chorus members blocked the Chronicle's office. We took a concert tour to Hollywood High in LA before the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles was even formed. More great publicity led to three sold out concerts when the Catholic Archbishop canceled our contract to sing at Saint Ignatius Church. The chorus sued the archdiocese and eventually settled for $5,000
Preparations and fundraising efforts ramped up through the year to prepare for the 1981 national tour. The tour encompassed nine cities, Dallas, Minneapolis, Lincoln, Nebraska, Detroit, New York, Boston, Washington DC, and Seattle. The triumphant return concert was held in the newly built Davies Symphony Hall with Mayor Dianne Feinstein on stage presenting a key to the city to the chorus.
The Advocate news magazine covered the tour extensively as did many other gay news organizations. On the day the chorus departed, the San Francisco Chronicle published an almost full page article on the tour. In the corner on the same page was a small article about a gay cancer found in 41 homosexuals in New York City.
(singing).
Our first recording, a 33 RPM LP record, San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus Tours America '81, did not arrive before the tour. And this resulted in a huge budgetary shortfall. Although we returned with critical acclaim, we also incurred more than $250,000 in debt. Three SFGMC members took out second mortgages on their homes to cover the debt. Additional fundraising activities were held to aid in the debt reduction. The first loan used to cover $49,000 of the tour debt was paid off in 1982. Ernie Veniegas became the second conductor. The '81 tour sparked the creation of a national organization. The association of gay and lesbian choruses known as GALA, with Jay Davidson, the founding president of SFGMC as their first executive director.
Glenn Olson:
In 1981, the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus had the outrageous idea to tour across the fruited planes of our country. In their wake, seeds of choruses sprung up. And the world was changed forever. In 1982, they and 13 other choruses joined together to form GALA, the International Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses and a choral movement was born. Today, we have 200 member choruses around the world, representing 10,000 singers. The renowned choral conductor, Margaret Hillis called our movement the most significant development of choral music in the 20th century.
As president of the board of directors at GALA Choruses, I have the honor of coming here this evening to acknowledge the 25th anniversary of who we in the movement call our grandfathers. They have reached this milestone because their founders had a vision. And though they have endured unimaginable pain in their history. They have survived due to the stewardship of their members and the support of you, their community. On behalf of the members, staff, and board of directors of GALA Choruses, thank you for being our pioneering grandfathers. You have taught your children well.
Tom Burtch:
In 1982, the West Coast Choral Festival was held in San Francisco. It was attended by 11 groups, including the New York and Los Angeles choruses who performed with us at the opening ceremonies for the first gay games. In 1983, the first National Gay Choral Festival was held in New York City. SFGMC was not able to attend because of the unpaid 1981 tour debt. We haven't missed one since. 1984 marked the death of our founding director, Jon Sims from AIDS. Shockingly, we were asked to record a 45 RPM record of the official San Francisco 49ERS Fight Song.
Speaker 6:
We started talking about the 49ers. Certainly, that's something we're going to close with tonight. What we're going to do is we're going to play for you the original 49ers Fight Song, the 1960 NFL official version sung here by the Gay Men's Chorus. We hope you enjoy it. And we'll see you back with all the latest at 11:00 after you hear this. Goodnight.
Speaker 6:
(singing).
Tom Burtch:
Ernie Veniegas resigned as conductor in early 1985. Vance George, the director of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus directed one concert as a guest conductor. Here is Vance George's memory of conducting SFGMC.
Vance George:
Thank you. In 1983, 20 years ago, I attended my first gay pride. It was Saturday night, these guys walked on stage, I cried and I still do. They were announced backstage tonight, and I just leaked. It was amazing to me then that they had the permission to walk on stage as gay men and as a gay chorus. And then they asked me to be a guest conductor that was more fun than I've ever had, but greatest for me was their humanity and their warmth. The acceptance and a gratitude and a feeling of being comfortable of being one. And it's these qualities that led them to make their first groundbreaking tour. Thanks guys.
