By 1988, the chorus’s holiday concert was a San Francisco tradition.
Ten years of Christmas
The Bay Area Reporter announced that the chorus would celebrate a decade of sellout Christmas concerts with “Now Sing With Hearts Aglow” on December 15 and 16, 1988, at the Herbst Theatre. Special guests were the Lesbian/Gay Chorus of San Francisco. The Chamber Singers and Men About Town, small groups within the 100-voice chorus, would appear too, along with carol medleys, special sets and costumes, and the chorus’s own version of Santa Claus.
The chorus also sang highlights on Christmas Eve at First Congregational Church, its rehearsal home, with tickets at $10 and $12. That month it sang at Neiman Marcus as well. The Chronicle’s listings carried the Herbst concert among a holiday calendar full of AIDS benefits.
Two years later, the Christmas Eve concert moved to the Castro Theatre and became “Home for the Holidays.”
From the archives: this post retells reporting by the Bay Area Reporter and the San Francisco Chronicle. 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
- Bay Area Reporter, “S.F. Gay Men’s Chorus “Sings With Hearts Aglow””, December 1, 1988. ebar.com
- San Francisco Chronicle, “Events listings”, December 15, 1988. sfchronicle.com
