Born of this Land: Songs of the Americas

Dates & Time: 

• Friday, January 17th, 2025 at 8pm

• Saturday, January 18th, 2025 at 8pm

Location: 
The Church of the Holy Trinity, Rittenhouse Square 

Tickets: Purchase on Eventbrite

About:
An unforgettable journey through the rich musical heritage of the Americas. This choral concert will transport you to North, Central, and South America, anchored by music written by living Native American composers. Together we’ll explore the music of these lands, while remembering those that were here before us.

A two-night event; each performance will feature a captivating blend of traditional folk, spiritual, and Latin jazz pieces as well as contemporary and popular compositions. Born of this Land pays homage to the beautiful land and people that originated here. This event is not just a concert; it's a celebration of heritage, a call to remembrance, and a tribute to the justice of our native cultures.

A portion of this concert’s proceeds will be donated to a NDN Collective. An Indigenous-led organization dedicated to building Indigenous power through organizing, activism, philanthropy, grantmaking, capacity-building and narrative change. Creating sustainable solutions on Indigenous terms. More at ndncollective.org

Born of this Land: Songs of the Americas

Dates & Time: 

• Friday, January 17th, 2025 at 8pm

• Saturday, January 18th, 2025 at 8pm

Location: 
The Church of the Holy Trinity, Rittenhouse Square 

Tickets: Purchase on Eventbrite

About:
An unforgettable journey through the rich musical heritage of the Americas. This choral concert will transport you to North, Central, and South America, anchored by music written by living Native American composers. Together we’ll explore the music of these lands, while remembering those that were here before us.

A two-night event; each performance will feature a captivating blend of traditional folk, spiritual, and Latin jazz pieces as well as contemporary and popular compositions. Born of this Land pays homage to the beautiful land and people that originated here. This event is not just a concert; it's a celebration of heritage, a call to remembrance, and a tribute to the justice of our native cultures.

A portion of this concert’s proceeds will be donated to a NDN Collective. An Indigenous-led organization dedicated to building Indigenous power through organizing, activism, philanthropy, grantmaking, capacity-building and narrative change. Creating sustainable solutions on Indigenous terms. More at ndncollective.org

Support us on journey to GALA.

For our very first time, PVOP will be attending the GALA Festival in Minneapolis in July! GALA is the largest LGBTQ+ choral festival in the world and we are trying to bring as many of our singers as possible. In order to make this trip accessible to everyone, please consider making a donation for our Gala initiative.

If you will be attending Gala 2024 yourself this year, we look forward to seeing you in the audience or on the stage!

What is Festival?

GALA Choruses signature event is our quadrennial Festival, which gathers LGBTQ+ choruses from all over North America and the world. Festival is five days of singing, connecting, and creating. It’s wall-to-wall concerts, workshops, social events, joy and pride. It’s the largest LGBTQ choral event in the world. It’s you with thousands of your peers taking over a city and filling it with song.

Philly Pride Celebration Concert

The three choruses will join again on June 25th at the Kimmel Center at the Philly Orchestra Pride Concert. ANNA Crusis Feminist Choir, the Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus, and Philadelphia Voices of Pride will unite as one and help close out Philly’s Pride month celebrations.

“The Moon Ascending”, is a performance of Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem.

In response to the many unsettling wars taking place across the world, the Moon Ascending explores the never-ending search for peace, lasting centuries and on into this lifetime. We hope this music permeates your heart and soul, removing senseless calls for violence and engrain the power of pacifism.

Highlighting brass, woodwind, strings (including harp), and percussion.

ACT I | Gabriel Faure’s Requiem, self-described as a “lullaby of death”, finds beauty in the absence of suffering. The intimate take on this mass beautifully underscores themes of peace at the dawn of eternal rest.

ACT II | Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem, translated from Latin as “Grant us peace”, gives a glimpse into the life of the famed composer’s life-long experience with the horrors of war.

Location:
“The Moon Ascending” will take place on Saturday, June 1st at 8:00 pm, Eastern time, at the Church of the Holy Trinity, Rittenhouse Square, 1904 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103.

PURCHASE TICKETS

See us sing Together. 3 choirs under 1 roof!

It's that time again!

Come to our annual TOGETHER concert Sunday January 28th @ 3pm, where we'll join our sibling choirs Philadelphia Gay Men's Chorus and Anna Crusis Feminist Choir in joyous song!

This 1-day celebration is FREE, FREE, FREE... So reserve your tickets now: https://e.givesmart.com/events/Aj2/ or text "TogetherConcert" to 76278.

