The Manchester Performing Arts Association doing business as the New Hampshire Gay Men’s Chorus was established in 1998. Our mission is to present quality entertainment, provide an opportunity for wholesome social interaction for our members, and present a positive image of the gay community in New Hampshire.
The Chorus produces two concert series each year, a winter concert series in early December and a spring concert series in early May. Throughout the year, we also accept additional requests to perform from community organizations. For details on our upcoming performances, please visit our Events page.
Membership is open to individuals who are male-identifying, 18 years of age or older, who are gay or gay-supportive, and who enjoy the satisfaction of singing harmony in a men's vocal group. New members are welcome to audition and join the chorus at the beginning of each season (in early January and in early September).
Luc Andre Roberge - Conductor
Gary Finger - Piano
Founded in 1998, the New Hampshire Gay Men’s Chorus (NHGMC) has an amazing, endearing history of triumphs and struggles, good times and bad. Through it all, the Chorus has delivered high-quality entertainment and musical joy to thousands of people all over the state. Despite overcoming fears and doubts in its early years, when acceptance of gay people in New Hampshire was scarce, NHGMC has blossomed into a professional musical and community-service organization in high demand. The Chorus is well respected and accepted by the New Hampshire arts community, the governor’s office, the mayors of New Hampshire cities, the NH Fisher Cats baseball community, many in the religious community, and in community-outreach circles.
In 2013, to commemorate the Chorus’s 15th Crystal Jubilee anniversary, NHGMC published and distributed a booklet that told the great untold story of this unique musical group. Excerpts from this story are presented below, with minor updates and adaptations. It’s a great read. Enjoy!
What is the NHGMC?
Since 1998, the NHGMC has produced two concert series per year - one holiday series and one various-themed spring series, with performances in at least four New Hampshire cities. In between these official ticketed concerts, at which the chorus guys don their sharp black-tie tuxes, NHGMC has also given to charities and performed special outreach concerts. In recent years, the group has performed in Concord to benefit the homeless and in Nashua to bring cheer to those out and about at their annual Great American Downtown Winter Holiday Stroll. They perform regularly at assisted living centers to cheer up the residents and, every year since 2010, in a proud display of patriotism, they’ve belted out the Star Spangled Banner from the field of Manchester’s Northeast Delta Dental Stadium to open the New Hampshire Fisher Cats minor-league baseball games, performing openly before several thousands of cheering and accepting mainstream-American baseball fans. Each year, the Chorus also performs in Concord at New Hampshire’s World AIDS Day interfaith service, as well as in Nashua at the annual interfaith service celebrating the life of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Performing at Disney World, 2004
In 2004, the Chorus made history when it traveled to Walt Disney World in Florida to perform there as the first openly gay choral group. The trip coincided with its popular Spring 2004 concert series, Disney Spectacular. NHGMC has partnered with other orchestras and choruses to enrich the New Hampshire arts community. For the first time, several Chorus members sang with the Symphony New Hampshire Chorus and Orchestra in October, 2012. They’ve been invited to perform with other groups, such as the Granite State Symphony Orchestra (GSSO), and they’re exploring possibilities for a joint concert with the New Hampshire Philharmonic Orchestra.
Each year, as a community service, NHGMC provides a student scholarship to a New Hampshire high school senior planning a career in the Performing Arts. The Chorus is an IRS 501(c)3 not-for-profit group.
In June 2008, the chorus recorded its third recording, NHGMC Celebrates 10, in honor of its tenth anniversary. It was recorded live at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Manchester.
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