Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Forte – Toronto Gay Men’s Chorus commemorates the centenary of the armistice of World War I and the famous Christmas Truce of 1914, with a performance of All is Calm, All is Bright.
All is Calm recalls the remarkable World War I truce between Allied Forces and German soldiers in No Man’s Land. Soldiers laid down their arms to celebrate the holiday together, trading carols, sharing food and drink, playing soccer and burying each others’ dead. It’s been said that in some places the truce lasted only one night, in others until New Year’s Day.
The musical production was created by American theatre director Peter Rothstein, with musical arrangements by American choral director Erick Lichte and American composer Timothy C. Takach. The script uses a combination of excerpts from soldiers’ letters home, war journals, transcriptions from gravestones and World War I poetry, citing all of these different men after each piece of recited text. Musically, it includes arrangements of Christmas carols and war-songs for a cappella voices; from patriotic tunes, trench songs, medieval Scottish ballads and holiday carols from England, Wales, France and Germany.
Forte - Toronto Gay Men’s Chorus, founded in 1997, has evolved from a choir of approximately 20 men to its present size of over 75. Its programming includes an exciting and challenging array of musical styles, presented in its annual Holiday and Pride-affiliated summer shows and its on-going Unzipped cabaret series. Community outreach in the LGBTQ+ community has included performances at the Candlelight AIDS Vigil, Pride Week, Orlando/Pulse Nightclub Memorial, The Imperial Court of Toronto Coronation and Toronto Leather Pride, events across the GTA and donated charity concerts, for the Campbellford Memorial Hospital Association and Durham Peel LGBTQ Youth Services with Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne. Forte sang national anthems for the Toronto Argonauts, Blue Jays and Raptors games.
The chorus appeared in concert with Demi Lovato, Margaret Cho, Liona Boyd, and Mary McCandless, and organized flash mob performances for Universal Music Group, launching Sam Smith’s second recording. In 2008, Forte was a National Semi-Finalist in Choral 2008, the bi-annual CBC National Radio-Canada Competition for Amateur Choirs, and a National Finalist in the 2010 National Choral Competition.
Who: Forte – Toronto Gay Men’s Chorus
What: All is Calm, All is Bright
When: Saturday, December 8, 2018
Where: Trinity-St. Paul’s United Church and Centre for Faith, Justice and the Arts
427 Bloor Street West
Admission:
$25 in advance
$30 at the door
Advance tickets can be purchased online at www.fortechorus.com.
2018-11-16
Toronto: Forte – Toronto Gay Men’s Chorus commemorates the end of World War I with "All is Calm"