The Story So Far (page being updated)...
Quire became an independently constituted arts organisation in 2007 with a volunteer management committee, elected by the members on an annual basis.
With the leadership of our first musical director, Evan Ferrar, Quire soon grew from strength to strength, performing in 2006 with Gloria, Dublin's lesbian and gay choir, at their concerts in Belfast's Waterfront Hall and the National Concert Hall in Dublin. When Evan had to say goodbye to Quire (and Ireland) for professional reasons in summer 2006, we were lucky to welcome a new musical director, Ross Anderson, and assistant MD, Jonny McMillen-Patterson. In pursuit of Quire's mission, we have performed throughout Ireland, at community events large and small, as well as staging our own concerts from 2007 to 2009 in Belfast's Black Box as part of the annual Outburst queer arts festival. In May 2009, Quire and the Feile Women Singers staged the closing night concert of the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival at the Waterfront Hall Studio. June 2010 saw Quire's television debut when we performed on BBC One NI's Art Space programme. Following four years at Quire's musical helm, Ross and Jonny stepped down in February 2011 due to work and study commitments. |
Quire was delighted to welcome Leanne McCorry as our Musical Director in September 2011. Leanne holds a BA (Hons) degree in Music from the University of Ulster, is a trained conductor and an accomplished soprano.
In September 2011, Quire began an Arts Council-funded singing project in the Newry area, working with the Newry Rainbow Community. The finale was Quire's Rainbow Connection concert on Saturday 24 March 2012. Our 2012-13 season saw Quire's membership grow and with this strength and confidence, Quire's management committee forged ahead with our most ambitious concert to date - Songs with Love & Pride - which we staged at The MAC Belfast in June 2013 during Belfast Pride. In 2014, Quire was proud to take part in Various Voices Dublin 2014, an LGBT choral festival featuring 80 groups from around the world with 2,000 singers. Over the course of a June weekend, we performed at 3 concerts (at DCU and City Hall) as well as serenading the public with pop-up gigs on the streets of the city. 2015 saw Quire commemorate its 10th Birthday. The celebrations culminated with a gala concert on Saturday 6th June in Theatre at The Mill, Newtownabbey. Our special guests were Gloria, Dublin's Lesbian & Gay Choir and the finale was a specially-commissioned birthday anthem: Proud. Quire's repertoire is varied, ranging from traditional to musical theatre, pop and classical. We have performed at a number of civil partnership ceremonies and so our repertoire also includes plenty of love! |
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Quire: Belfast LGBT Singers formed in April 2005 as an initiative of the Rainbow Project to set up a singing group to perform at the Belfast Pride celebrations in August that year. Around 15 people came to the first meeting - many of whom still sing with Quire. Our current singing membership is around 45. |