Gay Men’s Chorus Opens Doors in Europe : Music: Uncertainty has given way to elation on the five-city tour, even in cities where homosexuality is suppressed.

When the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles set out two weeks ago on a five-city tour of Europe, the 80-member ensemble didn’t know how they would be received in cities where homosexuality is either suppressed or the gay movement is in its infancy.

But the historic tour by a gay American musical organization--with Copenhagen, Berlin, Prague and Vienna concluded successfully--has exceeded expectations, said artistic director Jon Bailey on Thursday.

With only a Budapest concert tonight left on the itinerary, the group has been embraced by audiences in the hundreds--and enjoyed support by local communities, Bailey said.

In Prague, the chorus was cheered by an audience--predominantly gay--of more than 500, Bailey said in a telephone interview Wednesday from his hotel following the concert at Myerskovsky Hall. The chorus also was acknowledged by the local press--including the major dailies--and was interviewed by the Czech press agency and several magazines, Bailey added.

“What happened in Prague was what (the group) hoped for but was afraid to dream of. People told me this has never taken place in Prague,” Bailey said. “It is an interesting time to be there. They are between communists and whatever is going to happen so there is a sense of freedom and openness. . . .”

But it was with much wariness that the chorus anticipated its engagement Thursday evening at the University of Vienna and in a “city where homosexuality cannot be publicly acknowledged and where the anti-gay movement is strong,” Bailey said.

Speaking from the Prinz Eugen hotel at midnight Thursday, Bailey elatedly reported that there were no incidents, and that the concert, sponsored by the umbrella gay student organization HOSI Wien, was concluded peacefully before a crowd of about 350. Bailey said the chorus also planned to perform Friday afternoon at an AIDS hospice in the Austrian city, largely to draw attention to the facility and to the fact that “many in Vienna are trying to close it down,” he said.

The group concludes its tour tonight, performing art songs and American folk songs at the Attila Cultural Center on the outskirts of Budapest. Here, Bailey said, the gay community “has been notified (of the event) through its quiet channels” and should be a similar experience to Prague.

The group, which was founded in 1979 and has 175 members, performs three major concerts annually at the Wiltern Theatre. It will realize no profits from the European tour, Bailey said, with each member paying about $2,200 apiece to go on the two-week trip.

Perhaps the most memorable stop, Bailey said, was a concert and ceremony held at Sachsenhausen, a concentration camp established near Berlin in 1936 where many gays were executed during World War II. At the site, the Los Angeles musicians, in conjunction with the Maenner Minne Chorus, a 35-member gay chorus from Berlin, presented a plaque to commemorate those who perished at the hands of the Nazis.

“At every instant of this trip people have come up and thanked us for building a bridge between the chorus and gay America and gay people and organizations in these countries,” said Bailey, 52, a professor of music at Pomona College.

“We have been overwhelmed by the reception we have received.”