We hope to see you there!

This is a free concert but donations are always appreciated. (Donations are split evenly amongst the choirs and always appreciated.)

Masks are not required but are encouraged.

"Stay a While": chill vibes, open-mic, booked talent, vendors, and community <3

Philadelphia Voices of Pride (PVOP) is so excited to welcome you to our first ever open-mic/showcase event! With our first concert of the 2022-2023 season coming up on January 7th, we thought it would be fun to promote our event, while also bringing together old and new friends. This event is BYOB, but there will also be drinks available for donation. All proceeds made from this event go directly to our choir for things like paying for venues, music, and our artistic directors.

If you can't make it, but wish to make a contribution to our choir, regardless, please feel free to make a donation. We appreciate all of the financial love!

TICKETS

NOTE: While tickets will still be available for purchase at the door, we highly encourage you to avoid the long line and purchase your tickets in advance.

General Admission | $11.11

Donation of your choosing | $xx

Source:: https://www.pvop.org/concert-tickets

Who is Hosting this event? PVOP!

Philadelphia Voices of Pride (PVOP) is a self-affirming Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ) and Ally vocal ensemble devoted to enhancing the musical, educational, and cultural life of the Philadelphia area. We consider ourselves ambassadors, promoting a positive image of the LGBT community by donating our time, talents, and financial resources to benefit LGBT, HIV, and Women's organizations. | Proudly supported by The Philadelphia Cultural Fund.

Can I perform?!

Yes! We have five wonderful performers (singers, musicians, and more) booked for you, and are leaving five-minute slots open for guests to sign up at the door. Our hosts will pull names, raffle style, and you will get a chance to share your gifts with your community <3

Run of Show:

2:00 PM - Doors open, mingle and see vendors

2:30 PM - Act 1 of the show begins

3:30 PM - *a brief 15 minute intermission to take a breather, meet some new friends, etc*

3:45 PM - Act 2 begins

4:30 PM - Show ends, mingling/hanging out commences

5:15 PM - Event ends

Where can I see more information about PVOP/this event?

@pvopchoir on Instagram or pvop.org

Are masks required?

Masks are optional and recommended, however, there will be a masked section of the audience for folks who wish to only sit around other masked folks.

Info about the venue (philaMOCA):

https://www.philamoca.org/about/#accessibility

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We can't wait to see you there!

Join Nashirah and the Philadelphia Voices of Pride for an afternoon of Jewish Broadway hits!

From West Side Story and Carousel to Fiddler on the Roof featuring a dancer from the Philadelphia Ballet, and music by Jerome Kern, Kurt Weill, and Stephen Sondheim, experience an intimate afternoon of beloved music from Jewish Broadway!

Masks and proof of COVID-19 vaccination are required.

Sadly, due to the recent surge in COVID-19 cases and the prevalence and easy spread of the omicron variant, we must cancel this concert. It was a difficult decision, but we are confident it was the right one for the health & safety of the choir and all of our supporters.

We hope to share the music, which we have been practicing together all semester, in (near) future endeavors. If you wish to support us, please consider making a donation equal to the cost of the ticket(s) you would have purchased.

Finally! This January, Philadelphia Voices of Pride will be performing our winter concert live and in person! Our selections this season are along the themes of resilience, strength in community, hope, and joy.

The choir is vaccinated and will be masked throughout the concert.

All attendees are required to be masked and vaccinated, with a booster strongly encouraged.

Get ready for our next virtual concert, Born and Raised!  Join us from the comfort of your home for six Philadelphia themed virtual choral pieces as well as a variety of solos and poetry from your favorite choristers.

The concert will stream Saturday, June 5th, starting at 8pm on our YouTube channel. In order to make the concert as accessible as possible, there are no tickets required. However, we encourage you to donate as generously as you can so that we may continue to make beautiful music now and in the future.

Click here to donate:
http://www.pvop.org/donate

RSVP on Facebook:
https://fb.me/e/3UwgUYbE8

YouTube Page:
http://www.youtube.com/philavoices

This winter, join Voices of Pride from the comfort of your home for Together Apart, a virtual concert & fundraiser featuring three seasonal choral pieces rehearsed and recorded remotely, highlights from our 2018 live performance of Handel’s Messiah, and a variety of individual and small-group pieces and poems performed by our members.

The concert will stream Saturday, December 12th, starting at 8pm on our YouTube channel. In order to make the concert as accessible as possible, there are no tickets required. However, we encourage you to donate what you can so we can continue to make beautiful music, whether together or apart.