Tom Burtch:
Tom Burtch, the author of this presentation joined in 1985 as well. Look how young. In 1986, Greg Tallman was appointed permanent music director. The dominant event that year was our attendance at the second GALA Festival held in Minneapolis. San Francisco was given a seven minute standing ovation even before we sang. 17 choruses performed at that festival with a total of 1400 singers. On our return, a small group of members formed the Golden Gate Choral Foundation to help raise funds to retire the remaining 1981 tour debt. By 2001, when the foundation merged with the board of the chorus, an endowment of half a million dollars had been created. A number of members represented SFGM on the first march on Washington, which coincided with the first display of the NAMES Project Quilt on the National Mall. Our panels contained only 32 names at that time.
Stan Hill:
In actuality, the chorus has lost 242 men, which is about 40 more than the number of men you see on stage now. The chorus lovingly refers to the brothers they have lost as their fifth section. During its history, the chorus has commission and performed music to express grief, anguish, anger, and many other emotions that come with the devastation of AIDS.
The first selection you're about to hear from David Conte's invocation and dance, was commissioned by the chorus in 1986 and was probably the world's first AIDS commission. I Shall Miss Loving You, is from When We No Longer Touch, the first AIDS Requiem ever written in 1990. We present this music with the hope that one day there will be no longer a need for music written about AIDS, that there will be no AIDS.
(singing).
Tom Burtch:
The significance of our 10th anniversary was the subject of national press coverage, including a front page story and photo in the New York Times. We attended the 1989 GALA Festival three at our lowest membership level 96 singers due to the devastation of AIDS. The festival was held in Seattle with our performances marking the final concert with music director, Greg Tallman. We began our GALA tradition sponsoring the closing night party, an event never to be missed.
In September, we welcomed Dr. Stan Hill as our new artistic director. We also performed with a star studded cast, including Carol Channing in a citywide fundraiser Arts For Life held at the Opera House. 1990 saw us on the road for a joint concert with the San Diego Men's Chorus, where we refused to sing until the word gay was put in our billing on the theater marquee.
(singing).
The Tex-Mex holiday concerts included Christmas is For Cowboys with a solo by Mark Fotopoulos, who is part of the movie cast of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. Mark sang like an angel, although covered with KS lesions. There was an audible gasp from the audience as he stepped forward to sing. Mark died shortly afterward.
We also began the Home For The Holiday concerts on Christmas Eve at the Castro Theater, as an outreach to those in the community with nowhere to go on the holidays. It continues to be one of the chorus's most beloved annual events. Our fall retreat marked the debut of Donna Winter, who changed her name as she overheard Stan proclaim, as she left the stage, "Would you look at her sachet." The rechristened Donna Sachet is our empress and residence and a tireless supporter of SFGMC.
1991's highlight was the release of How Fair This Place. Our first recording since the 1981 tour album, 10 years prior. For 12 months, ending in 1992, a French public television crew worked to create a full length documentary, Singing Positive, focusing on the lives of four SFGMC members dealing with AIDS. It became the most widely distributed documentary in Europe and won numerous prizes.
Speaker 11:
Stand close, touch someone who's near you. And if you feel comfortable, just allow your eyes to close. Take a deep breath and feel that there are 150 other men breathing at the same time, and over a hundred who are here in their hearts and spirit.
Speaker 11:
(singing).
Tom Burtch:
Always innovating, our performance in Denver for GALA Festival Four, integrated ballet with two men in apartado. We released a live recording, Brahms Bernstein and The Boys for our 15th season. In 1993, we also traveled to performed with the gay man's chorus of Washington at Lisner Auditorium and at the Washington National Cathedral. The San Francisco Chronicle published a striking photo, putting the loss to AIDS in a visual perspective. The photo has 122 singing members. 115 turned their backs to the audience to represent those who had been lost to that point in time. The seven facing forward were original 1978 members.
