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New MD – Murray Hipkin

Being a newbie Pinkie is an exciting experience: you are welcomed into a new community, full of people who want to know more about you. Imagine how much more exciting it is when you join, not as a singer, but as our conductor! Here some of the Pink Singers put Murray Hipkin, who joins us this season as our musical director, under the spotlight:

Frances asks, “How did you find out about the Pink Singers?”

I was at my friend Martin’s 40th birthday party at Kettners a couple of months ago when a small group of Pinkies sang — I was playing the piano for Janie Dee — afterwards I found a slightly upset tenor on the pavement outside the club and gathered that there was a MD-shaped hole in the choir….so the next day I wrote to the chair, offering my services, initially as temporary cover while the search began. In fact, I ended up auditioning for the post.

Max asks, “What appealed to you about conducting the Pink Singers?”

Well, I was already working Monday to Saturday, so I thought I’d collect the full set — for a while I have been quite aware that although I have a lot of gay friends, I’ve never really had a chance to get involved in the wider gay community — and although I spend most of my time working with professional musicians and singers at a very high level (at English National Opera) I love bringing my musical experience and teaching skills as an enabler and motivator into my work with amateur and community groups. (By the way, do remember that the word “professional” should never be used as a measure of standards — all it means is that the musicians were paid…)

Andrew asks, “Now that you’ve been with the Pinkies for a couple of months, what do you like about the choir?”

I love the rule that says that the length of time spent at the pub must exceed the length of time spent rehearsing, but I have also enjoyed making friends with the sopranos and altos — it just happened before that I didn’t know very many gay women — if I’m honest, they used to scare me somewhat, especially in large numbers, but now I’m realising that most of them are not at all frightening…

Eve asks, “What do you think the difference is between a regular choir and one that identifies as LGBT?”

Er… what they do in bed, and to whom. (It also has to be said that it is a truth universally acknowledged that in most choirs the altos fancy the conductor.)

Gerry asks, “How are the Pink Singers different from other choirs you’ve conducted in the past?”

I have never worked with a choir that does everything from memory. I’ve always been a sightreader rather than a memoriser and if I had a hat on I would remove it and bow in your general direction as I think you are all amazing learning all those notes. The fact that they usually seem to come out in the right order is particularly impressive.

Jerome (bass) asks, “If you had to pick a favourite section, which one would it be?”

Why, Jerome, the basses, without any doubt at all. (That is, until I’m asked the same question by an alto, because as people keep telling me, I need to keep them sweet…)

Nathalina asks, “What did you want to be when you grew up – have you always wanted to conduct?”

No, I recall wanting to be a forensic pathologist (I was for a while fascinated by dead bodies), then a missionary (God knows why). Eventually I settled on being a piano accompanist (recitals and chamber music), but even that didn’t quite work out and I ended up as a sort of maid-of-all-work in an opera house – apart from a couple of things at school, I didn’t start conducting until I was about 40.

Ben asks, “Could you summarize your professional music experience?”

Er ok; I was the first Trainee Répétiteur at ENO, leading to a permanent job on the Music Staff there — I now coach opera singers, play for rehearsals, act as Assistant Conductor and occasionally conduct performances; otherwise I have had stints of piano–teaching and teaching in a Stage School (Kate Winslet was in my class); among my various freelance operatic and concert contracts in the UK and Europe I can include two projects with Björk, 8 months as Musical Director of “The Sound of Music” at the Palladium, and the Musical Director–ship of the North London Chorus. I have also directed student opera productions and translated two operas for performance in English. (Sorry if this seems very long, but I am very old.)

Simon asks, “What kinds of music — opera, classical, musical theatre, contemporary, etc. — do you prefer conducting?”

I’m definitely most at home with vocal music — choral or operatic — I think I am probably what is known in the profession as a “singers’ conductor”, but I had a brilliant time conducting “The Sound of Music” and would love to do another West End show (and my bank manager would support me in this).

Penny asks, “What’s your favourite piece in this season’s repertoire?”

