This year marked the 40th anniversary of the Portland Gay Men’s Chorus. At the beginning of the pandemic, we were all set to perform our 40th anniversary concert when the lockdown started. Our concert was first postponed to August, then cancelled when it became clear that finding an appropriate venue would be problematic at best, even assuming the virus had cleared up enough by then to allow large enough gatherings to allow us to perform our show.
Because of this, our new Artistic Director Johnny Atorino and Mary McCarty, our associate conductor as well as conductor of the Portland Lesbian Choir, have put together the first of what I hope will be more videos celebrating Virtual Pride and using songs from our aborted concert. The three songs on this video are “We Shall Overcome” (conducted by Bob Mensel), “Grazing in the Grass” performed by Cascade, and finally a combination of past and present members of the chorus performing “I Sing the Body Electric.” I hope you enjoy it.
Freedman on the Go 