By the time you read this, the members of the Boston Gay Men's Chorus should be on buses headed for Prague to continue their European tour, but Poland won't soon forget them. The chorus was all over the newspapers and television in Poland after controversy erupted before the group's performance in Wroclaw, Director Steven Smith says. It seems the first performance there by an openly gay group could not go unopposed.
In an email sent early this morning from Poland, Smith recounted that a right-wing group called the League of Polish Families - believed to be backed by conservative elements of the Catholic church in Poland - vowed to stop the show by blockading the Philharmonic Hall. A large police presence, including an armed escort from the hotel to the hall, kept that from happening, and only about 20 protesters turned up - to be met by a counterdemonstration by activists. Still, the First Lady of Poland blew off the concert, as did the mayor.
And the police action doesn't mean the authorities are on the BGMC's side. Local organizer Jaroslav Blandzinski, who runs the city's only openly gay club, was arrested the day before the concert for handing out promotion flyers outside the hall, Smith says. He was later released without charges - or an explanation.
The League also vowed to screw things up by buying all the remaining tickets for the show and occupying the hall, but organizers outfoxed them by stopping sales - only to resume them just before the concert. Smith says 200 advance tickets were sold, and more than 250 more went at the door, bringing the audience close to the hall's 500-seat capacity. The ovation at the end of the concert lasted 10 minutes and required two curtain calls.
You don't get action like this at choral concerts in Boston, and I suppose that's a good thing. But doesn't it say something about how Europeans feel about the arts, too?
(Smith's Euro-tour blog is here, but it hasn't been updated with the Wroclaw events as of Tuesday morning. Photos are promised.)
Nice coverage of this one dude. Sorry about the reggae though. I thought you had taste?
Posted by: Keith | June 28, 2005 at 05:57 PM
Nice coverage of this one dude. Sorry about the reggae though. I thought you had taste?
Posted by: Keith | June 28, 2005 at 05:57 PM