Philadelphia Gay Men's chorus celebrates 30 years

CENTER CITY - May 20, 2012 (WPVI) -- The Philadelphia Gay Men's chorus is celebrating 30 years of song with an anniversary concert of their biggest hits.

The Philadelphia Gay Men's Chorus was founded in 1981 and it started with just 4 guys singing Christmas carols in bars. It's grown to more than 120 members with a mission of entertaining and enlightening audiences

The 30th anniversary concert, scheduled June 15th and 16th at the Prince Theatre, is entitled Legacy and it's a celebration of how much the chorus has grown and accomplished over the past 3 decades.

Joe Buches , Artistic Director, Phila. Gay Men's Chorus said, "Just singing these words, these powerful words of some of these anthems, these gay anthems as some people would refer to them, just really affirms who you are."

When the chorus first formed, it was the height of the AIDS epidemic and the group offered gay men a place of community and acceptance.

The first half of the legacy concert will be filled with meaningful pieces the chorus has commissioned throughout the years.

"And in the second half, we do everything from Brothers Sing on, which is a traditional male glee club song to a Madonna medley and It's Raining men so we have a wide variety of selections for everybody," added Buches.

The group's mission is to perform challenging and creative works, while also educating audiences about social issues facing the gay community.

"I think all gay choruses have an activism role because some people don't know gay people, think they don't know gay people and to put our faces out there and singing," said Buches.

For tickets to the Legacy Concert. If you buy before June 1st, there's a discount.

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