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[photo credit: First United Methodist Church of Pasadena]<\/p>\n
The Gay Men\u2019s Chorus of Los Angeles, a 200-member ensemble that has performed at Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall, and the Academy Awards, will sing in a century-old Pasadena church sanctuary on Saturday, April 18 \u2014 for free.<\/p>\n
The concert, which begins at 4 p.m. at First United Methodist Church of Pasadena, is part of the Third@First series\u2019 twelfth season. GMCLA returns to the series after a May 2024 appearance at the same venue, where local choirs joined the chorus for a collaborative performance. Admission is free, with a voluntary offering collected at the concert or through the Third@First website<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Gay Men\u2019s Chorus was founded in 1979 during the emergence of the gay rights movement and is now in its 47th year of music and service. The chorus was the first gay men\u2019s chorus to perform for a sitting U.S. president, singing for Bill Clinton in 1997.\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2013, GMCLA appeared in the opening musical sequence of the 85th Academy Awards.<\/p>\n Music Director and Conductor Dr. Ernest H. Harrison leads the chorus. Harrison, a native of Tuskegee, Alabama, holds a doctorate in choral conducting from the University of Southern California and joined GMCLA in 2019. He is also an assistant professor of music at Cal Poly Pomona and a member of the Grammy Award-winning choral ensemble Conspirare.<\/p>\n \u201cI have always believed that what we do as musicians saves lives, and the work that GMCLA does \u2014 on and off the stage \u2014 exemplifies that belief,\u201d Harrison said upon his appointment, according to a Broadway World report.<\/p>\n Lou Spisto, GMCLA\u2019s executive director and producer, has described the chorus\u2019s concerts as offering a message of connection. \u201cOur message is a theme of unity, commonality and connection through music,\u201d Spisto said in a 2024 interview about the group\u2019s previous Third@First engagement, according to Pasadena Now.<\/p>\n The Third@First Concert Series was founded in 2014 by pianist Junko Ueno Garrett, a faculty member at Occidental College, and S\u00e9bastien Vall\u00e9e, the church\u2019s former music director, and currently a professor at McGill University.\u00a0<\/p>\n The series presents concerts on the third Saturday of each month from October through June, featuring performers ranging from Los Angeles Philharmonic musicians to local ensembles. All concerts are offered free of charge, funded by donors rather than church funds.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Third@First concert series is our congregation\u2019s own musical gift to Pasadena, free monthly concerts of high-quality,\u201d a retired Rev. Gregory Norton of First United Methodist Church said.<\/p>\n First United Methodist Church is located at 500 E. Colorado Blvd. in the Playhouse District. The current sanctuary, a neo-gothic building, was dedicated in December 1924 and features an E. M. Skinner pipe organ and stained glass windows. Off-street parking is available behind the church, accessible from Green Street.\u00a0<\/p>\n