
Announcing GMCLA’s Virtual Spring Concert – The California Sound!
Saturday, March 20 at 8PM
This one-hour virtual event features all-new video performances from the Chorus and Music Director & Conductor, Ernest H. Harrison. GMCLA celebrates the legendary harmonies that put California on the map, and on the charts, and some of California’s most inspired contemporary pop and classical artists. From the The Mamas and The Papas’ California Dreaming and The Beach Boys’ Surfing USA and God Only Knows to Aloe Blacc’s Wake Me Up and Billie Eillish’s Bad Guy, plus much more, this is going to be a sonic sensation!
@Home for the Holidays was watched by over 6,000 households. The Chorus family is honored that we were able to brighten so many lives by keeping our holiday tradition alive. We thank those of you who donated to our Fall Challenge Campaign, during @Home for the Holidays, or made a year-end gift. You are keeping GMCLA alive during the pandemic and ensuring we continue to present great music for our community.
Tickets for the California Sound are available for a suggested small donation. Reserve yours by clicking the button below.
Our first virtual performance, @Home for the Holidays, a huge success!
On Behalf of GMCLA I hope your holiday plans are peaceful and you and loved ones are safe Through the pandemic, we have done whatever was possible to keep the Chorus together while preserving our ability to start again from strength next year.
GMCLA’s first ever virtual concert @Home for the Holidays —which was free to everyone – was an enormous success! Over 5000 households viewed the stream and many folks that watched made donations!
Your donation would be so welcome at this time I sincerely hope you will think about giving, with a year-end gift to GMCLA. Your gift help keep our music and message alive.
We will be physically shut down for months ahead and we will continue be extremely careful about every dollar we spend, but we have no intention of stopping our music! We will soon announce our next virtual event and it’s going to be even more ambitious!
NEVER BEFORE RELEASED CONCERT VIDEO!
Dear Friends,
On behalf of the entire GMCLA family, I am delighted to share with you (above) the never before released full concert, Oye Mi Canto (Hear My Song). This glorious celebration, performed at the Alex Theater at the end of June 2016, made history as we welcomed our special guests, Mano a Mano, Cuba’s gay men’s chorus. These performances were dedicated to the victims of the horrific Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando, which happened earlier that month.
We are so grateful to Union Bank for its continued support of GMCLA with the sponsorship of this video and James Roman, from the GMCLA family, for his continued artistry in putting it together as he has done for so many years. It’s 80 minutes of great music, dance, love, and Cuban soul. We hope you will love Oye Mi Canto all over again, or for the very first time!
With the release of this concert, I am delighted to announce that three of our most steadfast donors – Dick and Carol Weaver, Mary Ann Blair, and the Vyas family have committed to donate $50,000 to GMCLA as a challenge to raise an additional $50,000 by the 15th of October.
I am coming to you — our subscribers, donors, and friends — to ask for your support today. Simply CLICK HERE to donate through our secure website. We recognize that there is much difficulty in all our lives right now — but together we must remain committed to keeping GMCLA strong — an organization that has served this community for 41 years.
Your donation will be doubled and will help us —
- Maintain the fiscal integrity of GMCLA. Our just-completed FY 2019-2020 had a positive net result, as did FY 2018-2019, and over the past 18 months we have paid down 75% of our prior accumulated debt; yet there is still much more work to do in this difficult climate.
- Keep connected with you until the Chorus can perform in person. That’s why we are releasing Oye Mi Canto, and we will be putting out never before released concert videos in the months ahead. If we can raise the funds, we are planning to do a virtual holiday event in December and other virtual events throughout the year. These events utilize the talent of new kinds of creative personnel, requiring additional budget.
- Return to rehearsing and performing, when it is safe, with the necessary funds to continue GMCLA’s work in song, schools, and social justice. Funds are needed to bring back our staff, engage venues and artists, get back into schools with our Alive Music Project, and support the well-being of our incredible member-singers.
There are many unknowns ahead that will profoundly affect GMCLA’s fiscal health, notably the corporate and foundation funding available to the arts, and the level of attendance once restrictions begin to be lifted. Now, more than ever, we must rely on donations from individuals like you and me, our Board leadership, and the wonderful people in our Chorus who give their time, talent and money.
Won’t you join the Weavers, Mary Ann Blair, the Vyas family, and all our GMCLA members, and give what you can? It’s easy — simply CLICK HERE today so your gift is doubled and we can make the $50,000 challenge by the 15th of October!
I hope you enjoy Oye Mi Canto by clicking the image above and that you stay safe, stay well, and keep the faith!
Sincerely,
Lou Spisto
Executive Director & Producer
Holiday Spectacular
Enjoy these images from our holiday performance, with more on our Facebook Gallery!
GMCLA 40 / STONEWALL 50
On August 16, 2019, an extraordinary sold-out evening held at the iconic Walt Disney Concert Hall in celebration of the 40th Anniversary of GMCLA, and the 50th Anniversary of Stonewall. Visit the page to experience the event, gorgeously captured by photographer Gregory Zabilski!
GMCLA IN THE COMMUNITY
GMCLA’s Alive Music Project (AMP) has reached over 65,000 middle and high school students in the Los Angeles area with a message of acceptance and hope through music. On the AMP page find out how to bring the program to your school, and explore video of what a full presentation looks like!