1994 saw another tour, this time to Boston to perform at Symphony Hall with the Boston Gay Men's Chorus. Locally, we did outreach concerts in Moraga and Fresno. The Fresno concert was during their gay pride celebration. The parade included hecklers and members of the KU Klux Klan. Two major concerts in 1994 were Back To Our Roots with Reverend Cecil Williams from Glide Memorial Church as narrator and Swellegant Elegance, a tribute to Cole Porter with guest Harvey Firestein. The next year, we performed at the Opera House, the song cycle, When We No Longer Touch, commissioned by the Turtle Creek Chorale in a citywide musical tribute to those lost to AIDS.
We were featured as part of the symphony summer pop season singing the 1812 Overture, who knew it had words? A long awaited first holiday CD, Our Gay Apparel, was also released this year. The fifth GALA Festival was held in Tampa. We presented, Naked Man, a 15 movement suite written for SFGMC by our composer and residence, Robert Seeley, with words by Philip Littell.
SFGMC closed the festival with our performance, and the next day, the line to purchase the CD recorded at George Lucas Skywalker Sound was virtually around the block.
Fresh off the success of Naked Man, Stan commissioned Extravaganza, a show completely composed of Abba music and staged with extreme choreography. Every concert sold out, making them the most profitable concerts in the history of the chorus to that date.
(singing).
For the 20th anniversary commission Q, we turned to our own accompanist, Richard Rogers for the music and singing members, Jimmy White and Mike Figueira for the lyrics. The Davies performance was aired on TV Channel 20.
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We also took our first international trip to Sydney, Australia, where we were the featured entertainment at the Sydney Gay Mardi Gras celebration in a concert at Sydney Town Hall with Naked Man and Extravaganza on the program.
Back home, the Ain't Misbehavin' concert featured guest artist, Nell Carter, whose brother had died of AIDS. The new millennium welcomed Megan Mullally from Will and Grace for the Broadway Blockbuster concert.
The Sixth GALA Festival was held in San Jose. Dr. Kathleen McGuire was selected as the new SFGMC artistic director. In 2001, we were on the road again to the Kennedy Center for the 20th anniversary of the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington and a joint performance in Carnegie Hall with the New York city Gay Men's Chorus. 2003 was our 25th anniversary. The anniversary concert brought back former directors, Dick Kramer, Vance George and Stan Hill. A recording of the concert closer than ever won the OUTmusic Award in 2005 for best concert CD.
(singing).
Speaker 12:
In 2004, the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus sang at City Hall to encourage thousands of same sex couples who had come there to be wed by city officials, the first such marriages in US history. Other choruses are also singing for equal rights.
Tom Burtch:
The GALA Six Festival was held in Montreal and member, Bud Dylan produced a DVD, Why We Sing, narrated by then, Mayor Gavin Newsom based on the overarching mission of the GALA movement.
Lots of successes and awards in 2005, the CD produced at the Diva's Revenge concert was nominated for an OUTmusic Award, and our second holiday CD, Home For The Holidays won the OUTmusic Award for best concert recording. At the Santa Rosa holiday outreach concert titled, A Charlie Brown Christmas, the live, conduct the chorus auction, went for a $6,000 bid by the daughter of Charles Schultz, the creator of the Charlie Brown comic strip. We traveled to Chicago to perform at the Chicago Gay Games in 2006.
Speaker 13:
Oh, here is an excellent example of military masculinity. Tell me sailor, what is the secret to success in the Navy?
Speaker 14:
I'd be happy to ma'am and if it's all the same to you, I should like to sing my answer.
Tom Burtch:
Our biggest production thus far, USS Metaphor, a rewrite of Gilbert and Sullivan's HMS Pinafore, was presented in a semi stage concert format in 2007. Our version focused on the don't ask don't tell position of the US military and featured a female closeted presidential candidate, as well as a Naval captain closeted. Our first professionally produced DVD is created from the show and released in 2008.
(singing).