Whichever one we are singing at the time. It’s the only way. Sorry if that’s a bit of a clever-clever answer but there is truth in it; perhaps I should admit to my Sondheim habit now. I once spent a fortnight working with him and one day found an anagram of his name that even he (a crossword fanatic) had never worked out. “Send home the nips” sounds a bit racist but we were doing “Pacific Overtures” which is set in Japan so it was kind of funny at the time. I hope he remembers me for more than that… Oh yes, where were we, it’s “Send in the Clowns”.

Sue asks, “What music — genres, specific pieces — would you like to see the Pink Singers performing?”

As wide a variety as possible. But it‘s clearly important that people are singing what they want to sing and that we try and accommodate all tastes. Whether I like it or not mine are secondary and in any case I‘ve always thought of myself a bit of a musical chameleon and I‘m very versatile (Hsien mentioned that someone had asked about that too — presumably not an alto). But it’s early days and I haven‘t really had time to research all the available arrangements yet. Watch this space.

Jules asks, “Where do you see the choir going under your direction in the future?”

I haven’t come here to try and change the personality of the choir — and the more important question is: where does the choir see itself going? I do want to introduce mentoring for the Assistants Conductors and Accompanists as well as regular vocal workshops for the whole choir with visiting teachers, and maybe sightreading or music theory classes (it’s not rocket science) but let’s get 8 January over with first. Ask me again in 6 months.

Michael asks, “If you had to take one opera with you to a desert island, which one would it be?”

This is cheating a bit as it’s really four operas, but can I have Wagner’s “Ring” please… hang on Michael, what’s all this about a desert island…?

Chris asks, “What non-music-related activities do you do in your free time?”

What free time would that be?

Sarah asks, “What are you most looking forward to about your first Pink Singers concert, ‘A Burst of Song’?”

Wearing my new dress shirt (courtesy of Dylon — flamingo pink). And seeing the choir start a new era with a stonking great performance.

And the $64,000 question… Chris asks, “What is your favourite colour?”

Don’t be ridiculous. Chris! (although if you ever visit my bathroom you might notice a similarity between the walls and the afore–mentioned dress shirt).

Timeline datestamp: 08 January 2011

40 Years of Pride

This year London Pride celebrates everything 1970 because it’s 40 years since the formation of the Gay Liberation Front. The Stonewall Rebellion began in New York in June 1969 and just over a year later the GLF was born. According to the Pride London website “the GLF was a revolutionary group of radical queens, hippies, students and activists who brought LGBT rights out in to the open.” Pink Singer Philip remembers the first GLF march a year later, officially to protest the age of consent:

The march from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square was on 28 August 1971. There were about 1,000 people and the whole thing was lead by a Nigerian drum band. A very tall guy from Sweden grabbed my arm and said ‘I march with you’ and didn’t let go until we reached the Square. I remember we sang Bachelor Boy and My Guy. I felt like a gay Cliff Richard. We were joined by lot of sweet men in drag who sang along. It was possibly the first ever gay men’s chorus! I’ve been singing on Pride marches ever since.

Philip has been marching and singing since the start and is a long serving member of the choir. We’re proud that the choir is made up of old and new members. Last year, on 3 July 2009, when the Pink Singers thrilled the crowd in Trafalgar Square once more, it was Kate’s first Pride:

The best bit of my first Pride was singing on the main stage in Trafalgar Square and seeing thousands of people who had turned up to enjoy the day, being proud of who they were, and everyone belting out the chorus to YMCA. That, and getting my first rainbow-coloured cowboy hat.

Performing in Trafalgar Square at Pride 2009

The first ever London Gay Pride Rally was held a year after the GLF march on the 1 July 1972 and about 2,000 people came. Times have changed: in 2009 London Pride attracted 1,000,000 visitors. However, many of the original GLF demands from 1970 have still not been met in this country and in many countries throughout the world. In summary, these demands are:

discrimination against gay people must end
gay people should be taught that their feelings are normal
sex education must be inclusive
homosexuality isn’t a problem or sickness
communication between gay people should be open and police harassment must stop
discrimination by employers must stop
the age of consent should be equal for all
gay people must be free to hold hands and kiss in public.

