MILWAUKEE — Our Voice Milwaukee is a chorus for gay men and allies. I met with David Hein, the Artistic Director of Our Voice Milwaukee, to learn how they’ve grown over the years.
When I last saw them, they’d just performed their first concert after the pandemic with 11 singers.
“It's been pretty exciting," Hein said. "In the ensuing 3 years, something has taken off in this city and people have found us. At our last concert, we sang with almost 80 singers,” said Hein.
Watch: LGBTQ chorus 'Our Voice Milwaukee' celebrates community, queer artistry through music
The chorus is very thoughtful in selecting music.
“We try to sing music that is meaningful and makes an impact on the listener," Hein said. "Most significantly, music that comes from the voice of the queer community. Queer composers, queer arrangers, and in most of our concerts, a significant number of those pieces have some connection to queer artists in their creation."
In addition to popular music, Our Voice Milwaukee performs music from around the world.
Lee Stovall, who started playing piano at rehearsals, took on the role of Assistant Artistic Director after his first year.
“I feel community is really the keyword. People come to Our Voice every Tuesday and it's starting to become a family. You see people joining and coming back year after year; those connections only grow deeper,” Stovall said.
The chorus comprises people from different generations and backgrounds from all areas of the region.
Dominic Inouye, who sings bass in the chorus, said, “I joined because I wanted another kind of joy. I wanted more moments of joy in my life. We're celebrating Pride Month right now. But every time I walk into the practice space, I feel proud.”
I also spoke with Kelly Andre Kelly, the group’s President-elect, who spoke about Pride, saying, “Pride is a celebration. Pride is also a protest. And most importantly, Pride is an opportunity for our community to come together and experience the kind of queer joy that sometimes is missing from our lives, especially if we don't live in an area where there is that sense of the LGBTQ community. And regardless of whether you're a queer person or a straight person,it's so hard to find what we call those third spaces. Someplace where you're not at work or at home,a place where you don't have to pay to be there. You can just exist and experience that sense of togetherness. And in the queer community, that's sometimes hard to find outside of bars or other organizations.”
Our Voice Milwaukee offers a unique experience to bond with other LGBTQ people over a shared passion for music and performing. It really goes to show you that music is a universal language and ends up connecting us all.
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