Hello, GALA members and friends! Eric Lane Barnes here, associate artistic director of Seattle’s Flying House Productions (Seattle Men’s Chorus, Seattle Women’s Chorus, Sensible Shoes, and Captain Smartypants) and composer of songs you may know (Drama Queen, Caffeine Overload Polka, Black Christmas, etc.). As some of you know, in June of 2013 I spent two […]

LGBTQQIAA, aka ‘the acronym’ – quite a mouthful. A 60-something gay friend of mine commented to me awhile ago, “I can’t keep track anymore, I don’t know what all the letters mean! No disrespect intended, but I just keep saying ‘GLBT’ because it’s what I know.” Many in GALA choruses see the times shifting around […]

GALA Choruses executive director Robin Godfrey and artistic director Jane Ramseyer Miller discuss their session from the 2014 GALA Leadership Symposium in Cleveland about copyrights and licensing. This workshop taught the basics of music licensing and the various kinds of copyright for those with little-to-no background in this area. Robin and Jane covered the legalities […]

A lesbian member of the GLBTA chorus I sing with said she just “doesn’t get” why I, a straight person, would join a gay chorus knowing that people would then assume I am gay? Why would I put myself in such a position and open myself up to ridicule? Her question was from the perspective […]

Willi Zwozdeskey, conductor and artistic director of the Vancouver Men’s Chorus, and Dennis Coleman, artistic director of flying house productions in Seattle, Washington, share their memories and congratulations on GALA’s 30th anniversary of being an organization.

Dresden, Germany had always been synonymous in my mind with the senseless devastation of war. I knew that the once-lovely city had been largely rebuilt since WWII but I was wholly unprepared for the breathtaking beauty and grace of the city center, where extensive renovations have restored many of the famous landmarks to their former […]