Many of the Pink Singers also took part in Malta Pride last year. Our collaboration with a church youth choir resulted in a performance where LGBT people and the Catholic Church joined together to call for equality. And surprise song Hallini brought the house down! The Pinkies’ support for the Pride march showed how much we believe in supporting gay rights internationally. Kate says:

Malta Pride was a much smaller affair than London and it reminded me of how lucky we are in London and the freedom that we have. It drove home how important pride marches are to creating awareness of gay rights. The bravery of the people openly marching in Malta was completely inspiring. But then again the big celebration of gayness at London Pride is no bad thing either!

And now here we are in 2010. The Pink Singers are once again in the Pride parade and also on stage in Trafalgar Square, singing ‘Does your mother know’. There was never a better double entendre to ABBA’s classic song!

Louise Tondeur (with Philip Rescorla and Kate Nicholls)

Timeline datestamp: 03 July 2010

The Big Pink Chill

‘In the Pink(ies)‘ is a blog on the life and times of a Pink Singer, known only as the ‘Pink Insider’. This is their account of our concert “The Big Pink Chill” in 2010.

Every concert is a special event, not only because we have been rehearsing for the twelve or so weeks prior to it, but because every single one is different. The Pinkies’ last concert – the Big Pink Chill – was no exception, but for me, there were a number of changes this time round which made this particular experience more memorable.

The most significant difference actually began a week or so before the concert itself when we had news that the tickets had sold out. I’m not sure of the ins and outs of it, but it looks like this was due to a combination of more tickets sold by members, combined with a trebling of the tickets we sold through the website. Now, usually we do, especially in the winter season, sell out, but to do so so far in advance certainly caused Simon W a bit of a headache and more than a few late, sleepless nights.

The Royal College of Music is fairly familiar to us now, given that this is our second time there, so there are fewer surprises in terms of the venue itself. Nevertheless, since this time we were performing with two other choirs, Purple Harmony and Sing Out Bristol, rather than by ourselves, it took significantly more organizational work to make sure everyone was in the right place at the right time.

None of this would have been possible without the volunteers like Kate D who kept Sing Out Bristol entertained and updated, but a great deal of credit goes to our UK Concerts director Ben P. I have no idea how he does it, but he manages to co-ordinate moving nearly 150 people in and around the theatre, set out instructions to the production crew, and act as the general lynch pin of the whole operation, while still keeping a calm exterior and still singing! The fact that, as a choir, we just have to concentrate on our own performance, and not worry about all the extraneous logistical issues is down in no small part to Ben’s hard work.

The Pink Singers are about singing, true, but the creation of the end product requires so much input from a huge number of people. It is salutary to observe that it is no longer just the people in the committee doing all the work; there is a whole phalanx of Pinkies helping out in other ways, from choreographing our moves, to making announcements, to performing solos, to arranging sectionals, to recording multimedia, to organizing social events. All of these things create a much richer experience for all the members. And all of these Pinkies are doing this as volunteers at that, so it is good that we now have a tradition of recognizing their efforts at the concert.

One of the big events this season has been our inclusion of religious music in our repertoire. To be correct we have, for a long time now, sung music with a sacred theme, but the songs have largely been in Latin or classical, or about Christmas. So if you really want to split hairs, this is the first time we have sung modern Christian songs which are not carols in English. Hopefully that just goes to show how arbitrary the classification is, but it would be remiss of me if I did not acknowledge that this caused some consternation in the choir. We are an LGBT choir, and many of our members have an uneasy and occasionally fractious relationship with the Christian faith. So it is with some pride that the choir still stuck together to perform these songs well, despite any individual reservations.