In 2008, the seventh GALA Festival was held in Miami where we reprised USS Metaphor to resounding success. The fall concert ending our 30th season featured the full premiere of our commission, New World Waking by Steve Shanklin. Our first double CD was recorded at that concert. In honor of the 30th anniversary, Tom Burtch put together a group to update the chorus panels in the NAMES Project Quilt. Terry Presley, part of this group died of a heart attack just as the names of over 250 members were being added and thus became the most recent addition to our fifth section.
A personal note. I also began working at the GLBT Historical Society in 2003, to create an online searchable database of the obituaries of the members of the fifth section. Over the years, this has expanded to include all of the approximately 20,000 deaths reported in the weekly newspaper, The Bay Area Reporter. 2009 marked the 20th anniversary of the Christmas Eve concerts at the Castro Theater, which were still selling out in advance.
With the passage of Proposition 8, which reversed the legalization of gay marriage in California, we embarked on an outreach tour to the belligerent communities of Redding, Chico, Bakersfield, Fresno, and Vallejo. The San Francisco Chronicle reporter, C.W. Nevius, accompanied SFGMC on the buses for the Redding and Chico performances. His article made the front page of the newspaper's Monday Edition. French Public Television returned to do a follow up of the 1992 documentary, Singing Positive. This segment simply called The Chorus, returned to follow up on SFGMC 18 years later, and came about as a result of requests from viewers in France, it was presented as an entry in the Frameline Film Festival.
Speaker 24:
Every year on World AIDS Day, for the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus, it is a deep moment of reflection back and remembrance of those that they have lost. And I truly believe that the voices are loud and clear, not only those that are on the stage, but those that are no longer with them.
Tom Burtch:
The holiday concerts marked the end of the 10 year artistic leadership of Kathleen and the appointment of Tim Seelig as the sixth permanent artistic director of SFGMC. At our 2012 spring concert, Enchantingly Wicked, Broadway composer, Stephen Schwartz composed a moving piece, testimony drawn from the, It Gets Better Project.
(singing).
We sang for House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi at the AIDS Memorial Grove honoring her 25 years of support and advocacy for AIDS. We also performed at City Hall for Tony Bennett on the 50th anniversary of, I Left My Heart in San Francisco. And we also were tapped to perform at the 75th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge.
At the GALA festival in Denver, we brought over 250 singers, the most ever in GALA history. Before returning to San Francisco, we performed an outreach concert at the University of Wyoming in Laramie as a benefit for the Matthew Shepherd Foundation. And then there was the holiday show with 250 Santas.
2013 was the first joint performance of SFGMC with the cast of the iconic, Beach Blanket Babylon. On June 26th, the first day of our pride concerts, the US Supreme court declared Proposition 8 unconstitutional, which allowed legalized gay marriage to resume in California. Those concerts introduced our latest commission work, I Am Harvey Milk, written by Broadway composer, Andrew Lippa who sang the role of Harvey.
(singing).
To top this all off with an exhibit titled the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus celebrating 35 years of activism through song at the Gay Historical Society Museum. Originally scheduled for a six month period, it lasted 18 months.
In the 2014 spring concert. We paid tribute to Tyler Clementi by commissioning Tyler Sweet. Tyler was a freshman at Rutgers University who committed suicide when a video surfaced of him intimately involved with another student. The chorus again performed, I Am Harvey Milk with GMCLA at their 35th anniversary concert at the stunning Disney Concert Hall, and again, at GALA festival in Denver with 700 singers and full orchestra.
The guest artist joining us for the early holiday shows, the singing string quartet, Well-Strung, wowed both the chorus and the audience with their performance and their good looks didn't hurt either. Passion, the spring show in 2015, featured For A Look Or A Touch by opera composer, Jake Heggie, originally commissioned by the Seattle Men's Chorus. It tells of two gay men in the Holocaust.
