The Brisbane Pride Choir will feature the premiere of a new composition, Mianjin Millen at its ‘belonging’ concert at the State Library’s Red Box on Saturday, 28 May. 
 
Melbourne composer Benjamin Leske will attend the premiere of his work. ‘I first observed the Brisbane Pride Choir in 2009 and enjoyed their passion and enthusiasm for both singing together and singing for a cause,’ said Leske, a former music director of shOUT Youth Chorus (previously the Melbourne Gay and Lesbian Youth Chorus) and Associate Music Director of the Melbourne Gay and Lesbian Chorus. ‘I was fortunate to work with the Brisbane group at choral workshops in 2015 and was delighted to be asked to compose this new work.’

‘Mianjin Millen celebrates the journeys of the Choir members and their wishes for the future,’ said Leske. ‘It captures small elements in Brisbane's LGBTI history - Dornoch Bridge and the Story Bridge Hotel, both places important in the fight for equality and it celebrates the unity of singing within a diverse community and the layers of identity.
 
‘I also wanted to give a sense of the Brisbane river as it winds its way through this beautiful city. The work honours the local Jagera people and Turrbal people and I appreciated the support by Yuggera elder, Uncle Des Sandy to use Yuggera words within the work.’
 
The ‘belonging’ concert on 28 May will begin at 6pm in the Red Box of the Queensland State Library.  The performance is held during National Reconciliation Week and forms part of the State Library’s year of activities around a central question: Who are we, what connects us to Queensland, and how do we belong?  The Choir will perform local and world songs about place and family and justice and belonging.
 
Tickets are on sale for $12 and can be purchased online at: brisbanepridechoir.org.au

​The Brisbane Pride Choir is gearing up for its final performances for 2015, beginning with a Marriage Equality rally in Ipswich on 14 November. The Choir will also perform at the Transgender Day of Remembrance in New Farm Park on 20 November, at Brisbane’s World AIDS Day commemoration on 1 December and at the launch of a new book on 4 December, ‘BOLD: Stories from older lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people’.

‘Since early last year, each time we go on stage we dedicate our performance to marriage equality,’ said Katherine Richardson, Choir President. ‘We’re delighted to sing at the start of the rally in Ipswich to join community voices in promoting marriage equality to our local political leaders.’

The Pride Choir has performed every year since its formation in 1998 at Brisbane’s annual World AIDS Day commemoration. ‘We’re also pleased to be performing, for the second year, at the Transgender Day of Remembrance,’ said Katherine Richardson.
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The final performance for the year will be at the Brisbane launch of a new book, ‘BOLD: Stories from older lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people’, published by Melbourne’s Rag and Bone Man Press and authored by Choir member, David Hardy. This free event, to be held at the Queensland AIDS Council on 4 December will include the Choir’s performance and readings from Queenslanders who feature in this book.

The Brisbane Pride Choir launched its new name and a vibrant logo ahead of its 18th annual performance at Brisbane’s Pride Fair Day on 19 September.

‘We are mostly referred to as the Brisbane Pride Choir so we took the logical step to simplify our name,’ said Katherine Richardson, Choir President. ‘Our membership is completely open, whether you are gay or lesbian or bisexual or transgender or intersex, queer or a straight ally. We’re always looking for new members and Pride Fair Day is a great time to meet up with people who want to be part of one of the oldest LGBTIQ groups in Brisbane.’

Since early 2014, the Choir has dedicated each and every performance to marriage equality, and has donated a significant amount to support the work of Australian Marriage Equality. ‘We have been disappointed with the slow progress by our political leaders in ending the discrimination faced by our LGBTIQ community,’ said Richardson.

For the third year running, the Brisbane Pride Choir will host an annual concert during the Pride month of September. ‘Pride does Eurovision’ is a fun night of European songs and will again be hosted at the Queensland Multicultural Centre on Friday, 25 September 2015.

Tickets for ‘Pride does Eurovision’ are $30 and $25 (conc.), and are on sale through the Choir’s website, www.blgpc.org.au.  The concert will include voting for your favourite song/country and guests are encouraged to dress up, with prizes for the Euro-trashiest outfits.