Chester will open its arms to the renowned Manchester Gay and Lesbian Chorus later this month as Chester celebrates its fourth annual Pride festival.
A special Pride event will take place on the eve of Chester Pride on Friday, September 30, at St Mary’s Creative Space, located just around the corner from Castle Square where the main event will take place on the Saturday.
The hosts of the Pride Choir Night will be Matt Baker and Chester’s A Handbag of Harmonies all women’s choir, who will also be involved during the main Pride event.
The Manchester Gay and Lesbian Chorus was founded in 2000, the same year as A Handbag of Harmonies, and has grown into a tour de force of more than 80 members who rehearse weekly in Manchester’s Gay Village.
The chorus has recently appeared on ITV as they gave a rousing version on Something Inside So Strong to thousands of people who had gathered in Manchester’s Sackville Park in the wake of the Orlando shootings earlier this summer.
Los Kaye is the musical director who has taken the chorus from strength to strength since 2013.
The chorus have gained a reputation amongst the LGBT communities across the country and beyond as they perform at many Pride events and festivals.
They performed most recently at Manchester’s Pride in August which attracted tens of thousands of people to the city; a weekend of events which was described as the most successful ever.
Musical director for A Handbag of Harmonies, Matt Baker , said: “We are really looking forward to welcoming the Manchester chorus to our city. A Handbag of Harmonies has performed at Manchester Pride several times over the past 15 years and we have performed alongside the MGLC before, so we thought it would be wonderful for the chorus to perform at Chester’s very own Pride.”
A Handbag of Harmonies took part in Manchester Pride’s well known parade through the streets of Manchester and won the award for Best Overall Entry in 2011 as Matt and the choir danced through the streets of the city with pink umbrellas.
Matt added: “St Mary’s Creative Space is a beautiful venue and a fantastic acoustic for choirs. I really hope that the Manchester Chorus, led by their wonderful musical director Loz Kaye, will enjoy celebrating Pride with us here in our beautiful city.”
St Mary’s Creative Space will also play host to an international line-up of cabaret stars the following night to officially mark the end of Chester Pride with an event called Divas of Damnation.
A Handbag of Harmonies and Manchester Gay and Lesbian Chorus will offer their own exciting repertoires on Pride Choir Night, but will join together for a special rendition of Victoria Wood’s Let’s Do It.
The Manchester Choir created a special arrangement for this well known ballad for the tribute event for Victoria Wood at Manchester’s Victoria Station in June this year.
The much-loved ditty became the Ballad of Carrie and Freda (Oh and Barry and Fred), with the male section relishing the line: “I could handle half the tenors in a male voice choir.”
Pride Choir Night will be hosted by Matt Baker and will take place at St Mary’s Creative Space in Chester on Friday, September 30 at 8pm.
Tickets are £8 and can be purchased online at www.ticketsource.co.uk/event/146658 or by calling 07494 943606.
