Wither Various Voices 2013?

Just a quick "update" to let you know that Legato meets in the Hague early next month. On the agenda: a decision about where Various Voices 2013 will be. I am rooting for the Netherlands, partly because the last three were in Berlin, Paris and London, and it is time for Amsterdam to host one - although perhaps one of the Nordic countries could host it, and partly because the Pinkies really loved being in Den Haag this time round. We're waiting with bated breath and "VV" can't come soon enough!

Thoughts On Choral Competitions

Now here's an interesting subject: choir competitions. The reason it has even come up is that the Pinkies are, for the first time in my travels with them, entering such an event. On the face of it there is quite a lot of interest from many Pink Singers, particularly in light of the recent successes with Various Voices London. But the difference is that Various Voices was a festival and not a competition, a small but very significant difference.

Prior to joining the Pink Singers I was in several church and university choirs, some of which were semi-professional, and at least two of which regularly entered competitions. I have some idea of the amount of blood, sweat and tears it takes to put up a competition-level performance. It involved an awful amount of work and committment, much more, dare I say it, than many Pinkies realise.

We are a community choir, and many members join because they love singing. I know I adore being in the Pink Singers because I like the relaxed environment. Not everyone has the same vocal or choreographic ability, innate or acquired, by the time the season ends, but that's okay because it is about getting together and enjoying both the concert we put on and each others' company.

Add a little competition to the mix and the emphasis changes somewhat. If you've been to one of our concerts you will know that the Pink Singers already perform to a very high standard, but to take it to the next level requires far more attention to things like blending, dipthongs, breathing, consonants, dynamics, posture, choreography etc. Then you go to the competition itself and have to deal with the added stress of performing in front of critical eyes. I must admit to being a bit apprehensive about turning a hobby which I enjoy into something I just know I will fret about.

Thankfully, the competition we are getting our feet wet in is the Manchester Amateur Choral Competition, organized by our counterparts in that city, the Manchester Lesbian and Gay Chorus. Despite my concerns I am reassured by their statement that:

The competition is not solely focused on the winning choir and there are no great financial rewards at stake - simply the satisfaction of having sung to a high standard and had an opportunity to experience and enjoy the diversity of performance from other amateur choirs.

Perhaps more importantly, it looks like all the choirs which took part in last year's inaugural contest had a really good time, so it was, in spirit, more like a festival with the competition component thrown in for added frisson. Despite my reservations I've been won around and not only am I going to go, I'm actually quite looking forward to it. In fact, I think a bit of concentrated preparation will improve our choirs general performance as well. And of course a trip anywhere with the Pinkies is bound to be fun!

I'll leave you with some videos of the kind of competition we are up against. These are all from last year's inaugural MACC.

Various Voices: The Professional Photos

If you were at Verious Vocies you would have seen the professional photographers led by the lovely Joanna Plumbe snapping shots of everyone over the weekend. I only met Joanna for the first time on the Friday of the festival, but it looks like she and the rest of the photographic team fell in love with the Pinkies because there are loads of photos of us - dare I say it, even more than any of the other choirs.

The good news is that the photographers are producing a souvenir book which should be on sale shortly, and any specific prints can be purchased from them. So check out the photo album on-line and relive the experience!

Other #vvl Bits And Bobs

I thought I'd write down a few of my personal observations of Various Voices which, in the interest of brevity, Hsien wasn't able to.



Social Networking Hits Various Voices
This was the first Various Voices to make use of Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. The former two were ably run by Nathalina, and after a few teething problems, particularly to do with emails, we managed to get quite a lively community up and running there.

The one area which I think took off well was twitter though. It enabled people from different choirs to actually microblog about their experiences, and was a wonderful way of keeping track of what was going on. Most people used the hashtag #vvl, while others simply used "Various Voices". It was particularly great to actually meet the people behind the twitter handles.

Meeting Other Choristers
In addition to the big joint events like With One Voice, the Big Gay Sing, Sing For The Cure and Best In Show, one good way of meeting people from other choirs was the workshops. I attended two and met some wonderful people such as Lars from Die Fetten Koketten Soubretten.

The common areas in the Southbank Centre also worked very well in encouraging interaction between people in different choirs. On one of our breaks Philip R and I shared a table with Bernd from DFKS as well. So whether you were at a bar getting a drink or having a sandwich on the terrace there was always someone you could talk to.

