The Stonewall Chorale Celebrates 50 Years with Landmark Anniversary Season: LOVE OUT LOUD

The nation's first LGBTQIA+ choir launches a new era under Nick Sienkiewicz, featuring three concerts, a Composer-in-Residence, and exciting collaborations.

NEW YORK, NJ, UNITED STATES, October 20, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Stonewall Chorale, the nation's first LGBTQIA+ choir, announces its landmark 50th Anniversary Season, LOVE OUT LOUD, celebrating five decades of musical excellence, community, and LGBTQIA+ artistic expression while introducing an ambitious new chapter in the ensemble's history.

Under the leadership of newly appointed Artistic Director Nick Sienkiewicz, the 2026–2027 season brings together three distinctive concert programs, a new three-year composer residency, and a creative partnership with Heartbeat Opera. Together, these initiatives reflect an organization celebrating its history while investing boldly in its artistic future.

“Fifty years is an extraordinary milestone, but what excites me most is what lies ahead,” said Sienkiewicz. “This season celebrates the tremendous musical legacy of The Stonewall Chorale while embracing new artistic possibilities. From powerful masterworks and new compositions to unexpected collaborations that take us beyond the concert stage, we're exploring what it means to make music that connects us, challenges us, and reflects who we are.”

LOVE OUT LOUD: Three Concerts Celebrating The Stonewall Chorale
At the heart of The Chorale’s anniversary celebration is a three-concert season that explores love in its many forms, from endurance and remembrance to joy and collective expression.

LOVE ENDURES — December 5, 2026
3:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. | Church of the Holy Apostles, New York City

The Chorale opens its 50th anniversary season with Love Endures, a vibrant celebration of love and connection featuring an eclectic mix of choral and popular music. The program brings together works that highlight queer composers and artists, including Carlos Cordero, Christian Velasquez, Susan LaBarr, Rina Sawayama, Nancy Wilson, and Madonna, showcasing the breadth and diversity of LGBTQIA+ musical expression. At the heart of the concert is Christopher Tin's Transfigurations, featuring text by Charles Anthony Silvestri, a powerful centerpiece that explores love's capacity to transcend boundaries and transform lives.

CONSIDERING MATTHEW SHEPARD — March 20, 2027
7:00 p.m. | St. Bartholomew's Church, New York City

The Chorale will present Craig Hella Johnson's Considering Matthew Shepard, a profoundly moving contemporary oratorio reflecting on the life, death, and legacy of Matthew Shepard. Through an expansive musical language that encompasses multiple genres and traditions, the work explores grief, compassion, remembrance, and the transformative possibilities of collective action and unconditional love.

CARMINA BURANA — June 5, 2027
7:00 p.m. | St. Bartholomew's Church, New York City

The season concludes with a spectacular anniversary performance of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, presented in collaboration with the Queer Big Apple Corps.
Bringing together two of New York City's LGBTQIA+ musical organizations, the concert will feature one of the most electrifying works in the classical repertoire, known for its monumental choruses, exhilarating rhythms, and exploration of fate, fortune, and human desire. This thrilling finale will celebrate the Chorale's 50-year legacy and the generations of singers, audiences, and supporters who have made it possible.

A New Commitment to Creating Music: Jake Landau Named Inaugural Composer-in-Residence
In a significant investment in its artistic future, The Stonewall Chorale has named acclaimed composer and lyricist Jake Landau as its inaugural Composer-in-Residence.

The new three-year residency will bring original music into the Chorale's repertoire while supporting the development of contemporary choral works that reflect LGBTQIA+ experiences and perspectives.

Landau will compose a new work specifically for The Stonewall Chorale each year of the residency, collaborating closely with Sienkiewicz and the ensemble's singers. The Chorale will also perform selections from his existing body of work.

A graduate of The Juilliard School and Oxford University, Landau has had music performed by the New York Philharmonic, Houston Grand Opera, and Broadway artists. His work crosses boundaries between classical music, opera, musical theater, and contemporary performance.
The residency represents more than a series of commissions. By creating new repertoire intended to live beyond the Chorale's own performances, the program seeks to contribute to the broader choral canon and establish a lasting platform for LGBTQIA+ composers.

Following Landau's inaugural term, the Chorale plans to open the residency to emerging LGBTQIA+ composers through a competitive, no-cost application process.

Celebrating a Legacy, Building a Future
The Chorale is also expanding its creative reach through partnerships with other performing arts organizations, including a collaboration with Heartbeat Opera on QUEENEY TODD: The Demon Bottom of Fleet Street, part of the company's 11th Annual Drag Opera Extravaganza, running October 22–31, 2026, at Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village. The partnership reflects a growing commitment to artistic experimentation, LGBTQIA+ expression, and introducing the Chorale to new audiences.

Beyond the concert stage, the Chorale is strengthening its community engagement through performances for older adult audiences at SAGE and Hudson Guild. Featuring selections from its December and March programs, these performances will bring the Chorale's music directly into community spaces, extending its longstanding commitment to connection, inclusion, and the power of music to bring people together.

“Our anniversary is about more than looking back,” said Emily McSpadden, President of The Stonewall Chorale's Board of Directors. “For 50 years, our singers have built something extraordinary together. Today, we're building on that legacy with new artistic leadership, new music, and exciting creative partnerships. We're celebrating everything that brought us here while creating new possibilities for the next generation of Stonewall singers and audiences.”

With a new Artistic Director, the launch of its first Composer-in-Residence program, innovative partnerships, and expanded community engagement, The Stonewall Chorale's 50th anniversary will be both a celebration and a beginning.

Tickets for LOVE OUT LOUD are on sale now.

About The Stonewall Chorale
Founded in 1977, The Stonewall Chorale is the nation's first LGBTQIA+ choir. Based in New York City, the ensemble is dedicated to amplifying LGBTQIA+ voices through a dynamic and diverse choral repertoire and uniting the greater community through the transformative power of music. For 50 seasons, The Stonewall Chorale has combined artistic excellence, musical exploration, and community connection, presenting classical masterworks, contemporary compositions, and performances that celebrate the richness of LGBTQIA+ expression.

Linda Romano
The Stonewall Chorale
news@stonewallchorale.org