On Presidents Day, a few singers with the Gay Men’s Chorus broke out into song while attending a large anti-authoritarian protest near the Capitol Reflecting Pool. Their a cappella rendition of the national anthem garnered what the New York Times reported as a warm round of applause from the crowd.

Thea Kano, director of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, remembers how inspiring the moment was, and one encounter from that day that has stuck with her.

“A man came up to me afterward with tears in his eyes,” Kano recalled. “He pointed to the Capitol. ‘I work over there in those halls, and it has been rough. This is the most joy I’ve felt in a long time, hearing you all sing.’ And he said, ‘A bunch of my fellow staffers, we’re all recovering musical theater kids, and we’d love a chance to sing. Is there any opportunity?'”

As it turned out, Kano did know of such an opportunity — a particularly timely and momentous occasion: they could sing as part of the International Choral Festival, a two-week-long initiative of GMCW’s intended as “the arts and culture marquee event of WorldPride DC 2025.”

Since that February day, Kano says the full chorus has been inspired in turn by “this community” of participating Hill staffers — an astonishing 30 of them in total. “They’ve come to rehearsals to sing with us…once a month for the last several months, and they will join us for this L.O.V.E. Chorus.”

An acronym standing for League of Voices for Equality, the L.O.V.E. Chorus is an all-encompassing performing collective of singers from all the choral groups participating in the festival.

Read Next

Transgender Troops Given June Deadline to Leave Military

“At this point, we have almost 300 singers signed up, 80 to 100 of which are GMCW singers,” says Kano, characterizing the L.O.V.E. Chorus as “an exclamation point at the end of this Choral Festival,” by virtue of performances during key WorldPride DC events on Saturday, June 7, and Sunday, June 8.

“We will be singing in the parade, and carrying a 1,000-foot pride flag,” Kano says. “And then we’ll be singing Sunday morning at the rally at the Lincoln Memorial.” The diverse L.O.V.E. Chorus roster includes the full Lavender Light Gospel Choir from New York as well as singers from gay men’s choruses in Philadelphia, the Twin Cities in Minnesota, and Raleigh, North Carolina, among the explicitly queer representation.

Notably, the inclusive L.O.V.E. lineup is also expected to feature a number of LGBTQ allies from non-queer-specific ensembles, such as the Georgetown Chorale, the Congressional Chorus, and the DC Labor Chorus.

The Choral festival will kick off next Thursday, May 22, with a Special AIDS Memorial Quilt dedication at St. Thomas’ Parish. “Several of our members had the idea to [search] the AIDS quilt database for names of GMCW singers who have panels,” Kano says.

They identified nearly two dozen former GMCW members represented with Quilt panels among all those stricken too soon by the disease — a fraction of the more than 100 former GMCW singers who died of AIDS-related complications. A total of 45 panels will factor into a display that will remain up throughout WorldPride at the historically affirming Dupont Circle church.

The dedication will feature the Right Reverend Bishop Gene Robinson along with the premiere of Our Wildest Imaginings, a new choral work honoring Robinson by Dominick DiOrio, along with the GMCW performing a few songs paying tribute to those lost to AIDS.

Read Next

Eurovision Bans Pride and Trans Flags

The festival gets fully underway on Saturday, May 24, with the launch of a series billed as “daily hour-long pop-up performances showcasing the power, pride, and diversity of queer choral music.” Each performance will feature a GMCW ensemble alongside a guest chorus or two from across the country and will take place at one of more than two dozen preeminent D.C. cultural institutions and landmarks.

All told, the festival will present “50 concerts, 25 venues, 30 choruses, 16 days.” The full chorus and all GMCW ensembles, also including Potomac Fever and Seasons of Love, will perform multiple times throughout the festival.

“All concerts are free to the public, about an hour in length, and at venues all over the city. Over those two weeks, you can be tripping over our concerts,” Kano says. “Most likely, you’re gonna find one concert, if not more, that’s on your way home or on your lunch break downtown.” All are being organized as “pop-up and pop-in concerts,” says Kano, explaining that they’re intended “to be easy, informal, and accessible” — and far from the routine.

“With WorldPride, there’s a lot to do,” says Kano. “And most folks don’t want to commit two hours to a concert in a theater one night where they have to put on a pair of pants as opposed to [wearing] shorts. So come as you are. And even if you only come for half the concert. We’d love to have you stop in.”

The total number of choruses and singers planning to participate in the festival decreased slightly over the past few months, mostly involving those based outside of the U.S. and concerned about the Trump administration’s overreaching crackdown on immigration.

Read Next

In a Dig at Pride, Ohio Republicans Push ‘Natural Family Month’

Meanwhile, Trump also indirectly impacted at least one aspect of the programming. A Peacock Among Pigeons was originally planned to premiere next week in a National Symphony Orchestra concert featuring the chorus as a special guest — until became a casualty of President Trump’s hostile takeover of the Kennedy Center in February.

“We were certainly disappointed by the cancellation,” says Kano — not to mention the loss, in effect, of what has been an eminent venue for the chorus over the years.

“It’s important to us for so many reasons that we are performing at venues fully accepting of who we are and our mission,” she says. “And so that’s what we’re doing. We love the Kennedy Center as the entity that it has been. But with all of the changes and things, the future is uncertain for the Kennedy Center. Until we feel that we are fully accepted, and our mission is fully accepted to program and perform there, we are opting for other venues that do support us.”

When it comes to the festival, those other venues include the National Gallery of Art, the Library of Congress, and a couple of Smithsonian museums. All federally supported entities to varying degrees, all have also indicated no signs of trouble on the horizon in hosting GMCW.

Nevertheless, Kano notes, “If a concert is canceled at one of those institutions because of some executive order or whatever, we’ll be deeply disappointed. But we will simply move that concert to another venue.”

Kano says the “outpouring of love from the music and theater community to us has been so incredible with that message of, ‘You are welcome here,'” citing organizations as varied as Strathmore, the Howard Theatre, Olney Theatre, Carnegie Hall, and The Falls Church Episcopal.

“The list is long,” she says.

The WorldPride International Choral Festival runs from Saturday, May 24, through Sunday, June 8, at various times and venues around the city. All concerts are free and open to the public, with a limited number of premium passes, offering premium access and/or reserved seating to most festival events, available for $73. Call 202-293-1548 or visit www.gmcw.org for the full schedule of events and more details.

The AIDS Memorial Quilt Panel Display will open with a dedication on Thursday, May 22, at 6:30 p.m., and will remain on view at select times daily through Sunday, June 8. St. Thomas’ Parish, 1517 18th St. NW. Call 202-808-3326 or visit www.stthomasdc.org.

Visit www.worldpridedc.org/choral-festival.