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Gone Viral – Live at Cadogan Hall Sun 24th April

Join us for “The Pink Singers: Gone Viral”: 7.00pm Sunday 24th April 2022 at The Cadogan Hall, 5 Sloane Terrace, London SW1X 9DQ. We’ll be giving away 1 in 10 tickets to LGBT+ charities including Opening Doors London. If you can’t attend but would still like to support us, you can buy tickets and we’ll donate them to someone who wouldn’t ordinarily be able to attend. See below for further details.

Buy your tickets here

With “Gone Viral”, we will take you on a fun and emotional audio and visual journey. You’ll witness our transition to virtual choir, back to performing live again, whilst at the same time strengthening our community as a choir and beyond. Audience members will be immersed in the performance as we’ve never done before!

Repertoire will include the usual mix of popular music from the 1970s to present day as well as twists on classical favourites. Expect a capella, accompanied and our trademark choreographic showstoppers from our talented in-house team.

This will be the first time that a full choir will be back on stage since we performed our sell out concert and live album By Special Arrangement Part 2 in January 2020. We’ve waited a long time for this, and we can’t wait to unleash our irrepressible energy on you!

It’s our mission to increase access to music for all members of the LGBTQ+ community. For every 10 tickets we sell we are giving one away to charities including Opening Doors London. Come to our concert and not only will you have a great night out, but you’ll also help us reach more people who can’t usually come and hear us.

#pinksingers

Tickets range from £10 to £45 for VIP tickets (includes a glass of fizz & programme).

Please share this blog and our Facebook event and pinned posts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with your friends! 

Can’t come to the concert but you’d still like to support us?

We know that for one reason or another not all our fans will be able to attend the concert, but that some of you might still want to show your support for the choir. At the same time for this concert we’d love to expand our reach to new audience members who have not been able to experience the Pink Singers in concert before. If you can’t make the concert but would like to show your continued support to the choir why not buy a ticket and we’ll donate it to someone who would not ordinarily be able to attend?

If you would like to do this, we’d be extremely grateful! To ensure your tickets are passed on, please do the following. Thank you!

  • Buy one or more tickets from the box office in the usual way
  • Send an email to publicity@pinksingers.co.uk titled “Gift tickets” telling us the name you booked the ticket(s) under and how many you are gifting.
Follow the concert build-up!

We’ll be publishing more information during the build-up to the concert. Check out insider stories and the background to some of the repertoire choices.

See us live in Hammersmith!

Join us for our concert “Sing! A Jamboree for all the family”:

3pm Sunday 24th October at 245 Hammersmith Road, London, W6 8PW

We enjoyed our first formal concert in 18 months so much that we’ve decided to do it all over again! Following hot on the heels of our successful and emotional performances in South and East London in September, we’re spreading the Pinkies magic out West.

We’ll be performing old favourites as well as beautiful new arrangements of songs that resonate with the LGBT+ community and living authentically.

Repertoire in this performance will include Together in Electric Dreams, Run, Strong, Brave, Proud and Chosen Family.

Tickets: Adults £10 (+ £1.37 booking fee);  Under 26s FREE!*

Tickets are available in advance via Eventbrite. Tickets will also be available on the day (again via Eventbrite), but we would encourage you to buy in advance to help with the smooth running of the event.

*For free tickets for under 26s email info@maxmusicianandartistexchange.com to get added to the guest list.  

After so long apart we are really excited to get to perform again and would like to thank Max Productions for inviting us to take part in their October programme of events.

“MAX Productions are delighted to work in partnership with Legal & General and Mitsubishi Estate London to present its ‘First Edition’ of events in the unique space of 245 Hammersmith Road. As the UK comes out of the pandemic, it is vital that great music making plays its part in the recovery of the community, and the nation as a whole. I am thrilled to present some of the finest UK based performers across our MAX events, and look forward to enjoying with our audiences. There is something for everyone, and everyone is invited.”

– Andrew Watts, Artistic Director of MAX – Musician and Artist Exchange Productions Limited

‘Much to be Done’ – FREE performances in Peckham

Join us for “Much To Be Done” at 3:30PM and 5:30PM on Sun 12th Sept at 10th floor, Multistorey Car Park, 95a Rye Lane, London SE15 4TG.

Our free pop-up performances at Bold Tendencies in Peckham on the weekend of the now cancelled London Pride 2021 link directly back to the Stonewall riots in 1969. 

Bold Tendencies is a not-for-profit organisation based at the former Peckham Multi-Storey Car Park which produces an annual programme of visual art, live music, dance and opera. Bold Tendencies is a committed supporter of the LGBT+ community and the car park was home for our first few in-person rehearsals as we eased ourselves out of lockdown. 

The rooftop, where we will be performing, is home to the billboard artwork “Untitled” (1989) by Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1967-1996). First displayed in Sheridan Square in New York across from the Stonewall Inn, “Untitled” is a commemoration of the Stonewall Uprising that followed a police raid on the bar in 1969, sparking widespread demonstrations in response to human rights injustices and the lack of government action surrounding the AIDS epidemic. In 1989 an estimated 200,000 participants in the Gay and Lesbian Liberation Day March passed in front of this billboard. This work has an enduring power and relevance as a symbol for inclusive civic values and the celebration of free public space in the city. 

“Untitled” (1989) by Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1967-1996)

Gonzalez-Torres participated in hundreds of group shows across the world during his lifetime. Working during the height of the AIDS crisis, his work motivates social action by conveying subjects of love and loss, sickness and rejuvenation, gender and sexuality.