The result was, for me, the most significant event of the evening, which was when Purple Harmony joined us on stage to perform. They are a children’s choir from Surrey, and the choir in which Cass used to sing when she was a little one. To me their being on stage with us was a profound statement of how far our society has progressed in terms of inclusiveness and equality. In rehearsal, our joint song Rutter’s Look At The World sounded beautiful, but with children’s voices it was sublime. I had to stop myself from choking with tears during the song itself it was so transcendent. The performance defied all stereotypes of what an LGBT choir is, and I certainly hope that the more conservative elements will at least have had some of their prejudices questioned.

I also want to highlight our other guest choir, Sing Out Bristol. They are one of the newest LGBT choirs in the UK, being just over two years old, but already they have over 60 members, 40 of whom came to London. I met them for the first time at Various Voices back in May 2009. Speaking to some of their members, they face the same problems we do – deciding on a direction for the choir, managing a large group of people and dealing with the right balance between the needs of the individual and needs of the choir as a whole. There is so much to learn, from each other, and it is wonderful what we can give each other the platform to perform at and support each other in the way we do. I can see our relationship growing from here on in.

All of this is wonderfully virtuous, but the best part is that the Pinkies really know how to have fun, so after the concert it was on to a raucous karaoke at the Imperial College bar, followed the next day by an understandably more subdued post-concert brunch at the Ku Bar in Lisle Street. Time to put away the pink accessory for another season; see you at the end of February for Summer 2010!

You can read the original blog post here.

Timeline datestamp: 16 January 2010

Manchester Choral Competition

The choir comes second in the Manchester Amateur Choral Competition – the first event like this the Pink Singers entered, which saw 15 choirs from around the country meet and compete. The competition is not solely focused on the winning choir – simply the satisfaction of having sung to a high standard and the opportunity to experience and enjoy the diversity of performance from other amateur choirs. Our bass, Tom, gives his account here…

To paraphrase Kermit the Frog, it’s not easy being a Pinkie: first there’s the rehearsal commitment, where you have to sing with your friends once a week for a few hours. Then there’s the requirement to learn and perform some spine-tingling pieces. And there’s occasional travel….

So when the rallying call went out for willing participants to enter a choral competition in Manchester and spend a weekend up north, of course I jumped at the chance. What better opportunity to see the Pinkie family, crush those post-concert blues, and turn the red rose pink in the process.

We set off on a cold Friday evening and after a lively train journey, gathered on Canal Street for a night out. Much silly dancing took place – the kind that only seems to exist on holiday.

Saturday was our rehearsal day. Time to have some lunch and get down to the business of polishing our competition performance. With everyone gathered in the cosy surroundings of the downstairs room at Via on Canal Street, we ran through our songs. A last chance to dot the “i”s and cross the “t”s.

And then came Sunday, competition day. The air was filled with excitement in the foyer at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM). Choirs from across the country were here to compete for the trophy, performing in the RNCM’s stunning, newly-refurbished Concert Hall, buoyed by some fantastic support from the audience. We were scheduled to be on last, so we were able to see a good few of the other choirs perform – and as their notes resonated around the room it was clear that the standard was very high.

All too soon it was our turn. We were ushered into the warm-up room. Deep breaths all round. It feels like a different kind of adrenaline kicks in for a competition performance. A brief run-through. More deep breaths. Queuing up outside the concert hall. Then, walking on stage.

We opened with Murray’s (our conductor) arrangement (remix) of Vieni Imeneo from Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, followed by a rearrangement of Blackbird and finishing with I Wanna Dance With Somebody. As the last note of Whitney drifted up to the ceiling it was time to relax a little. We didn’t have long to wait before the results came in from the judges, and…

…were thrilled to come third! following some superb performances from the Edinburgh Police Choir and the winning choir, The Noteables.

The return journey seemed to pass by in a haze, with a collective sing-along through the entire Pinkies’ back catalogue. The acoustics of a Virgin Pendolino aren’t quite as glorious as the RNCM Concert Hall but we gave it a go anyway.

And so with Manchester my last cherry was popped – my “competition cherry” (in the Pinkies there seems to be a cherry for everything).

The last four months have been hard work. But, as I write this blog, watching a video of our competition performance has made me realise why I joined. It’s when people get together that great things happen. This season has been an absolute blast. Wild horses wouldn’t keep me away from the next one.

