After three years, the chorus and Lee Ridgway had a parting of the ways. He had taken the podium after Josef Bevins left a brand new organization. The 1985 Pride concert was his last as music director. His final message in the program:
For me, this concert is particularly significant, in that it is my last as music director of the BGMC. Over the past three years I have been privileged to work with a bunch of guys who have earnestly desired to develop a musical organization that is representative and worth of Boston’s gay community. Together, we have been through times of great difficulty and anguish, but, more importantly, the majority of our time has been spent in wonderful music making. On innumerable occasions I have literally shivered with excitement and emotion at how these men have sung.
The BGMC has grown into a chorus of which all Boston can be proud. The Chorus has attained a solid musical maturity in these years, and I pass the baton to my successor, Robert Barney, with full confidence that it will continue to grow. . . .
So, my final words to the Chorus are: Keep on singing! And to you, our audience: Keep on listening to, and supporting, your community chorus.
Cheers, and may you always be gaily proud.
Joel Friedman was president of the chorus at the time and, had this to say about Lee’s contributions:
Lee has guided the Chorus for most of its existence. He has led us in performances from Arlington Street Church and Emmanuel Church and on to Jordan Hall. He has conducted us as far away as Hartford, Connecticut, Portland and Augusta, Maine, on to Provincetown, not to mention all the smaller performances in and around the Boston area which the Chorus has been asked to do over the last three and a half years.
Lee has fostered and developed the talents in the Chorus in a way that has created a more closely bonded group with greatly improved singing skills. Many of us have grown in ways we hadn’t necessarily anticipated when we first joined the Chorus. And we are still growing. Lee has laid a solid foundation on which to build. Through his teaching and perseverance, his talents and skills, his always being there when we needed him, we have come a long way from where we were three years ago. We thank him for everything he has done.
The concert ended with a surprise performance to honor Lee and all he had done for the organizations. Past members joined those on stage and John Van Etten led the combined voices in a rousing rendition of I Sing the Body Electric.
In a recent interview, we asked Lee what he was most proud of from his time with the BGMC. He said the he was most proud of:
Establishing within the chorus the musical quality that then translated into . . .a good response from the larger musical community. That, ok, here was a group that has the kind of choral sound and musical sound that can be respected and appreciated by other musicians and other people in Boston. . . I feel like I got it on a solid footing that someone else could come in and build on it.
He also said that he wanted to be remembered for establishing the initial foundation and getting the organization established. Starting with a small group and creating the foundation on which to build the future. For that, he certainly is and always will be remembered. It is because of his work and that of those early board members, that the BGMC survived its infancy and was able to move forward to become the organization it is today.