It certainly helped when people wore their Various Voices tags. The neck straps in particular were very obvious, and they acted as a signal to say, "Yes, it is okay to come chat with me!" I've made loads of new friends at VVL and am really looking forward to performing with them in the future.

Cabaret Stages
These worked a charm! It gave many of the choirs a chance to perform in a less formal setting which suited them, but also enabled members of the public to come and see what the whole festival was about. I ran into an elderly couple who came on the Saturday and had such a good time they came for the remaining two days of the festival, setting themselves up with a table, packed lunch and a thermos of tea. They even took to the dance floor when the Gay Gordons and the Pink Dancers had the stage. Hey! That's what it is all about!

Various Voices 2009 – London Sings Out!

I literally cannot write about Various Voices 2009 any better than Hsien, so here is what he had to say about it:


It is so hard to describe what Various Voices is to someone who has never been to one. Once every four years, the LGBT choirs of Europe gather to sing to and show each other how far they have come. On the face of it, this is like any other choral festival, but the gays really do have all the fun, and VV is like a massive family reunion with two thousand relatives you actually like.


The journey to VVL has been a long one, and we knew we had a lot to live up to. VV 2005, my first, was expertly put together in Paris by our friends the zany Equivox and the slick Melo’men. At the end of it London and Geneva put bids in to Legato to host the next one, but the award only came a year later. It was then that Team London, the group comprising members from the Pink Singers, Diversity and the London Gay Men’s Chorus, started the wheels in motion. We’ve been meeting pretty much every first Tuesday of the month since, but much more frequently in the last year, and it was wonderful to see members of all the London choirs putting their time and effort in under the guidance of the Festival Director Martin Brophy.


The biggest coup was securing the world-famous Southbank Centre for the four days of the festival. We needed a venue where people could sing and socialize in one space, and there is nowhere so perfect. But that was just half the battle, there was a programme to plan, a registration process to set up and a million other logistical nightmares to sort out. But before I could even blink the information desk in the Clore ballroom went up and the delegates started arriving! It was time to just cross our fingers and pray that all the preparation would see us through.

Of course preparation for the Pinkies’ choral performance was also on my mind. The Pink Singers sent a large cohort of delegates and we were in the opening concert Voices Of Our City on the Friday night. It is always more nerve-wracking singing to other choristers, but we have been tweaking our repertoire since the start of the year and were ready. Besides, you could not have had a more positive audience. In particular Somewhere and Teardrop were spine-tinglingly lush, and our set was greeted with thunderous applause and a standing ovation.


In fact, the standing ovation was a regular feature of all the choir performances. VV is not about acknowledging the musical prowess of the established choirs, it is about supporting the smaller, fledgling choirs. We all understand the power of song to move, celebrate and overcome prejudice, and it is choirs like Sing Out Bristol, making their debut at a VV, but especially the women of Le Zbor from Croatia, who put up the most inspiring of shows.

Knowing that the three choirs of London have such differing musical styles, I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised by the variety of performances on display. From Der Homophon’s theatrical tale of Cleopatra, to the Vancouver Men’s Chorus’ tightly harmonized Celine Dion, to Rainbow Chorus’ narrative of protest songs, to Canta:re’s exploration of Robert Schumann’s music, there literally was something for everyone. And the music didn’t just stay in the theatres either, it was on the cabaret stages, it was at the bar, it was in the fountain, it was on the riverside. We sang about stopping homophobia, we sang to Remember Justin, but we sang mainly because we love to.


Like Lou T, I aimed to install myself in the Clore Ballroom for the morning vocal warm-ups, followed by the free performances. I caught the musical director of Rozenkoor taking off his shirt as a part of Steam Heat, I saw the girls of Die Rheintoechter doing their sexy, sinuous choreography. I watched our own Tanya and Cilla do their beautiful rendition of Indigo Girls. It was just so much fun!


Two events really stood out to me over the weekend. The first was the Big Gay Sing: imagine 900 gay men and women who can all hold a note, totally up for performing gay anthems, led by a choir made up of members from all the different choirs. I was sitting next to Oliver from Die Mainsirenen and he couldn’t stop singing, even in the parts where we were supposed to listen to the soloists. Our own Thomas performed a jaw-droppingly inspiring rendition of Over the Rainbow with a friend from Diversity, to a truly deserved standing ovation from the audience.

