Through touring, we connect with local choruses, schools, and community organizations to share music and support LGBTQ+ belonging.
Tour history
On the road since 1981
July 7–9, 2024 · Iowa and NebraskaThe Love Tour
Three free concerts in the Midwest, presented with local choruses, to amplify the voices of local activists and stand in solidarity with communities targeted by discriminatory legislation.
Performances
- July 7, 2024Iowa City, IowaVoxman Music Building Concert Hall, University of Iowa, with The Quire of Eastern Iowa
- July 8, 2024Omaha, NebraskaCountryside Community Church, with River City Mixed Chorus. Free-will donations benefited OutNebraska.
- July 9, 2024Des Moines, IowaLauridsen Amphitheater at Water Works Park, with the Des Moines Gay Men’s Chorus
Community partners
- OutNebraska
- Iowa Safe Schools
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Tour photos: Jonathan Dwight
2017 · The Deep SouthLavender Pen Tour
To open its 40th season, the chorus toured the Deep South with the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir, sharing a message of community, activism and compassion and raising funds for regional LGBTQ+ organizations.
States
- Mississippi
- Alabama
- Tennessee
- South Carolina
- North Carolina
On film
The tour is the subject of the documentary Gay Chorus Deep South, directed by David Charles Rodrigues. It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2019 and was acquired by MTV Documentary Films. Learn about the film
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In the press
- TimeOut SF: SFGMC Kicks Off Its 40th Season
- HRC Blog: Singing in the Face of Fear
- O Magazine: This Gay Men’s Chorus Is Taking a Stand Against Hate
- Huffington Post: SFGMC Flies South to Fight Bigotry
- Upworthy: What Happens When a Gay Men’s Choir Tours the Deep South?
About the documentary
February 2016 · Park City, UtahValentine’s Day Concert
A 50-member touring ensemble performed a Valentine’s Day weekend concert at the Eccles Center for the Performing Arts, presented by the Park City Institute.
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Announced 2015 · China40th Anniversary Tour
In November 2015, with Mayor Edwin M. Lee, the chorus announced plans for an October 2018 concert tour to China to celebrate its 40th anniversary, planned as the first tour there by an LGBTQ+ chorus.
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2010–2012 · CaliforniaCalifornia Freedom Tour
After the passage of Proposition 8, the chorus took its music to communities beyond the Bay Area for three consecutive years, connecting live performance with the campaign for marriage equality.
First-year stops
- Redding (sold out, January 30, 2010)
- Chico (sold out, January 31, 2010)
- Bakersfield
- Fresno
- Vallejo
The tour returned to the Empress Theatre in Vallejo on July 17, 2011.
Photos: SFGMC
Listen to the tour album on Spotify
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1998 · Sydney, AustraliaFirst International Tour
The chorus’s first international trip took it to Sydney Town Hall during the city’s Gay Mardi Gras celebrations, where it presented NakedMan and its ABBA program, extrABBAganza, billed together as “The Best of the Best!”
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March 18, 1994 · BostonOrigins & Visions
SFGMC joined the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus, led by music director Robert Barney, for Origins & Visions, a shared concert at Symphony Hall. It is part of a long history of building relationships through music.
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June 1981 · Nine citiesThe 1981 National Tour
Weeks after Mayor Dianne Feinstein presented the chorus with the key to the city, SFGMC set out on its first national tour, joined by the Bay Area Women’s Brass Quartet. The concerts helped inspire LGBTQ+ choruses across the country.
Cities
- Dallas
- Minneapolis
- Lincoln
- Detroit
- New York
- Boston
- Washington, D.C.
- Seattle
- San Francisco (homecoming)
Watch the 40th anniversary reunion video · Read our history
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Keep exploring
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