Facebook Event
RSVP!

YouTube Livestream
Watch our livestream!

Program
Downloadable PDF of the concert program

This January, Philadelphia Voices of Pride presents Mozart & Motown. We open the concert with Mozart's Vesperae solennes de confessore, and the second half is a selection of some of Motown's greatest hits. Our tribute to the music of Motor City will include choral arrangements of songs by an assortment of artists including Marvin Gaye, Gladys & the Pips, and of course the sensational Supremes.

TICKETS

NOTE: While tickets will still be available for purchase at the door, we highly encourage you to avoid the long line and purchase your tickets in advance.

General Admission | $25

Student Admissions* | $10 - DOORS SALES ONLY
(*Must present valid student I.D. upon admission)

GROUP PRICING IS AVAILABLE!
Take advantage of our group discounts. General admission is $15 per person for groups of 10 or more.

VIP Tickets will not be available for this performance.

The ever-popular (and ever complex) holiday treat, Handel’s Messiah, jubilantly conducted by Artistic Director Daniel Schwartz, is Voices of Pride’s latest performance. This seasonal celebration, featuring Prometheus Orchestra, is not to be missed. Hear our favorite selections from “And He Shall Purify” and “He Trusted”, to the beloved “Hallelujah” Chorus. We are so excited to share this concert experience with you December 15th.

*TICKETS*

NOTE: While tickets will still be available for purchase at the door, we highly encourage you to avoid the long line and purchase your tickets in advance.

General Admission | $25

Student Admissions* | $10 - DOORS SALES ONLY
(Must present valid student I.D. upon admission)

GROUP PRICING IS AVAILABLE! 
Take advantage of our group discounts. General admission is $15 per person for groups of 10 or more 

VIP Tickets are not available for this performance.

*ABOUT HANDEL'S MESSIAH*

Handel’s Messiah resonates freshly each time it is heard. Musically superb, technically advanced, and deeply emotional, Messiah is a must-hear for all music lovers, everywhere.

The Messiah oratorio premiered in 1742 when the German-born Georg Friedrich Handel was the preeminent composer in his adopted home of the United Kingdom. Handel’s name drew such a crowd that audience members were advised to leave their hoop skirts and swords at home for fear of overcrowding at the Messiah’s Dublin premiere. After an initially modest public reception, the oratorio gained in popularity, eventually becoming one of the best-known and most frequently performed choral works in Western music to date.

Purchase tickets on Brown Paper Tickets.

The gap between being a saint or a sinner is arbitrary and extreme, don’t you think? To be a saint one must bear a holiness, purity, or likeness to a deity. To be a sinner -- well, if you’re human, that is pretty easy to accomplish. How one becomes a saint or a sinner has been discussed in works of art spanning thousands of years. The conclusion always comes down to how impossible it is to reach sainthood and how easy it is to commit a sin. Yet, the two constantly remain for balance since saints cannot exist unless sinners are around.

Philadelphia Voices of Pride, Philadelphia’s only mixed-voice LGBTQ and Ally choir, welcomes you to join them for an evening appropriately titled Saints and Sinners. This will be a performance that focuses on the title theme as well as heaven and hell, light and darkness, and good and evil. The concert will be split into two sections and will feature some incredibly complex music both in musical execution and subject matter.

PVOP is very excited to be performing music with a chamber orchestra again! Most notably, listeners can expect to hear the accompaniment of lovely strings for Leonard Bernstein’s “Chichester Psalms,” an 18 and ½ minute piece sung in Hebrew. “Chichester Psalms” debuted in 1965 and has continued to be praised as a complex and beautiful choral work.

Carl Orff’s epic “O Fortuna” of Carmina Burana fame is another highlight of the concert. “O Fortuna” has been featured in many films, television programs, and commercials to set the mood for something big and dramatic. If you pay any attention to popular culture, you have unquestionably heard and felt this thunderous work.

Other highlights include György Orbán's "Daemon Irrepit Callidus," a rhythmic, a cappella piece that delves into the subject matter of temptation and how easy it is for one to succumb to its wiles. On the saintly side of the concert, Benjamin Britten’s beautiful work “A Hymn to the Virgin” will be performed.

From the pop spectrum, of Chicago fame, "All That Jazz" will get the audience singing and tapping their feet. John Williams’ “Double Trouble” from the film Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban should be a crowd favorite. A choral rendition of Stevie Wonder's chart topping hit "Superstition" will be another highlight of the evening. Our audience can expect to enjoy the traditional spiritual "Sinner Man". Nina Simone’s version of this song is one of the most well known, but it has been performed by many artists throughout the years.