The second event was With One Voice, the performance of the from-scratch festival choir. Nicolas from the LGMC, I and Franck from Podium Paris - or "Mrs. E. G. Wheeler", “Susan” and “Tatjana" if you went by the names printed on our seat backs! - sat together. I doubt anyone could have told me just how awe-inspiring it was to be part of a 400 voice chorus performing Carmina Burana in a huge auditorium like the Royal Festival Hall. And we did it all with just 48 hours of rehearsal.


At the end of the day everyone had their own experience of Various Voices. The one moment which encapsulated it for me was when some of the Pinkies, together with Henning from Vox Homana, were in Pizza Express after the closing ceremony, having dinner, feeling a little tired and a little sad that things had come to an end. The women of Gemengd Dameskoor were at an adjacent table. Seeing us they started singing their songs to us in the middle of the restaurant, and we sang our songs back to them, to applause from diners and staff. It is memories like this which make my world a little brighter. Various Voices is a very special treasure; it has been an honour to be a part of Various Voices London 2009. Roll on VV2013!

Leslie Garrett Sings, And We're In The Times

Just a few bits and pieces as we wind up into the week befor Various Voices. The first is to say that Leslie Garrett who is everyone's favourtie soprano will be at the opening ceremony of Various Voices together with Sandy Toksvig. We weren't totally sure she'd be coming, but she has agreed and will be singing "You'll Never Walk Alone". We will be performing this at the memorial for the "Remember Justin" event later on Saturday. She will also be starting off our festival song "Here's Where I Stand". A real pity the Pinkies are due in tech rehearsals when this is going on. But there is a chance that we might be out in time.

The other biggie news is that we are in the centre right paper, the Times. I'm so proud that we have come from a marginalized part of society to one which is celebrated.

Various Voices: It's Starting!

It's really starting. Really, really starting! For those of us in the Pinkies who have been working on the Various Voices committee for the last four years it is with a combination of relief and trepidation that we see the fruits of our labour finally paying off.

We returned from Paris on a bit of a high, and this Sunday it was time to learn new music as well as rehearse our performance for Various Voices. It is going to be huge. Most of the pieces are in place, but there are still some people snatching the odd glance at the lyrics. Still, we are sounding better and better. We still have two more rehearsals to fully polish the pieces.

The rehearsals for the festival choir have also started, and we are performing Carmina Burana in the Royal Festival Hall. It is always interesting singing with another choir, and this time we are performing with Voicelab and the London Philharmonic choir. I thought our tenors were loud. Even the whispered start of Ecce Gratum sounded thunderous! Hard to imagine how loud it will be when the full complement of 300 singers gets onto stage!

Last night was also our only rehearsal of the Voices Of Our City joint song: All Over The World. It actually sounded really good, despite the misgivings we had. Part of this was due to the way in which the song is written, so you can't really sing it with just one choir.

I am getting really excited now - Various Voices is one of the biggest showcases of LGBT music anywhere, and the fact that we are doing this on a prestigious national and indeed global platform, on such a scale, is a tremendous achievement for us and our community!

All Over The World

We ran through All Over The World yesterday, the joint song for Voices Of Our City, the joint concert by the Pink Singers, LGMC and Diversity at Various Voices London 2009.

Sadly I can't embed it here, but the YouTube video is taken from, of all things, Xanadu. Really, how gay is that!

Various Voices - What's It All About?

This Pink Insider has been busy as a member of Team London working on Various Voices London 2009 for a while now, and from its inception there has been so much to worry about, from getting venues, to organizing the performances, to sorting out hosting, to planning a programme. The most recent development is the preliminary launch of the VVL public website as opposed to the long-standing delegate website. So it is with some pride that we are seeing how it is all coming together and looking so professional it us too. There is still so much work to be done, but at the end of the day I know it is all worth it. Here's my shortlist (entirely arbitrarily and in no particular order) why!

1. It is a gay and lesbian festival.
In case you missed it somehow, Various Voices is a gay and lesbian festival. There will be about 2,000 LGBT delegates taking over the Southbank Centre and the city for a long weekend. What's not to like? More importantly though, it is a chance for people to be proud of who they are, and perform in a very public space. And this is not a one off performance, it is one in a series. I went to my first Various Voices in Paris four years ago, but there have been many before that. Philip R puts is best in his brief history of the Pink Singers when he says:

The Pinkies have forged close links with other European lesbian and gay choirs, taking part in the third European Lesbian and Gay Festival of Song in Stockholm (1987), and the fourth in Berlin (1988). In May 1989 we hosted 14 European choirs in London for the 5th European Festival of Song (now known as Various Voices) at the Hackney Empire.

