On December 18th, the Calgary Men’s Chorus performs their seasonal concert at the Rozsa Center on the University of Calgary campus. Titled "Lux," (the Latin word for light) the show will feature Christmas and seasonal music, as well as pieces in Latin and African. Artistic Director Mike Harding and President of the Board of Directors Greg Oudmen sat down with GayCalgary as the date of their concert rapidly approaches.

Oudmen: It started in 1994, with six members at that time. We did our first public performance in 1998. Prior to that, they did small shows for social events and such. I joined in January of 1998 and the first public performance was in May.

Oudmen: We don’t always have a winter concert, but when we do we start rehearsing in September.

Harding: Surprisingly I don’t know that anyone is sick of the music yet.

Oudmen: People who are used to singing sing out of season anyway, because you are practicing for so long. When it was twenty degrees and people were in shorts it was strange to be singing Christmas music. That is one of the nice things about doing a show that isn’t just Christmas Music. The songs that don’t relate to Christmas at all made it easier.

Oudmen: We have about 32 members presently. For someone to join we ask they come at the beginning of the season, as there is a cut off in order to allow for everyone to contribute equally. It is open to any male, regardless of sexual orientation, social status or musical ability. We are a community choir so we don’t have auditions for musical experience; we have auditions for musical placement.

Harding: We try to. We have had a few situations where we worked with people who didn’t have a singing ability, and it was a process of helping them understand their ability and where they could be involved, not necessarily in the chorus. There are different ways for people to be involved if they don’t want to sing. We encourage anyone who is interested to come join us in January.

Harding: We do retreats once a season in Banff and listen to a lot of music and connect and bond. The last time we had a retreat we had a karaoke machine, and we had a few beverages so the longer the night wore on the more "William Hungs" came out.

Oudmen: We have three open rehearsals. Around a month after the rehearsals start we cut off the auditions.

Harding: It depends on the rehearsal time; with the second season we start in January and don’t perform until June. We have a longer period of time to assess level of interest and how people fit into the chorus.

Harding: The social aspect is an important part of the choir. When I first joined four years ago I didn’t know many people in the gay community, and I love to sing. I’ve made many new friends, felt important because I was doing something I loved and was accepted, and we frequently hang out and have a good time.

Oudmen: We are an arts organization but also have a very social purpose. We had a board retreat in September where we developed our mission statement, and it is a combination of both social and artistic excellence that we are looking for. We strive for artistic excellence but we also recognize our role in the community for gay and gay friendly men.

Harding: GALA is an international organization, it stands for "The Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses." It is primarily based in the US and represents Choruses that identify as GLBT organizations. Every four years they have an international festival where choirs from around the world sing just for each other. It’s an opportunity to learn from each other and connect. It makes you feel proud to be part of such an important organization. This past summer the GALA festival was in Montreal, with 160 choruses and 6000 delegates from around the world.

Harding: We have two to three concerts a year.

Oudmen: We don’t have less than two, but some years we have three. A few years ago we did a cabaret in March.

Harding: If there is a fundraiser or something, we will sometimes do other events.

Oudmen: It is hard with a community chorus to ask for more performances because we only rehearse once a week, and to do more shows would require a commitment to more rehearsals. We have a hard time getting commitment past the degree that we have it now because people are so busy.

Harding: We do have themes, it’s not necessarily Pride but there are songs about it. This year is our tenth year and it’s Alberta’s Centennial so we decided to tie the two celebrations together.

Oudmen: The name of the June concert is "Ten-Squared" and it will be celebratory music, much from Alberta, to celebrate the chorus’ 10th anniversary.

Harding: We have to do sight reading for the first couple of weeks, so we learn the notes and fix them up, add style and dynamics and possible movements on stage.

Oudmen: It is very intense, especially for new members who join they are surprised at how hard we work, and [how we plow] through as much music as we can. That’s the least sexy part of the music, is hammering away at the music right from the start. Luckily a lot of people who choose to join us have heard us perform; they know what we sound like at the end of rehearsal.

Oudmen: We have grown in terms of size and ability. It’s interesting that a fair number of people, 30 – 50% have been with the chorus for a number of years, so there is continuity. We have had a few different musical directions. We’ve performed the last two years at the Alberta Choral Foundations "Choral Fest" and have taken a gold medal the first year we performed. We have matured as a group and an organization. We are now a charitable organization with a budget, which we didn’t have when we started, so people who want to support the chorus can receive a receipt for their support. We are becoming more and more of a force in the Calgary choral community, and being asked to sing at events. People recognize we are a quality singing group.

Oudmen: It’s been fantastic, they come out and support the concerts, which is the biggest way they support us. Business support is very important as well, people allow us to sell tickets in their establishments and advertise with us. We also receive a lot of donations from people within the community that allow us to do the work we do.

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Contributor Jason Clevett |

Locale Calgary |

Topic Calgary Men’s Chorus | Community |