When Waltham’s John F. Kennedy Middle School music teacher Joe Valadez boards his flight for South Africa June 11, he’ll depart Logan Airport with at least another week left of school. Unless a teacher is ill, they aren’t allowed to miss school days for vacation,...
In 1962, Igor Stravinsky, one of the most influential and celebrated classical composers of the 20th century, traveled to South Africa from his home in the U.S. to conduct the national South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) Symphony Orchestra in a series of...
The Boston Gay Men’s Chorus is known and beloved for dynamic concerts that blend class and camp, wit and weightiness, classical music and contemporary pop, show tunes and psalms. But what’s the motivation behind the music? Social justice. BGMC was founded at the...
Tyler Brewer has lived in Boston for nine years but it wasn’t until he joined Boston Gay Men’s Chorus (BGMC) that the city finally felt like home. “We really are a family,” the 28-year old advertising professional says of the chorus. “It really is like home now.”...
No one knows better than John Beaudreau and Dameian Slocum that time apart, to pursue one’s own interests and personal growth, is important to a healthy, long-lasting relationship. But when Beaudreau, a five-year BGMC member and vice president of our executive...
Like the United States, the progress toward LGBT legal and social equality in South Africa has been a long struggle — and it continues to this day, as the country works to combat widespread anti-LGBT discrimination and violence. Here is a timeline of major events...
An astounding one in 113 people on earth is a refugee, and for those who’ve fled their home countries for fear of persecution, their top destination is South Africa, which hosts more asylum seekers than any other country. Nearly all of them come from Zimbabwe,...
Meet Victor Chikalogwe. He left his home country of Malawi for South Africa in 2011 after his parents disowned him. Today he is the gender rights and LGBTQ advocacy coordinator at PASSOP (People against Suffering, Oppression and Poverty), a grassroots nonprofit...
Touring is in our DNA. From our earliest years, we’ve taken our music to places where it’s never been heard before. We sing for audiences puzzled by our insistence on identifying as not just “singers,” but “gay singers.” We perform for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and...
Immediately after hearing a presentation on the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus (BGMC) South Africa Tour, Joe Valadez knew he had to go. “This is an organization that goes out and performs and [doesn’t] say, ‘Look how great we are,’” Valadez says of BGMC. “They inspire...