Music Reviews : 10th Anniversary Concert by the Gay Men’s Chorus

It wasn’t simply a concert that the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles gave at the Embassy Theatre Saturday evening. It was, for both audience and chorus, a celebration.

Titled “Ten! A Decade of Song,” the program celebrated the Chorus’ first 10 years with an animated, often comical look at itself. The 150 casually dressed men opened with resident composer Scott Henderson’s upbeat “Diversity” and then poked fun at performance-night jitters and intra-choral relationships.

While individual soloists did not sing with much distinction, the ensemble demonstrated remarkable polish and discipline. The chorus produced a vibrant, well-balanced sound and, under conductor Jon Bailey, the words emerged with absolute clarity. William Trusten accompanied stylishly.

Understandably, this survey of the last decade included reference to AIDS, but the Gay Men’s Chorus exceeded the bounds of good taste when Kimbrough Scott and Mark Nordike, dressed in white boxer shorts, danced a sexually explicit faux pas de deux .

Dignity returned after intermission, when the tuxedo-clad musicians returned to deliver several “classical” works. Extraordinary blend and telling contrasts marked the Chorus’ very moving account of Biebl’s “Ave Maria,” and works by Rutter, Egan and Rorem received similarly cogent treatment.