Pete Jost:
This is Pete Jost. I joined SFGMC in 2012 to make music. Little did I know that three years later, I would truly see the mission statement come alive so brilliantly and how it really does inspire community, activism, and most of all, compassion. I often kept myself in rehearsals, usually overwhelmed at the number of members, but I slowly made connections with wonderful guys who become life changing friends. One in particular, Dustin Finkle reached out and began to include me in social gatherings and we often discussed getting together for exercise.
On July 8th, 2015 we set out for a job through Golden Gate Park. The universe sure showed up in a huge way that evening. And we both ended up in the hospital, Dustin with this severely broken leg and I, with traumatic brain injury that led to seizures and then a coma, facial paralysis, loss of hearing, taste and smell and various neurological maladies.
Here's where the real magic of SFGMC starts to shine. The hot [inaudible 00:30:30] cats were among the first to arrive with their incredible version of medicine. Justin Taylor, Tom Burtch, and Honey Hogan really stepped up and organized a contingent of care that would make you weep. Through many meaningful and helpful visits from chorus brothers, Dustin and I became more and more aware of the incredible force the Chorus was built upon including the foundation of care built during the AIDS crisis that strengthened the commitment to community, activism and compassion. Of course, amazing medical care has contributed to our successful and quick recoveries, but it's the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus that provided and continues to provide the kind of medicine that heals the spirit.
Tom Burtch:
We began 2016 by presenting a check for $30,000 to the Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy to help sustain their school music program. The money was raised from our audiences at the previous December holiday concerts. The spring concert, Tales of Our City, reprised Michael's Letter to Mama with the author Armistead Maupin on stage to read portions of the text. At the pride concert, Well-Strung, you remember them right? Joined us and then followed us to Denver for the GALA Chorus Festival. You can see them frantically accompanying us in this snippet from Ritmo.
(singing).
Immediately on our return home, we introduced Christopher Verdugo as our new executive director, moved our offices to Castro Street and sang for the naming of a US Navy ship, The Harvey Milk. At the first concert of 2017, Paradise Found, one of our members, Ryan Nunez entered his own paradise on stage during intermission. The financial assistance network was rechristened, Ryan's Fund in his memory. There was no summer break. As we geared up for the Lavender Pen Tour of Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, and North and South Carolina. A film crew accompanied us to create a documentary, Gay Chorus Deep South, which had its premier in 2019.
Speaker 16:
You have allowed me to come home and we want to thank you for that.
Speaker 23:
Music heals.
Tom Burtch:
In anticipation of our 40th season, we also recorded an album which included selections performed on the tour.
(singing).
We needed to practice Holiday Repertoire at the same time as the tour was in October. Being SFGMC, we still put out an amazing Elfstravaganza by December.
We can let this promotion video provide you with some of the 2018 season highlights, but remember, this was our 40th year of existence. So hang onto your seats. There's more coming.
2018 was also the 40th anniversary of the San Francisco Lesbian and Gay Freedom Band who invited us to join them at their concert. This milestone in music was also the subject of a feature article in Chorus, America magazine with none other than SFGMC on the cover. We performed and recorded another song cycle written by Andrew Lippa Unbreakable, which highlighted the contributions of LGBT heroes of the 20th century. We also recreated the iconic photo from 1993, showing the increase in AIDS deaths among SFGMC members. In 1993, it was 115 in 2018, it was 290.
Also in our 40th year, we dedicated a memorial honoring our losses to the AIDS pandemic an artists portal at the National AIDS Memorial Grove. We were joined in this effort by LGBT musical organizations throughout the country. A new outreach program to local schools also began this year called RHYTHM, Reaching Youth Through Music. It is a combination of music and personal stories to spread a message of universal acceptance of sexual and gender diversity.
Mitch:
My name is Mitch. I'm the assistant conductor of the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus. And we are so excited. This is our very first ever RHYTHM performance.
Speaker 18:
It's an event that's open to everyone at the school. It's not just for QSA, it's not just for the queer students, it's not just for allies, it's for everybody at the school. And everybody knows about it. Everybody's open about it.