This concluded with a big benefit concert for the Terrence Higgins Trust at Sadler's Wells at which Michael Cashman first announced the formation of a gay lobbying group called Stonewall - whatever happened to them? My favourite memories of that night are the massed choir of 500 voices singing We'll Meet Again and special guest Sheila Steafel singing Send in the Clones! Also appearing that night was Barry Cryer (of Radio 4's "I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue") and Gordon Kaye of TV's "'Allo 'Allo" making his first public appearance after being outed by the Sunday newspapers.

We have since sung at the Various Voices festivals in Hamburg (1991), Zurich (1993), Groningen (1995), Munich (1997), Berlin again (2001) and a very successful appearance in Paris in 2005 (where we received a standing ovation). This was our second appearance in Paris.

2. It is a festival which appeals to everyone.
One of the wonders of Various Voices is that it is a singing festival, and song is something which touches everyone. This time round we are making a deliberate effort to get as many members of the public, straight and gay, involved. The Pink Singers' recent success at Voicelab really drove home the point to me that singing moves many people at a fundamental level. Now just scale that experience up from one choir performing two songs to sixty choirs performing four hundred songs, and you will have an idea of how exciting it will be.

3. You make loads of overseas friends.
Anyone who has been on an overseas trip with the Pink Singers knows that one of the real pleasures is getting to know our host choir: sharing their food, sharing their city and sharing a song or two. This time we are the hosts, and not just of one choir, but sixty! It is a real opportunity to make friends and build bridges, and who knows? We may be invited to sing with a couple of choirs from Germany, or Switzerland, or Sweden, or even further afield next year.

4. It's not just about the concert.
This kinda goes with the above point, but it is almost traditional that visiting choirs organize parties of their own over the course of the festival. They usually take over a pub, preferably with a piano or karaoke system, and invite everyone else to come along for an informal drink and sing song.

5. It's a chance to strut your stuff.
Although choral singing isn't really about competition, it is a chance for us to really "show off our wares". We don't usually see many other choirs for a long time, even the ones in our own country, and this is a great chance to catch them all in action at once. Of course it works both ways too, and the Pink Singers are working on a repertoire to really glitter.

6. The singing doesn't stop when the curtains come down.
My one abiding memory or Various Voices Paris is finishing out choir block and streaming into the foyer of the Trianon theatre. All the other choirs were there as were most of the audience. Then one of the choirs started singing, and this was followed by another, and another, and the Pink Singers! The bar was open, the sun had set but the large french windows were open, and it turned into a merry evening of carousing. Memories truly are made of this.

Voicelab - We're All (Pink) Singers!

Although I haven't been posting much of late - I tend not to when we are out of season, and we don't officially start until this Sunday - the Pink Singers have already been hard at work. Yesterday a large group of us spent the afternoon serenading member sof the public down in the Clore Ballroom of the Southbank Centre, and getting them to join us too!

We haven't had much time to practise either. What with the winter concert still in recent memory, we really only had a couple of weeks before the gig. I get the impression that Mladen was particularly stressed about it. After all, he has particularly high musical standards, and this was a very, very public performance, in a a really rather prestigious musical venue. With the compressed rehearsal schedule it was necessary to resurrect some of our old music. But even with several Pinkies who had sung and danced the pieces before, the majority had not, so it was asking quite a lot of us.

The two pieces we did were the Best of Bond and Forever Motown. Neither are particularly short, and having to remember the moves was a difficult exercise, but over the lasty two Sundays we've been rehearsing it and trying to look like we do this all the time.

In the end I have to say the results surpassed all my expectations. For one we sounded really good, especially in such a difficult space. The choreography also seemed to come together, and even when we forgot a move, at least we forgot it all together so it looked fine (I'm looking at you tenors and basses!)