Performing in the context of “Untitled” will magnify the voices of our choir, deepening the historical context in which our songs will be heard. Not only will this create unity between different times and struggles, celebrating the artistic achievements of those who have battled against oppression and loss in their lives due to their sexuality; but in particular it will amplify the call by London Pride for a national AIDS memorial to remember those who died from the virus and those who cared for them. 

Taking part in this year’s LGBT+ festival will be one of our first public performances since January 2020. As well as giving our second performance of Much To Be Done (the finale of Iain Bell’s opera Stonewall, specially arranged for The Pink Singers), we will be performing a number of old favourites and new uplifting songs that resonate with the LGBT+ community and living authentically. 

The weekend of 11-12 September will now see different community groups, pop up events and parades come together to celebrate pride across the city and provide an opportunity for the LGBT+ community to be visible, to light our voices and do so in unity and safety.

Performing Live in East London!

Join us for our concert “Chosen Family”: 4pm Sunday 19th September at St Matthew’s Church, Bethnal Green, London E2 6DT

It’s so good to be back and giving live performances again! Join us in Bethnal Green and hear old favourites as well as beautiful new arrangements of songs that resonate with the LGBT+ community and living authentically.

Repertoire in this 60-minute performance will include Together in Electric Dreams, Run, Strong, Brave, Proud and Chosen Family. We’ll also be giving our second performance of “Much To Be Done” from Iain Bell’s opera Stonewall which was specially arranged for The Pink Singers.

Tickets

Tickets are £10  and are available online in advance and on the door.

All proceeds will go to St Matthew’s Church, a stubbornly LGBTQ+ affirming church which has kindly provided us with a free rehearsal venue during the summer.

Every September St Matthew’s host celebrations on or near the Feast Day for St Matthew, their patron saint. They are delighted to have The Pink Singers as part of the programme this year.

Rebel Dykes

As part of our Pride Month celebrations we have been highlighting the brand new feature film Rebel Dykes, which is a documentary set in 1980s post punk London. It tells the unheard story of a community of lesbians who met doing art, music, politics and sex and how they went on to change their world. It has been recently shown at BFI Flare and the Fringe Film Festival at the Genesis Cinema in Bethnal Green and will be making its way around the film festival circuit this year.

Pinkies meet some of the film’s protagonists

The film is a fantastic portrayal of a fiercely strong group of lesbians, proudly identifying as dykes, who were finding their place in the community and using their voice to fight for the rights of others. The film features interviews with some of the key figures of the community and also plays footage from some of the clubs and main events that occurred at the time. Some of the Pink Singers went to the first cinema showing at the Genesis earlier this month and were extremely excited to meet some of the film’s leading protagonists.

Sally-Anne Smith, Pink Singers Soprano 1, was around in the 1980s and was aware of the group and even features in the film. We asked her for a few words about her experience and what led to her exciting cameo appearance:

Sally-Anne

“The Rebel Dykes is about a loose knit community of lesbians in London in 1986. Many were also involved in the anti-nuclear protests at Greenham Common in Berkshire. Many lived in squats in London. I suppose they would have been viewed as “outsiders” at the time. They lived according to their own politics and beliefs, being a lesbian was not widely accepted. Some of the film is set in “Chain Reaction” which was a Woman Only SM (sado-masochism) bar in Vauxhall. The “SM Dykes” were a visible presence on the Gay Pride marches in the 1980’s. At the time, I think they would have been considered a “sub culture” in the lesbian scene, they were certainly not universally accepted (not that that would have worried them). Lesbian SM was a very contentious issue at the time, it may well still be, I honestly don’t know. Coming from my own personal standpoint of feminism and non-violence, it was not something I really understood. WAS it “Violent” or “Anti Feminist”? So to try and get some dialogue going, there was a debate on the subject with a panel of “Pro” and “Anti” SM woman and a mixed audience. It was a woman only meeting and I went with a bunch of friends (of varying opinions) and when I got there Sheila Jeffreys (if my memory serves me correctly) who was supposed to be on the panel giving the “anti SM” viewpoint was walking out of the building. This left an empty chair and a request for someone to take her place on the panel. My friends seemed to think I would be a good candidate, so I walked up and sat in the empty chair. Can’t remember much of what I said. I was interested in reconciling an issue which was causing contention in the lesbian/feminist movement. I wanted to find out where the “other side” was coming from. This blog ONLY represents my personal impressions of something that happened over 30 years ago. I do not claim to speak for anyone else. But that is why there is a very fleeting clip of myself in the film. Oh, and I did get to go to “Chain Reaction” after all”

The Directors of the film, Harri Shanahan and Siân A. Williams, were interviewed by LesFlicks (a social enterprises raising the visibility and support of lesbian and bisexual films and film makers) during the premiere online showing at BFI Flare earlier this year. Check out the video of the interview and find out more about how they pulled the film together and the importance of the film to the LGBT+ community.

To coincide with the release of the film, the Rebel Dykes community have pulled together the Rebel Dykes – Art and Archive Show which is being shown at Space Station Sixty-Five in Kennington, London, SE11 4PT.  The exhibition opened on June 25th and goes on until September 17th 2021 (Thursday – Saturday, 12-6pm). The gallery describe the exhibition as celebrating “past and present dissident voices, those who stood boldly against homophobia, Clause 28 and a heteronormative, deeply divided and sexist society. And they did it with style and swagger”. Admission is ticketed. Please go along and support and find out more about this wonderful period in LGBT+ history.