GLBT Chorus Puts Faith in Music
Sexuality is no barrier to spirituality.
That's the attitude of the Twin Cities chorus
One Voice, whose members are singing all about
it at places of worship this week.
By Pamela Miller, Star Tribune
January 19, 2007 – 4:31 PM
Twelve years ago, when Jane Ramseyer Miller
became artistic director of One Voice Mixed
Chorus, she faced a conundrum. The 17-year-old
Twin Cities community choir is made up largely
of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender
singers.
"Eighty percent of choral music has Christian
origins, and many in the chorus were very
hesitant to go there," she said. "This is a
group that's been wounded by what churches say
and do."
Over the years, the reticence loosened, and when
she assigned the singers to keep journals about
spirituality and sexuality, "a broad range of
positives emerged," she said.
This weekend and next, the 80-voice choir will
present four concerts titled "Reclaiming Faith
in the Spirit of Justice" at three churches and
one synagogue.
The ambitious program features an eclectic mix
of music, including Holly Near's "I Ain't
Afraid"; Linda Hirschhorn's "Hallowing Our
Namings," a song for the Jewish child-naming
ceremony; the spiritual "I've Been 'Buked,
Children!"; Russian composer Alexander Kopylov's
"Heavenly Light"; Anton Bruckner's "Locus Iste,"
and "Stars" from "Les Misérables." Those
contributing readings will include Rabbi Joshua
Lesser of Bet Haverim, an Atlanta congregation
of GLBT Jews (today and Sunday), and Daayiee
Abdullah, a Muslim imam from Washington, D.C.
(next Saturday and Sunday). Several singers said
that although many in One Voice have been given
the heave-ho or cold shoulder by the traditions
they grew up in, faith still enriches their
lives, and some have been welcomed by houses of
worship that see same-sex orientation as part of
God's plan.
Miller, 44, who grew up in a Mennonite family in
Indiana and left that tradition only after
encountering "very painful" disapproval upon
coming out in her 20s, said she's nonetheless
"grateful for the musical gifts" nurtured by the
Mennonites, who traditionally shun instruments
in favor of cappella singing.
That influence, she said, infuses "A Dream
Deferred," a Langston Hughes poem she set to
music. After the taut final line about an
abandoned dream -- "Or does it explode?" --
comes "an explosion of celebratory sounds" drawn
from Italian and set to polyrhythms inspired by
African music, she said.
"I wanted that explosion to be joyful, a
celebration of self-discovery" and spiritual
awakening, Miller said.
Jen Rivera, 54, who sings in the choir at
Trinity Lutheran Church in Stillwater, joined
One Voice in September. "Through the years, I've
seen gay or lesbian friends face injustice in
their places of worship and I've been so torn up
by that," she said. "I could never accept that
the God of love would turn his back on such
wonderful, loving people.
"The concert is not designed to change minds so
much as it is to celebrate the fact that so many
GLBT people are also people of faith," she said.
Cheryl Hornstein, 46, who auditioned for One
Voice last year after years of hiatus from
choral singing "to raise my kids," said she
admires Miller's attention "to quality and
beauty," and loves the humor that infuses such
pieces as "Gimme That Ole-Time Religion."
Hornstein oversaw the creation of several
tallitot -- Jewish prayer shawls -- to add to
the "Shower of Stoles," an exhibit of more than
1,000 liturgical stoles from gay clergy that
will be on hand at all four concert venues.
"The concert's primary goal is to expand
people's universes" via exposure to diverse
music and singers, Hornstein said. "This event
shows it's high time that GLBT people be
accepted by their faith traditions. Those who
reject them are the poorer for it."
Pamela Miller • 612-673-4290 •
pmiller@startribune.com
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