The biggest challenge though, was getting people to join us on stage for a reprise of Forever Motown. There I think we have Tanya to thank for being such a wonderful, relaxed and entertaining host. Philip R as usual got the crowd warmed up, and they were raring to go. This is not the usual group of people we perform to. I would guess that the majority have never heard of the Pink Singers before, let alone the fact that we're a gay and lesbian group. But there was no suspicion and when called at I would say about half the people got up and danced and sang along with us. With a bit of guidance from Rachel and Hsien with the choreoraphy, and the rest of the choir with words and music, we soon doubled our numbers. There were many honorary Pink Singers made that day!

All in all I would say it was a great change for us and we proved up to the challenge. And what a way to start summer 2009!

Choir³: A Trio Of Various Voices

Just a quick heads up to say that the programme for Various Voices 2009 is up and available on the website. This will give delegates a chance to see what shows are coming up and plan their long weekend accordingly. Bookings aren't open yet but will go live very soon, and you'll get a discount too.

Another word of wisdom: some of the Choir³ concerts (this is what most people come to see, three different choirs performing their showcase repertoires) will be sold out really quickly, and it would be a good idea to get in on the tickets as early as possible. Some of the highlights which I am looking forward to, based on a cursory glance of the programme.

Saturday 2nd May

• Choir³ D: Cor Cantus from Copenhagen, A Cappella Birmingham from Birmingham and Le Zbor from Zagreb
• Choir³ F: Classical Lesbians from Berlin, Vox Homana from Hannover and Schwubs from Bern
• Choir³ G: Hellmans Drengar from Goteborg in Sweden, SCHMAZ from Zürich and Canta:re from Berlin

Sunday 3rd May

• Choir³ O: Philhomoniker from Munich, TAPALANOTE - chorale du BGS (Brussels Gay Sports) and Mélo'Men from Paris
• Choir³ P: Männer-Minne from Berlin, Warme Wellen from Aachen and Mannenkoorts Den Haag

And of course, I expect everyone to be at the ultimate trio of them all: Voices of Our City starring none other than the LGMC, Diversity and the Pink Singers. We're on twice on the Friday 1st May, so there is a time to suit everyone. I can't wait!

A Bit Of Diversity At Christmas

On Saturday two of the Pink Insiders, as well as some other Pink Singers, went along to the Diversity Christmas Concert: O Magnum Mysterium. It was a fantastic performance, and a great demonstration of choral singing, not only in its traditional sense, but also in a modern way, with a few exciting chants and poems thrown in for good measure. The concert's eponymous piece was performed twice: at the very start in the de Victoria incarnation which I had not heard before, and at the very end in the Lauridsen arrangement. The latter is, without a doubt, one of my favourite pieces of Christmas music, and is very difficult to sing with its long sustained notes. It requires a significant amount of choral discipline to perform it without sliding down the register, and even more sweat and tears to put the emotion into it. Diversity performed it with aplomb and I applaud them greatly for it.

Sitting in St. Botolph's, I couldn't help but wonder how fortunate we are to be in a city which can sustain three major gay and/or lesbian choirs. Of course, the reason is that choral singing is a very diverse art: Diversity certainly tackles the more technically challenging end of the musical scale, the London Gay Men's Chorus has a brasher and more theatrical style, and the Pinkies, well, we try to do a bit of everything. Then there is the actual choir itself and its community which is different in all three.

Eyeballing Diversity, they are now over forty in number. When I first went along to a concert of theirs, about six years ago, they were only half that. Indeed, the Pink Singers have increased in size as well, mainly in an attempt to accomodate the growing interest in choral singing we've been having. I do wonder whether this is due to the halo effect of 'Last Choir Standing' on telly, or people generally want to get out and meet people in these financially uncertain times. Whatever the reason, all three choirs seem to be enjoying a bit of a sustained renaissance and that has got to be a good thing.

It certainly bodes well for Various Voices next year!

A Busy Weekend - Saturday

Damn! I just typed out a whole blog post using this new Live Writer tool from Microsoft, and just as I was about to upload it, the whole thing got deleted! What follows is my frustrated abbreviated version, and please don't say that this should happen more often!

This weekend was the start of a lot of things, and I am now more tired coming out this end than I was going in. Saturday morning saw the Various Voices volunteer rally, basically a way for members of the choirs to get involved. I was doing a promotional spiel for the Frontrunners, so had to go there at 10am, give my talk, then rush back for the actual presentation at the Southbank Centre at 11am.

