The Turtle Creek Chorale performing at First Presbyterian Church, Tyler (David Taffet/Dallas Voice)
The Turtle Creek Chorale concert at First Presbyterian Church in Tyler on June 24 opened with a standing ovation and the performance went up from there.
The Tyler concert was the seventh and final performance of the chorus’ four-city Friendship Tour that kicked off at Temple Shalom on June 16. This past weekend, the chorale traveled to Tulsa, Little Rock, Shreveport and Tyler to sing at churches, a college and the Bill Clinton Presidential Library in Arkansas.
The chorale began its final performance in Tyler tired yet exhilarated. Audiences in churches in previous cities told chorus members that they had never heard such vibrant sounds fill their sanctuaries before. At the Clinton Library, they scrambled to add seats as an unexpectedly large crowd filled the hall. At Centenary College, the reception was so rousing that music department leaders were already figuring ways to collaborate with the chorale in the future.
In Tyler, the chorale was returning for a second appearance in the church. The first was eight years ago when artistic director Sean Baugh was a singer in the chorus. In one of his remarks to the packed house, he pointed out where he stood during that show.
Introducing Peacemakers, a choral suite commissioned by the Turtle Creek Chorale and San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, Baugh joked that the membership was predominantly gay male and leaned left. He explained that even among that group, not everyone agreed politically. And, he said, he knew many of the members of the audience had different political views, but music brought them together.
Whatever the political views of those from Tyler who attended, the reception was ecstatically enthusiastic.
Before the tour, Baugh said he hoped to attract a good mix of those who disagreed with the LGBT community politically and members of the LGBT community living in less welcoming environments that Dallas. The Tyler audience seemed to have that good mix.
— David Taffet