Tom Burtch:
In its first 12 months, there were eight performances in schools and five workshops outside of schools. These events were attended by 1,750 students, as well as approximately 200 teachers and staff. An additional eight events scheduled to reach about 6,000 students between March and June of 2020, had to be canceled due to COVID. In 2022, Google made a long term commitment to support the RYTHM program.
(singing).
From the, You Can't Make This Stuff Up category. We received two requests that floored us. First, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir invited 50 singers to their rehearsal while on a tour of California, and then asked Tim to conduct them at a performance at the Shoreline Amphitheatre.
Speaker 19:
He is the artistic director of the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary, Dr. Tim Seelig.
Speaker 19:
(singing).
Tom Burtch:
Then we received a phone call from the pastor of Saint Ignatius Catholic Church who invited us to hold our actual 40th birthday concert in the sanctuary. If you were paying attention, way back in 1980, this was the place that canceled our performance and whom we successfully sued for breach of contract. During the rehearsal, the pastor read a letter of welcome and congratulations from the Archbishop. Oh, and did I mention it was sold out?
In 2019, we really achieved some unbelievable milestones. Let's start with the purchase of a building as our permanent home. We have been wandering in the wilderness for the last 40 years, moving our rehearsal locations and offices every few years. Half of the 10 million purchase price was provided by Terry Chan and Ed Sell. Terry is a founding member of SFGMC. Our new home has everything we need, especially a room large enough to accommodate a group of over 300 singers. Within a month of the purchase. San Francisco mayor, London Breed asked us to host her first state of the city address, giving us an amazing boost, invisibility.
London Breed:
What I love about this center is that this chorus has invested their time and resources in creating something beautiful, not just for themselves, but for the entire LGBTQ and arts community around the country. This is a place that celebrates what is best about San Francisco.
Tom Burtch:
As of the spring of 2022, we have received grants of $2.2 million from the state and $375,000 from the city. Adding corporate and private donations. We have raised over $11 million for the campaign to complete the purchase and fund renovations.
Gay Chorus Deep South covering our 2017 tour of the South premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, where it won the Audience Appreciation Award. The film has subsequently won 36 awards around the world. It has played in over 200 festivals in five continents, and it was selected as one of the top 20 best LGBTQ films of all time, according to Rotten Tomatoes.
Oh, and we did sing in 2019, the pride concert, Queens, paid homage to the drag queens who stood up and fought back at San Francisco's Compton cafeteria in 1966 and New York Stonewall Inn in 1969.
With the arrival of the coronavirus in March of 2020, the chorus literally closed its doors along with the rest of the world. It immediately pivoted to online musical presentations through the SFGMC TV Channel on YouTube. Although also virtual, The Crescendo Annual Fundraiser was professionally produced and very financially successful.
In the spring of 2021. The chorus was able to sing in the parking lot behind Mission Dolores Basilica, and returned to live rehearsals in September. When we resumed, vaccinations and masks were required. And at long last on December 10th, we took to stage once again and took off our masks to the thunderous applause of our sold out audience. Of the eight scheduled concerts, we were able to sing five before we had some positive COVID tests. This mirrored the rise of the Delta variant. So our wonderful Christmas Eve concerts had to be canceled.
Beginning in January, 2020. The chorus initiated comprehensive work on diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as a renewed focus on the Black Indigenous and Persons of Color or BIPOC community, which resulted in a momentous change in the chorus bylaws in 2021. Membership is now open to anyone who sings in the tenor or base range. In 2022, we welcomed the first trans woman to audition for the chorus. She is the sister of a current member. In addition, another member came into their identity as a trans woman, as well as other non-binary singers.
July, 2022 saw the last concert with Dr. Tim Seelig on the podium in a joint performance by the chorus with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. He retired after nearly 12 years. The baton was passed to Jake Stenberg as the new artistic director.
I hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane with me and the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus. The Chorus is alive and well and will be making music and memories and changing the world for the foreseeable future. How can you help? Join, donate. How about attending a concert? However you decide to do it, you will be welcome to join us in our journey.