As I was a floater (a.k.a. odd job labourer) I started out with Roger (from Diversity) and Regis (from LGMC) at the welcome desk, before taking on my now-traditional role as photographer. I'll leave the actual description of the event to Hsien (what a great writer!) on the Team London blog, but will add that we had about 40 members show up, pretty good for a Saturday morning, and a good start.

There was hardly any time to breathe after that as the next event was at the Royal Albert Hall. Under the auspices of Sing London and with a chance to promote Various Voices we were going due to be part of a flash mob. Yes, I was thinking the same thing, what? The idea was that we were to infiltrate the queues at the last night of the Proms, start singing spontaneously, and get people to sing along as well.  As it turns out, the Union Jack clad members of the public were highly territorial and we decided it best not to risk assault by jumping the queue, even in pretence, and got together by the statue on the south side of the Hall.

The rehearsal prior to this was held at the Royal College of Music and led by the MDs of Diversity (singing) and LGMC (on the piano), and when we finally emerged into the sunlight we were raring to go. I've never seen so many weirdos (in the kindest possible sense) and I think they probably thought the same of us when we started with Take A Chance On Me. But the people around us gamely joined in, and by the time we got to Jerusalem the crowd was singing along with gusto, tongue firmly planted in cheek or not.

All too soon it was over. The audience wanted more, and we certainly could have sung a few more songs, but the time we were allocated was limited. There was, however, ample opportunity for the Pink Singers to be interviewed on camera by a member of Sing London, so keep an eye out for it on their website. Hooray for our fifteen seconds of internet fame.

After that it was off to the Poland club where Diversity bought us all a round of drinks. Thanks a bunch guys and gals! people often make out that there is competition between our three choirs, but the reality is that we all get along very well, and have such different niches that we really don't overlap much at all. It takes events like this to foster a closer relationship between us though, and I'm glad we were part of it.

Various Voices - We Need Your Help

There's been a bit of a flurry of posts from me today, but mainly because so much is happening this weekend. in addition to the flash mobbing we will be doing at the Royal Albert Hall, this Saturday lunchtime is also when Various Voices will be hosting a volunteer rally. As you know, this is the largest LGBT choir festival in Europe, and we are expecting over 4,000 participants. Over 2,000 delegates have already signed up!

Basically, this is larger than even all three London LGBT choirs put together, and we are reaching out to the larger community for some help. There is loads to do, from stewarding to hosting, and so many ways to lend a hand. If you need more information, check out the Various Voices website and download a volunteer form.

Better yet, if you are free this Saturday, why not come along and see what's available? The Pinkies (and the Pink Insider) will be there - hope to see you there too!

Various Voices Rally
Saturday 13th September
Welcome by Jude Kelly and members of the Southbank Team

When: Saturday 13th September 11am – 1pm

Where: Level 5 Function Room, Southbank Centre - near waterloo / embankment stations

What: A Various Voices Rally for all new volunteers to re-introduction you to Various Voices London, getting to know each other, working together and exploring volunteering opportunities during and around the festival next year.

Who: All choir members, friends, loved ones, family, acquaintances and anyone passing by.

Why: The success of the festival is based on the involvement of a wide range of volunteers; this will be our first chance to bring all potential volunteers together in the festival venue to talk about how the festival will work

We will explore how everyone will be able to both enjoy the festival and support through volunteering the choirs and the LGBT community of London .

Once we have introduced you to the festival we will talk about the kind of volunteering work that we need and sign you up to a specific area.

All volunteers will need a degree of training dependant on the job and volunteers will work in teams with team leaders under the guise of the VVL Volunteer Coordinator.

VVL will be looking to recruit you into one of the 6 main areas of volunteering

* Choir Support
* Registrations
* Information
* Front of House
* Back Stage
* Team London Support

We need team members, leaders and a coordinator and would love to hear from you now if you would like to do more by joining Team London, we are keen to recruit a Lead for Marketing and the Volunteers Coordinator

The more volunteers we get the less we will all have to do, please don't be shy about coming forward, this is your festival and building towards its success will be our communal achievement.

What can you help right now? So what about helping out some delegates to come and enjoy the festival by joining the Host Accommodation Register - we are asking anyone with a guest room in their home to volunteer to become hosts to one or more of the out of town visitors. From such an offer of hospitality, long term international friendships can grow. And hosts should receive a modest monetary offering as suggested in our hosting charter - see the website for more details and to register on-line.

