By Lacey Ross
Kathleen Francis, an attorney and asset manager by day, finds relief from her stressful work week and the chaos of everyday life on Monday evenings, in what sounds like an unusual place for a woman: The New Jersey Gay Men’s Chorus.
“When I am at rehearsals, those hours on Monday nights or on the days that we’ll go on a singing retreat, I am not thinking about anything except the note that I’m singing,” the Lawrence Township resident said of the Princeton-based organization. “It is a stress reliever. I am just in the moment and lost at the same time.”
One of only two female tenors in the chorus, Francis is proof that the singing group, which rehearses weekly at Nassau Presbyterian Church, does not discriminate against members and has grown in every aspect since its original inception 23 years ago, just as openness to the lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual community continues to grow in New Jersey and the U.S.
“The name of the chorus is the New Jersey Gay Men’s Chorus,” she said. “But clearly the membership is open. You don’t have to be a man. You don’t have to be gay.”
Each year, the chorus has a major holiday performance in December, as well as its big spring concert, this year being held on May 17 at Trinity Episcopal Church in Asbury Park, and on May 18 at Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton,
In between, it performs at numerous other events and venues throughout the state, often collaborating with different community groups that raise awareness or funding for LGBT issues. The chorus is the only New Jersey choir that is part of the International Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses. Members from NJGMC come from all over New Jersey and Pennsylvania to rehearse and perform together.
To Francis, singing with NJGMC means that she is part of something much bigger than just a community chorus.
“This is more than a chorus,” she said. “We’re a community. It’s a group of extremely talented, intelligent, dedicated people who just enjoy singing together and we really share our joys and concerns.”
Rehearsals are not only a place to work on vocals and learn new songs. According to Francis, they are a gathering of close-knit friends who enjoy singing, snacking and socializing together. At some point during each practice session, the group forms a circle and members share some joys or concerns from their lives outside of the group.
“We form bonds and personal relationships that go beyond just the performance,” she said. “Everyone genuinely cares on a personal level about all the other members and they’re willing to lend a hand.”
At its core, the chorus is “a celebration of diversity and acceptance” through song, Francis said. The weaving together of different voices and different keys to create beautiful music symbolizes the organization’s larger purpose.
“For me, I know I speak for a lot of the members, there’s really no feeling like when you are singing with a group and you are part of the harmonies,” she said. “When you hear the chord that comes together through the blend of our voices and you are a part of it, it’s just a feeling like no other.”
Princeton resident Douglas Worthington joined the chorus in September 2000, after years of “peering in from the outside” as the group rehearsed at the church he attended, Nassau Presbyterian. He has been a member ever since and juggles his commitment to the chorus with his work as head of compliance and ethics for Asia-Pacific at Bristol-Myers Squibb.
“I took the plunge and never looked back,” he said.
At the time, Worthington was also struggling through the process of coming out as a gay man.
“I really needed a safe community of other gay men to be part of,” he said. “I’ve always loved singing and have sung in choirs since I was in kindergarten, so it was just perfect for me.”
Throughout the years, the group’s camaraderie is one of the many aspects of the chorus that has kept Worthington singing all these years.
“I know it’s a cliché, but we really are like one big family,” he said. “I’ve met people I would never have known, and I am so much richer for it. People pass in and out of the group, some have been there from the very beginning and some are brand new, but it’s all part of life.”
Though there are not many members left in the chorus who have been there since the very beginning, Worthington and other current members, including NJGMC marketing director Steve Maiorano, of Hackettstown, agree that life as a chorus member in 2014 is different and easier than it was 23 years ago.
Now made up of about 30 singing members, as well as about 15 non-singing members, the group was much smaller when it first formed as the Delaware Valley Men’s Chorus.
“There was a somewhat conscious attempt not to openly label the group as ‘gay’ at the time, although I understand that most, if not all, of the members were in fact gay men,” Worthington said.
The chorus officially came out as gay when it adopted its current name five years later, which did create a stir within both the group and the larger community at the time.
“Times changed, of course, and group changed its name in the late ’90s,” Worthington said. “I do understand, however, that one or two members chose to leave at that point due to the name change. There were still sensitivities for some in being publicly known as gay.”
Today, the group’s name is hardly a concern anymore, Maiorano said.
“Now, it’s so nothing that we have straight men and straight women singing with us, and they are proud to stand up and sing with a group that’s called the New Jersey Gay Men’s Chorus,” he said.
More accepting times means that it is also easier for the group to attract new members.
Twenty-four-year-old Matthew Selmasska, of Princeton, is one of the youngest members of the chorus having joined only last June. To him, the chorus is just like any other singing group out there, especially because it is not just for gay men. Its name, however, on top of some of the gigs it chooses to perform, means that the chorus serves as a role model to gay youth in New Jersey.
“It’s always good to show younger kids who might be struggling with their identity that it’s OK,” he said. “We are out there. I think it’s important, especially with the youth, to show that there are role models out there in the community living successfully.”
Being able to make a difference for others throughout the community is a meaningful bonus to singing with the choir, on top of the joy that comes from being able put in hard work and then perform in front of an audience.
“It’s really a cool thing for me when many people get together through music and produce a unified song,” he said. “When the finished product of everyone coming together and putting in hard work is the gift of song, that’s really the best part.”
The group has been working since January on its May performances, where it will mix together the themes of sports and game shows to perform choral and pop music in a fun, interactive way. Steven Russell, of Matawan, is the NJGMC’s artistic director and the one who conceived of the creative concept behind the show, which will break from the tradition of typical choral performances that feature only choir music.
“I thought it would be interesting to explore sports,” he said. “We do a lot of different kind of music, kind of a big mix of things. Sports and concert music aren’t two things that you think of together, so it’s nice to do a juxtaposition of something unusual.”
An additional unique aspect of the event will be that it engages the audience in interactive game show bits in between songs to carry the chorus from one song to the next, Russell explained. Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune and The Price is Right are just a few of the game shows viewers can expect to see grace the stage, as well as popular sports-themed tunes, including “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” The show will also feature the world premiere of an original 15-minute opera based on an episode of Family Feud, written by a member of the chorus.
“In general at choral concerts, typically a choir would come out and sing and the audience would listen and everyone would go home,” he said. “What we try to do is mix that up, presenting something unusual in the subject matter or unusual in the way we present it.”
The May 18 show will be held at 4 p.m. at the Universalist Congregation of Princeton on Cherry Hill Road. Tickets are $20 in advance and can be purchased through the group’s website, NJGMC.org. Tickets can also be purchased at the door for $25. Students and seniors can buy tickets for $15.
Those looking to get involved with the chorus can reach out via Facebook, or simply speak to a member after one of the shows. The group is always looking for singers, as well as people who can help out with the business, marketing and backstage aspects of performances.
“Everybody is really approachable, so if you come to a concert, just speak to anybody in the group and they will steer you in the right direction,” Maiorano said. “We love to talk to our audience after the show.”
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