A Very Vocal Minority | manwomanthing celebrates all genders and orientations in a choral show that'll make the dino bones shake at RAB.
In 1992, two women placed an ad in an Edmonton paper looking for a conductor and accompanist to help start a gay choir. Calgary already had one, the logic went, and it was high time our city had its own. Kirk Kryvenchuk was the accompanist who answered the ad.
“It was something that appealed to me as a musician,” says Kryvenchuk, now the general manager and assistant artistic director of Edmonton Vocal Minority. “I wasn’t good at fundraising or any of those things, but I did want to do something for the gay community and it was the way I could use my talent.... I think the time was right. The ’90s were when things became more open and it became easier to do something like this.”
The choir has undergone a number of changes since its inception, from an uncertain endeavour to an established organization—working with a sometimes-flaky 100 registered members to a committed group of 30-40 dedicated singers—but its purpose has always remained the same.
“First and foremost, we are a musical voice in the gay community to sing about issues that need addressing in the larger scheme of things,” Kryvenchuk explains. “We wanted to look at life with a gay perspective and to give gay people confidence in themselves for them to hear about experiences in their life.”
Artistic director and conductor Paula Roberts agrees. “We’re here to have a presence,” she says, “because it makes the GLBT community more visible to the general public in a pleasing way. I think the more people can be visible, it promotes goodwill.”
The choir also functions as an affirming, supportive place for the queer (or questioning) community. “That’s the thing that really keeps me with the group,” says Kryvenchuk, who recalls a woman who was questioning her sexuality and joined the choir—with her husband. “In the end,” he says, “she met someone in the choir and they became partners. Her husband understood, because that was why they came. There are so many stories like that. For some people, the rest of their lives they’re leading a double life. Monday night rehearsals are the only time they get to actually be with other gay people.”
But the choir is hardly a dating service—they’re a serious group of singers who have performed at their height with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. But when EVM holds their annual Pride Week show this Saturday, there will be notable differences from the group’s previous concerts. “It’s the debut of our separate men’s and women’s choirs [uncomMEN and Yemaya],” says Kryvenchuk.
Not wanting to give up EVM’s history of having a mixed choir, which Roberts says is both a musical and social choice, she tried to find “the best of three worlds.” “The title of the show is manwomanthing,” she says. “Whether they’re gay or not, there’s big differences between men and women, and separated choirs are able to sing about those specific male or female experiences. Yet at the same time, they do relate to each other, which is what EVM is about.”
The collection of songs is varied, from spiritual pieces to Canadian-written numbers, as well as plenty of familiar showtunes from Dreamgirls, The Full Monty, Wicked, and Avenue Q. “Music is very non-threatening,” says Kryvenchuk. “It’s an easy way to go into situations that might not be easy if we were giving a speech or something like that. It’s a good way of communicating. You can say a lot with what you sing about. You can use humour in how you present things. I can’t think of a single experience that hasn’t been positive.”
“I think the traditional problem with people not accepting those in the gay community is just unfamiliarity,” says Roberts. “When you meet somebody face-to-face, that’s what really makes a difference. Every time we go out into the community, we’re doing that. For those that don’t often interact with the queer community, it’s a tangible thing for them.... People are people. Everybody has their differences, but the important thing is that we’re all people.”
EVM is always looking for new members, and in keeping with their maxims of tolerance and understanding, they accept singers of any sexual orientation.
