March 30, 2014: Our audience agrees: I Am Harvey Milk was a great success!
“What a remarkable piece of music. It was intelligent and educational, while also capturing so much emotion in the happiness, confusion, fear, anger, and ongoing quest for social justice of Harvey Milk’s life, campaign victory, and short time in office prior to his murder in San Francisco in the late ’70s. The musicality was excellent in the Chorus, the instrumentalists, the direction, and the soloists. And, the inclusion of Allegro, the oldest choir of the Minnesota Boychoir, in tonight’s performance was particularly impressive. I experienced quite a few moments of both pride and envy as I acknowledged how fortunate the Boychoir members are to share a stage with so many wonderful role models who express such dedication and joy in singing in a choir as adults. Truly, a superb evening.”
“Wow, what a moving performance by the Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus of their commission I Am Harvey Milk! … Quinn was brilliant as young Harvey.”
“I Am Harvey Milk both breaks your heart, and puts it back together again. It’s a beautifully written and thought-provoking piece of art, which left me, literally, in tears at the end. If you ever have a chance to hear this music, do it. Just hear it. It’s sublime.”
“Tonight’s premiere of I Am Harvey Milk was extraordinary. Commissioned by the Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus, they did themselves so proud. A powerful window into the life of one man that helped me see the whole world more clearly. Go see it tomorrow if you can.”
“It’s fitting that Harvey Milk, who loved opera and theater and has been the subject of many films and books, finally should be feted musically. The hourlong oratorio I Am Harvey Milk, written by Broadway composer and performer Andrew Lippa, will be performed this week by the Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus, one of six gay choruses that co-commissioned it…Lippa has given the oratorio, a traditional classical form most associated with religious themes, a thoroughly modern pop makeover more in tune with his Tony-nominated work on the Broadway musical The Addams Family than Handel’s Messiah.” – Kristin Tillotson, Minneapolis Star Tribune. Read the entire preview here.
Photos by Paul Nixdorf.