A truly fabulous, big performance from PVOP and its guests musicians will take place on Saturday, June 2, 2018, at 8pm at Trinity Center for Urban Life (2212 Spruce St, Philadelphia, PA 19103). Tickets for Saints and Sinners may be purchased here.

Purchase your tickets here!

The mystical powers of the elements fire and water have influenced some of the greatest artists of our time. While both elements are situated in opposition, the power and symbolism they embody are figuratively spectacular. Literally speaking, we have seen and felt the effects of these elements on our environment through floods, hurricanes, and uncontrollable forest fires. While fire and water are crucial for survival, they are still capable of causing insurmountable destruction. 

Please join the Philadelphia Voices of Pride's musical exploration of these two elements at their winter concert, By the Water, By the Flame. Pieces about water include “Water Night,” a spectacular and mysterious piece arranged by Eric Whitacre, the traditional Scottish tune “Loch Lomond,” and “Let the River Run,” Carly Simon's famous ballad from the film Working Girl. In addition, PVOP will perform the haunting piece “River” arranged by Ennio Morricone from the film The Mission and Paul Simon's “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”

Representing fire, a very modern and powerful piece aptly titled “Fire” arranged by Katerina Gimon should be highly anticipated. From the pop spectrum, Bastille's chart-topping hit “Pompeii” will be sung. And for something completely different, a song based on an Italian Renaissance poem written by Morten Lauridsen titled “Se Per Havervi, Oime,” celebrates the burning nature of passion

The ever-popular song “Fire and Rain” written and made famous by James Taylor will also be making a welcomed appearance.

By the Water, By the Flame will be performed Saturday, January 20th, at 8pm at the Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral (19 S 38th St, Philadelphia, PA 19104). Tickets may be purchased at the door or online. For online purchases, please refer to Brown Paper Tickets.

Come one, come all! Prepare to flaunt your knowledge of random facts and join the Philadelphia Voices of Pride for an evening of Quizzo hosted by Quizmaster Simone Allender.

Grand prize is $300 CASH. Other fabulous prizes will be available via raffle. Food and drink will also be available for purchase.

You may have 1-6 people per team. Entry is $10 at the door (this is $10 per person, not per team). Doors at 7pm.

To register your team, please go to https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MZBKYGC.

**FIRST 10 TEAMS TO REGISTER WILL RECEIVE A COMPLIMENTARY BOTTLE OF WINE**

We'll see you there!

For tickets, please visit: Brown Paper Tickets.

The current state of affairs has prompted many discussions across our nation and our world. Many differing opinions concerning equality have made themselves apparent over the course of the past year. During times of stark contradiction, sometimes we forget to turn our energy into positive action. This spring, the Philadelphia Voices of Pride (PVOP) is excited to present Freedom's Cry, a concert of songs centered on justice, freedom, and peace. With music ranging from classical to contemporary, PVOP will celebrate and examine the freedom we hold so dear.

Pieces include a beautiful African-American spiritual arranged by Seraphic Fire titled “Steal Away.” In addition, from Queer as Folk fame, Heather Small's inspirational call-to-action song “Proud” will also be performed. In a slightly more classical direction, Giedrius Svilainis' “Vox Populi” reflects the concert's theme as the title itself translates to “the voice of the people is the voice of God.”

Other songs to look forward to include Stephen Sondheim's moving “Children Will Listen” from the Broadway hit Into the Woods, Simon and Garfunkle's “The Sound of Silence,” Nina Simone's famous and soulful “I Wish I Knew How to be Free,” and Sweet Honey in the Rock's “Ella's Song.” In fact, “Ella's Song” has a relevant and powerful refrain that is deeply reflective of the concert’s message: “We who believe in Freedom cannot rest until it comes.”

Each piece for this concert was carefully listened to and evaluated by PVOP's music committee. Prior to the final selection of songs for this concert, Artistic Director Daniel Schwartz, who oversees the music committee, stated he wanted to present a concert that pushes boundaries.

“I would like songs that make people think, maybe songs people have never heard before. Songs that move people, if only a tiny bit, to search for justice in the world. In my search for repertoire, I have unearthed some songs that are new to me and truly beautiful,” Schwartz said.

Freedom's Cry will be performed Saturday, May 20th, at 8pm at Trinity Center for Urban life (2212 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103). Tickets may be purchased at the door or online at Brown Paper Tickets.