Flash Singing

I must say that as a choir we seem to be doing more and more, and occa- sionally it is hard to tell when one season finishes and one season begins. Yes, we start officially again on Sunday, but we also gave a concert just last week. To top it off, this Saturday, several of the Pinkies will be participating in an event courtesy of Sing London.

In fact, we are organizing the event, in collaboration with the London Gay Mens' Chorus and Diversity, as part of the promotional run-up to Various Voices 2009. This time, we will be wowing the crowds in front of the Royal Albert Hall as they queue up for the last night of the proms. This Pink Insider did not participate in last year's event at the Naitonal Portrait Gallery, but having seen Lynne and Maia lead the befuddled gallery visitors in an impromptou rendition of Hey Big Spender, I think it will prove to be quite an experience.

Of course we will be flash mobbing, not just flashing...

Sing With Me!

Various Voices Is Picking Up Steam!

Things really are picking up pace on the Various Voices front. Adam, the Pink Singers liaison on the committee, has just posted on the resurrected Team London blog over on the Pink Singers website. As he says, although we are at the early stages of planning, things are beginning to take shape, with loads of behind-the-scenes developments in terms of financial and IT structure. Now's the time for members of the stakeholder choirs to get on board though, and the first step is with host accomodation. Also, if you are a choir reading this, then it would be really helpful if you could fill in an indication of initial interest form as well. That will help us with planning for numbers - and I would personally be grateful!

Register Your Interest!

Things really are proceeding apace over in Team London, the group made up of the Pink Singers, London Gay Men's Chorus and Diversity to organize Various Voices London 2009. I think everyone is now really aware that we have just over a year to get everything in place. I met with Chris D this evening, and we went through a whole load of technical details pertaining, in the main, to setting up and linking databases between the server and the website front end. It involved words like MySQL and ASP.net, neither of which I am familiar with. I have dabbled in HTML and CSS before, so there is a base from which to start, but I fear I am getting relatively lost in the new terminology. I'm continuing to tinker though, and Chris is a patient teacher.

That said, the main development over on the Various Voices London 2009 website is the new initial indication of interest form (or eye-eye-eye form as it is begging to be called). Basically, it lets Team London have an idea how many places to plan for, and the relevant contact details for each of the choirs across Europe. Obviously, since 2005 there are many more new European nations, as well as the rumoured establishment of LGBT groups in the hitherto gay choral wastelands of Italy, Spain and Portugal, so we are expecting the numbers to be even greater than in Paris.

Time to spread the word, especially if you know of lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender choirs in farther flung parts of the continent. Get them to fill in the form!

An Ad For Various Voices London 2009

I've been a little busy lately, mainly because of my involvement with Various Voices London 2009. For those of you who don't know about Various Voices, it is the once-every-four-years gathering of virtually all the LGBT choirs in Europe, and international guests. The last one was in Paris in 2005, and it was a smash. Nothing beats the feeling of taking over a city for four days with other people of like minds, and the experience of performances, spontaneous singing and camaraderie is unbeaten.

In London of course, we are lucky to be joined on the LGBT choir platform by the London Gay Men's Chorus and Diversity. London is large enough, and varied enough, to sustain three excellent choirs, with very different musical styles. Indeed there are even more LGBT choirs than that in London, although they are not as well known. However, the three main choirs have come together to form Team London, the organising body for the next Various Voices festival in London in 2009.

The London choirs, of course, are part of Sing Out, the wider network of lesbian and gay choirs in the U.K. and Ireland, and in the even larger body of LeGaTo, the association of LGBT choirs in Europe. LeGaTo is actually short for "Lesbians and Gays Singing Together", so if you want to be pernickity the acronym should really be LeGaSiTo, but that would make no sense would it?

Obviously, we're off to Paris to enjoy the delights of the city, and to perform with Equivox, but our trip also represents another opportunity to cement the ties we have with other choirs in Europe. If you get a chance, hop on over to the Various Voices London 2009 website, it is undergoing rapid development as we speak. And if you have your own website or blog, please, please, link to it. The Pink Insider would be most grateful.

If you want to be a part of Team London then just get in touch with Adam (in the basses) or Simon (in the tenors), or email the team. Meetings are one evening a month, and we could sure use some help!