Congressional Chorus: Not your typical choral group
Regardless of party or election results, not many these days can be heard singing the praises of Congress. Not even the Congressional Chorus.
“We don’t get a cent [from Congress],” says the group’s artistic director, David Simmons. He says this not as a gripe but as simple evidence that there are no direct ties between Congress and his organization, founded in 1987. “It’s called the Congressional Chorus because it started with 12 people [who] were all originally Congressional staffers,” he says. “They started getting together over their lunch hours, mostly just to relax and blow off some steam.”
Simmons wasn’t one of the original singing staffers, though at the time he was singing — at church gigs around town — and he was a staffer, working for the late Senator John Heinz (R-Pa.). Eventually he realized his calling was in music and teaching, not law and Republican politics. “Through the process of coming out,” he says, “I realized I can’t be a gay man and a Republican.”
Since 2006, when Simmons signed on as leader, the organization has grown from 28 to roughly 85 singers in the auditioned main group, with a total of nearly 200 across a “chorus family” of six ensembles, including the American Youth Chorus and the NorthEast Senior Singers. “Compared to many choruses in D.C., we have huge diversity on many fronts,” Simmons says, including age, gender, race, sexual orientation and programming.
That diversity will be on display next weekend with the season-opening concert, “American Folksongs and Spirituals.” This collaborative, multi-genre concert will incorporate dancing from Afromoda Dance Theater, Capitol Movement and Joy of Motion Dance Center, poetry from the youth slam team of Split This Rock and hanging quilts from the DC Modern Quilt Guild. A small orchestra will also accompany the chorus as it presents mostly new, modern arrangements of old African-American spirituals and folk songs from many different ethnic and immigrant traditions.
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Obviously, the Congressional Chorus is not your typical formal choral group. “We incorporate choreography, costumes, lots of other [theatrical] elements,” Simmons says, adding that the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington is a kindred spirit in the push to liven up the art form and show that “choral music can be cool.” — Doug Rule
The Congressional Chorus performs Saturday, Nov. 15, at 7:30 p.m., at the Church of the Epiphany, 1317 G St. NW. Tickets are $30. Call 202-399-7993 ext. 182 or visit congressionalchorus.org.
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