New Jersey Gay Men’s Chorus welcomes the season with ‘Holly Days and Starry Nights.’
By: Susan Van Dongen
Mix a little classical music with Broadway standards, blend in some pop and doo-wop, and finish with Yuletide favorites and you’ll get Holly Days and Starry Nights, the 16th annual holiday concert presented by the New Jersey Gay Men’s Chorus. The Princeton-based group will perform a variety of songs at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Titusville Dec. 8. The chorus also will be caroling at various points throughout the 40th annual Mill Hill Holiday House Tour in Trenton Dec. 2.
The evening of music will feature works ranging from Franz Schubert’s "Die Nacht" and "Standchen," to "Goodnight, Sweetheart, Goodnight," the doo-wop classic first done by the Spaniels.
"I paired ‘Standchen’ and ‘Goodnight, Sweetheart, Goodnight’ on the program because they’re both serenades," says Steven Russell, artistic director and conductor of the NJGMC. "What’s interesting about the Schubert is that we have countertenor Robert Fertitta doing the solo, which is usually done by a woman."
Gustav Holst’s holiday suite "Christmas Day" features guest female chorus Upper Octave, a bit of a change from the NJGMC’s sound, which Mr. Russell says helps keep the group on its toes.
"It’s nice to have guests come in," he says. "It creates another dynamic in concert."
Mr. Russell also has programmed seasonal chestnuts such as "Lo, How a Rose ‘Ere Blooming," "Oh Holy Night" and "Do You Hear What I Hear?" He says he planned the program to "celebrate our waking and slumbering," so each song mentions either day or night, or both.
"’Home on the Range’ has lyrics about both day and night," he says.
A native of Ohio, Mr. Russell came to New Jersey to study conducting with Frauke Haasemann and Allen Crowell at Westminster Choir College of Rider University. He also studied piano with Harold Zabrack and toured the United States with Joseph Flummerfelt and the Westminster Choir, as well as performing at the Festival dei Due Mondi in Italy.
He has a master’s in choral conducting from the Mason Gross School of the Arts, where he studied conducting with Richard Westenberg and organ with David Drinkwater. In addition to the NJGMC, Mr. Russell previously directed Rutgers University’s Queen’s Chorale and the Shrewsbury Chorale, and was assistant conductor of the Monmouth Civic Chorus.
The NJGMC has collaborated with similar groups throughout the U.S., such as the Philadelphia, Denver, Baltimore and Rochester gay men’s choruses. Performing regularly throughout the state and along the East Coast, the NJGMC has performed concerts in the Midwest as well as in Montreal, Canada. The group draws its members mostly from central New Jersey, but a few commute from the north and northwest parts of the state as well as the Jersey Shore and Pennsylvania.
The NJGMC is the only New Jersey member of the 200-member national GALA Choruses Inc., a not-for-profit organization serving choruses in the gay and lesbian communities through workshops, festivals and ongoing networking and administrative support services. GALA was officially named in 1982. Its "most tenured" chorus is the acclaimed Anna Crusis Women’s Choir, formed in Philadelphia in 1975. Other early member choruses include the Stonewall Chorale and the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus.
Mr. Russell says creating choral groups for the gay and lesbian communities paralleled the gay rights movement of the ’70s.
"It was the next step," he says. "There was the initial ‘Stonewall’ generation and the protest generation that followed. We started to see lots of gay bands there was more of a flowering of that. There are many forms of coming out, of making our presence known, whether it’s through the arts or through sports."
But there are also artistic and musical reasons to form an all-male chorus.
"Men’s repertoire is very rich, throughout the history of choruses," Mr. Russell says. "There’s a lot of music there. At one time, there were a lot of men’s groups and glee clubs. For instance, when Princeton was an all-male school, it had a men’s glee club. Rutgers still has one.
"Then there are barbershop choruses which are very different in repertoire and style," he continues. "But a group like ours can do many, many different forms of music. We also commission works in fact, we have commissioned two pieces for our June concert. The whole sound of (a men’s chorus) is different and it’s also a different way of writing."
Holly Days and Starry Nights will be performed by the New Jersey Gay Men’s Chorus, conducted by Steven Russell, at the Unitarian Universalist Church at Washington Crossing, 268 Washington Crossing-Pennington Road, Titusville, Dec. 8, 8 p.m. Tickets cost $25; advance tickets cost $20, $15 seniors. For information, call (609) 396-7774. The NJGMC will be caroling at various points throughout the Mill Hill Holiday House Tour in the historic Mill Hill neighborhood of Trenton, Dec. 2, noon-5 p.m. Tickets cost $20, $15 advance. On the Web: www.oldmillhillsociety.org. New Jersey Gay Men’s Chorus on the Web: www.njgmc.org

