Join us

We are a friendly and diverse group of 60+ active members, and welcome anyone 18+ who identifies with the LGBT community to join us.

The chorus rehearses on Monday nights in Manchester Town Hall (ask at the Lloyd St entrance).

We sing from 7.00pm -9.30pm with a short break in the middle, and then usually some of us go on for a drink afterwards.

We encourage you to be as comfortable as possible when you sing – sit down if you need to; move to the front if you are having difficulty seeing Jeff, our musical director, or hearing the part; experiment by moving to a different section to see which suits you best and most important of all… enjoy!

Let us introduce our Musical Director...an inspirational (& lovely) man

Jeff is a man well accomplished in enthusiastically getting the best from his singers. His friendly and easy-going style helps new chorus members feel relaxed, and using the aural tradition of teaching, enables them to be singing along with the rest of the choir after a few rehearsals. Since becoming Musical Director of the chorus he has helped it grow and become the award-winning choir it is today.

He is adept at choosing songs which reflect the diverse nature of the singers he directs.

2010 saw him lead the chorus to Paris to sing at Paris Pride and in 2009 he led the choir to Copenhagen to compete in the World Out Games, defending their Bronze Medal won in 2006 in Montreal, & returning with the Siver Medal

Well known and respected around the North-West, Jeff is the Musical Director of several community choirs.

No audition is required to join, the venue has full disabled access, so why not find out more by contacting us.

Jon Atkin is a formerchair of MLGC, but when he first joined 5 years ago, he says, “I could never imagine doing that job”. Jez Dolan was chair then, followed by Sarah Dimmelow and Jon says “they were both so good and seemed so confident, always knowing the right thing to say at the right time….It’s strange to think I’m the chair now”. In fact he was so nervous even of going along to a choir rehearsal the first time, that he went with a friend who also wanted to join, and they stopped for a drink of ‘Dutch courage’ on the way.

But he found the choir extremely welcoming – everyone was very friendly. That’s one of the things he likes about the choir: whenever someone new comes along one of the choir will always sit and chat with them about the choir, and look out for them. The other things he likes are the sense of community, the regularity of meeting every week and having a programme of events throughout the year, as well as the good social side. “I had to take a year out because I was working in London for a year, and one of the things I missed most was the choir. I couldn’t really join one in London because I was coming back to Manchester a lot of weekends, and the London gay choirs seem to meet at the weekend.” Thankfully, he settled back in Manchester and re-joined MLGC. Jon is looking forward to the choir celebrating its 10th anniversary later in 2011. ‘I hope it will be about celebrating past achievements but also looking forward to the future’.

Gaz moved to Manchester about four years ago. Although he had been in other choirs before, he hadn’t got around to joining one in Manchester, so nearly a year ago a friend – who was already in MLGC – suggested he should come along and try it out.
“I love it,” he says, “it’s totally removed from the sorts of choirs I was used to, which were mainly classical and church choral music: it’s modern - I’m really getting into it.” So much so that Gaz has started conducting us for some numbers, or when our Musical Director Jeff is unable to be there.
Another thing Gaz really likes about the Chorus is that it is “very friendly: I was warmly welcomed when I first joined and now I am really making friends.” He loves singing, but also loves the social side of the choir – going out with others from the choir, concerts (like the one in Paris in June and the one we are rehearsing now for November in Manchester) and weekends away (such as the weekend we had in Llandudno in March).
“I didn’t know what to expect when I joined; I had no preconceived ideas; and I really enjoy everything about it,” he said. To anyone who goes on to our web site, wondering about joining, Gaz says “come and give it a go. You’ll aways be made to feel welcome, and it’s easy to learn the songs as well, even if you don’t read music.”
To anyone who likes the idea of singing but thinks they can’t sing, he says, simply: “people can sing! Some are just nervous or haven’t brought their voice forward. Come and give it a go!!!”

Leda loves having a good sing for a couple of hours on a Monday. She also likes meeting all the people in the choir. “There’s something about choir people. It’ll probably come back to haunt me if I say this, but they are all slightly odd in a brilliant way. There are really interesting people in the choir, with all different backgrounds. It’s really refreshing.”
She also likes the fact that we don’t have to audition or be able to read music before we join. And that the choir consistently gets out of her, musically, so much more than she thought she could give. “I really love the fact that I am outside my comfort zone quite a lot, but really enjoy it. I like the fact that we end up doing stuff we really didn’t think we could do. I think that strength is really good, though a very hard thing to manage. We make people feel welcome, and that it’s not going to be over their heads, but at the same time stretch them and bring them on at the same time.”
One of the challenges is the choreography: “I am so fabulously uncoordinated, and have an issue with left and right!” though she has taken to singing and signing in BSL at the same time, which we do when we sing “Every time we say goodbye”.
Leda used to sing with another choir in Manchester, but came across MLGC when she went with a friend to hear the London Gay Men’s Chorus at the Library Theatre. MLGC was performing as well. We were a lot newer and more inexperienced then, and she hadn’t heard of us. “You won the audience over when a song went wrong and you started it again!” Then she left Manchester for a few years, and came back as a mature student, sought out MLGC and joined.
In a large group of very diverse people, there are bound to be disagreements, but Leda feels the committee handles it all quite well. “It’s great that it’s so democratic, and that the committee goes out of its way to make sure everyone feels included.”
Leda likes the fact that we perform. “It seems odd to enjoy music and not want to perform it,” she says, “even though I get very nervous about performing. One of the reasons it’s so brilliant is you feel nervous, but then do it and get over those nerves and feel great afterwards! It’s a stretch and gets more out of people than they thought they were capable of. When we actually do it, we may feel uncomfortable for a bit, but it really increases our confidence and how we think of ourselves!”