![\"San](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/iq0v075v9d3fc6jy.jpg\")
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SAN FRANCISCO – One of San Francisco\u2019s cultural treasures is once again helping usher in the holiday season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The San Francisco Gay Men\u2019s Chorus has launched its annual holiday concert series, filling some of the Bay Area\u2019s most iconic venues with hundreds of voices singing in harmony.<\/p>\n
A closer look:<\/p>\n
The chorus opened the series this weekend at the Golden Gate Theatre, where board chair and former longtime performer Tom Polino said the energy was unmistakable.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The audience was fully engaged, he said, and the performers fed off that enthusiasm.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“The joy coming from the stage is palpable,” Polino said. “It was a beautiful thing to see.”<\/p>\n
The program blends familiar holiday carols with contemporary selections, a mix the chorus has become known for over the years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alongside the classics, the ensemble debuts a newly commissioned piece each season, selected through an international competition that draws dozens of submissions annually.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s winning work, “When Darkness Falls” by an artist known as Ash, is a secular piece meant to resonate across communities and concert halls worldwide.<\/p>\n
Polino said the composition reflects the emotional moment many people are living through, acknowledging darkness while pointing toward hope and light.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Very much so,” he said when asked whether the piece captures the current mood.<\/p>\n
Behind the scenes:<\/p>\n
Behind the polished performances is months of preparation by nearly 300 volunteer singers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rehearsals begin as early as August, with members gathering every Monday night for hours at a time.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“When you start singing Christmas music in August, it\u2019s a bit of a strange feeling,” Polino said, “But it\u2019s very invigorating to be in that room with so much talent and so much passion.”<\/p>\n
The backstory:<\/p>\n
Founded in 1978, the San Francisco Gay Men\u2019s Chorus is approaching its 50th anniversary. Its roots are deeply tied to the city\u2019s history and activism.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The group\u2019s first performance took place on the steps of City Hall during a candlelight vigil following the assassinations of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Since then, the chorus has been a visible presence through the AIDS crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic and decades of cultural change in the Bay Area.<\/p>\n
That legacy continues this season with performances across the region, including sold-out shows in San Francisco, upcoming concerts in the East Bay and Sonoma County, and a Christmas Eve performance at Davies Symphony Hall.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For Polino and the chorus, the goal remains the same: to serve the community and bring people together through music during a meaningful time of year.<\/p>\n
Holidays<\/a>Arts and Culture<\/a>Mornings on 2<\/a>Mornings on 2: Arts<\/a>San Francisco<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO – One of San Francisco\u2019s cultural treasures is once again helping usher in the holiday season.\u00a0…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":93850,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[1184,1811,21848,2646,45335,51610,51609,100,101,103,102,425,104,106,105,1181],"class_list":{"0":"post-93849","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-four","10":"tag-four-arts","11":"tag-holidays","12":"tag-mornings","13":"tag-mornings-arts","14":"tag-mornings-on-2","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-san-francisco","17":"tag-san-francisco-headlines","18":"tag-san-francisco-news","19":"tag-series","20":"tag-sf","21":"tag-sf-headlines","22":"tag-sf-news","23":"tag-us"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}