The Windy City Gay Chorus ( WCGC ) is celebrating its 30th anniversary in flashback mode, so to speak.
The group's traditional Pride concert—entitled "Walking Hand in Hand" and scheduled for Saturday, June 13, at the Center on Halsted, 3656 N. Halsted, at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.—will feature its 20 members along with 35 former WCGC members for the last four songs of the night. Other groups who will perform include Windy City Slickers, Unison and Aria: Windy City Women's Ensemble.
"The group was established years ago with three goals: musical excellence, proudly [ representing ] the LGBT community and [ being ] a place for LGBT men and women to be together," said Mark Sherkow, 63, of Chicago, who has been an active member of the group for about 20 years.
"I think it was a strong mission from the very beginning, and the musical excellence certainly has been [ the group's ] hallmark," Sherkow continued. "We've always wanted to sing beautiful music for our audiences, for ourselves … and I think we have. We've gotten a lot of joy out of singing, and hopefully so too have our audiences."
Founded in October 1979, the WCGC is the oldest gay chorus in Illinois and the Midwest, and one of the first gay choruses organized in the country, according to the organization's Web page. Only the San Francisco and New York City gay men's choruses are older, each by only a few months.
The WCGC is a founding member of the Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses ( GALA ) , and the group's first performance was in December 1979, at the "Don We Now..." holiday concert at Stages Music Hall.
"We sing a wide variety of songs, including Broadway, pop, spiritual, classical and jazz," said Sherkow, who serves as the manager of the WCGC. "We sing in four-part harmony. There's a lot of energy to the group and the music is really good."
There are about 20 current members, ranging in age from 25 to 75. There have been gay, bisexual and even straight singers over the years.
The WCGC was one of three local choruses invited to sing May 17 at the dedication of the new wing of the Art Institute of Chicago.
In 1984, WCGC won first place in the Johnny Mann Great American Choral Festival, the only gay group ever to do so. This competition involved hundreds of choruses and choirs from around the country. Since then, WCGC has given invitational performances at both state and regional conferences of the American Choral Directors Association ( ACDA ) . In 1985, Windy City Gay Chorus became the first openly gay group to perform at Chicago's historic Orchestra Hall.
The WCGC even has been praised by political figures in the Illinois House as well as the mayors of such cities as Minneapolis-St. Paul, Denver and Chicago.
"I initially joined [ the WCGC ] because I felt shy to some degree, and just thought being in a group like this, singing in front of an audience would help me. I also wanted to meet other gay people. And I certainly succeeded in both realms," said Sherkow, who works at Northeastern Illinois University.
The WCGC operates under the banner of the Windy City Performing Arts ( WCPA ) umbrella, which also features ARIA ( the Windy City Women's Ensemble ) , Unison ( the Windy City Lesbian & Gay Singers ) and the Windy City Slickers.
See www.windycitysings.org .
