Lesbian and Gay Chorus of Washington, DC, Inc.

LGCW programming reflects political and social concern for local and global communities. LGCW has raised more than $25,000 for other organizations and distributes about 300 complimentary tickets annually.

Why do we exist?

The Lesbian & Gay Chorus of Washington, D.C. (LGCW) is a community-based, non-audition chorus.  C. Paul Heins is the Music Director.  The mission underlying our organization is:  every voice matters.  Our vision is:  a world that listens.  LGCW programming reflects political and social concern for our local and global communities.  As a choral organization that practices consensus, we believe that we create a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts both musically and organizationally.  This conveys a strong message of empowerment for our singers and our audience members and builds bridges where division might have existed.  Our society will only change when we are able to honor all voices.

What have you accomplished?

In the past 20 years, we have performed many different times in many different places.  It has not always been easy to stand on stage as an openly “out” group and sing about our lives.  Our willingness to do so has changed lives.  An older gay man wrote to us after he heard us perform in Richmond in the early 1990s, “Just to hear you sing made me sit a little taller in my seat.” 

The LGCW’s programming draws from many different traditions.  We were privileged to perform Robert Convery’s Songs of Children (based on writings of the children of the Holocaust) in June 2000.  We collaborated with the Heritage Signature Chorale, Washington Men’s Camerata, and the Washington Women’s Chorus to present the DC-area premiere of Dr. Ysaye M. Barnwell’s Suite Death, with baritone Stephen Salters, in a tribute to the centenary of Langston Hughes in October 2002.  On December 1^st, 2003, the LGCW presented the world premiere of Quilt Panels (for my love, for my grief, for my letting go) by Robert Maggio, co-commissioned by the LGCW and D.C.’s Different Drummers. The voices of the Jubilee Singers of All Souls Unitarian Church joined with the LGCW and other community members for the premiere.  The 40-minute Quilt Panels for band and chorus was inspired by the AIDS Memorial Quilt.

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