Eight months after the national tour, the chorus faced its first leadership change.
The vote
The Bay Area Reporter’s Allen White reported that on February 2, 1982, members voted on whether to advertise nationally for a music director. Of 169 eligible members, 139 voted: 114 in favor and 25 against. Kramer was invited to apply for his own job. Members stressed that he had not been fired, but they saw the vote as a vote of confidence, and he lost it. Reasons cited included personality conflicts and a wish for a different musical direction. Kramer resigned on February 7.
The statement
In a statement, the chorus thanked Kramer for three years of leadership, from its first concert on December 20, 1978, through the 1981 national tour. General manager Jay Davidson announced a national search. Robin Kay, artistic director of the Lesbian and Gay Men’s Community Chorus, would prepare the chorus for its March 14 Davies Hall concert with the Berkeley Symphony, and Claude Zetty, Dale Richard and Robert Erickson would conduct the May and June concerts.
“One of the finest musical organizations in the country.”
— chorus statement, as printed in the Bay Area Reporter
Two Cable Cars
The same issue reported that at the eighth annual Cable Car Awards, the chorus won for its album “S.F. Gay Men’s Chorus Tours America” and for outstanding concert, for “Now Sing Again With Hearts Aglow” with the Lesbian and Gay Men’s Community Chorus.
From the archives: this post retells reporting by the Bay Area Reporter. The original articles survive only in newspaper archives, so we have told the story here in our own words. Details attributed to those outlets are their reporting; see the sources below.
Sources