Timeline datestamp: 21 November 2009

Malta

The collaboration between a British gay and lesbian choir and a Maltese Christian choir was always going to raise eyebrows, especially if they met in Malta, where Catholicism holds sway and the Gay Rights Movement is almost non-existent. In July 2009, however, the Pink Singers managed just that, taking their show to Malta to promote social equality through their music.

There were two immediate dilemmas; how would the fervently religious Maltese community react to a gay choir, and would it be possible to pair the Pinkies with another choir given these circumstances. “The gay scene in Malta is still quite backwards and limited”, Andrew says, “there are no gay choirs in Malta and they have no idea what a gay choir is…people were thinking it was going to be all feather boas and being camp”.

Under the leadership of Andrew Francalanza, a Maltese national, the Pinkies took the first small step towards a brighter future for Malta’s gay community, achieving the seemingly impossible for a minority without a voice. Andrew Francalanza became a Pinkie in 2007, and quickly learnt “how much fun it is to go abroad and sing with another choir”. In his capacity as International Concerts Co-ordinator, Andrew broached the idea of taking the choir to his native Malta.

At the Malta Gay Rights Movement’s suggestion, Andrew approached Symphonik, the choral branch of a Christian organisation that seeks to promote social equality through music and mirrors the Pinkies in intention and method. “It ended up growing from just a basic concert to being something really huge” Andrew recalls; “a gay and lesbian choir singing with a Christian choir underneath the Gay Rights Movement’s umbrella to promote equality”.

Eight months of frantic organisation later, the Pinkies headed to Valetta for a large scale concert in the City Theatre, with fifty choir members travelling to Malta’s capital for the event. Due to Andrew’s prior communication with the Maltese media and his own network of friends and contacts, the island was awaiting their arrival with a mixture of curiosity and wariness. As predicted, some called for the Church to take a stand against the choir’s promotion of homosexuality, but the majority of the community gave the Pinkies a warm welcome. “95% of feedback was really good” and the concert audience was very positive; “we blew them away!” Andrew says.

The joint concert was scheduled as the grand finale of Malta’s Pride week, which the majority of the Pinkies attended, having also sung at London’s Pride march two weeks previously. “London Pride and Malta Pride are two different concepts” Andrew explains. “London is in a place where it can celebrate being gay” with “a whole day and a big party in the streets where you can just have fun and be silly”. Malta Pride is “an hour…half an hour of marching, half an hour of speeches, and it was…quiet.” There was a feeling of silent anger amongst the marchers, whose banners displayed rage rather than celebration. “Even though it wasn’t said, [the silence] was a way of saying ‘we don’t have a voice’” Andrew says.

The Pride march had a great emotional impact on the Pinkies, with their Chair, Mark Winter, describing the scene as “London twenty years ago”. Their presence changed the atmosphere completely, bringing joy and fun to the event and doubling the number of marchers to almost a hundred. The Pinkies showed the Maltese gay community the way Pride should be; full of fun and, most importantly, pride in who you are. Their positive attitude, alongside their banners and rainbow flags, had an instant impact. The Maltese EU parliamentary representative stood up and professed his ignorance regarding the gay rights movement and his desire to work with the community towards a greater acceptance and social freedom.

Amazingly, the Maltese Prime Minister followed his lead and has now established a lobby group to promote gay rights on the island. Further to this, the Malta Gay Rights Movement has set the wheels in motion for the formation of a gay choir, an amazing development considering the current social ramifications of being openly homosexual in Malta.

The concert and Pride march were both an astounding success and provided the Pink Singers with a moving experience as well as new friends from Symphonik, who joined them at Malta’s only gay bar for the concert after party. The trip’s success demonstrates the impact small actions and a positive attitude can have. “For the choir the [trip] was a really powerful experience…it wasn’t just us singing and having fun, it was such a big political message” Andrew says, “they keep asking me when we’re going back.”

Alex Field, guest writer

Timeline datestamp: 13 July 2009

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