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SOUTHERN VOICE NOVEMBER17/1994
Atlanta Feminist Women's Chorus
hires male director
Interim director Robert Glor has won over skeptical chorus members with his
sensitivity and skill.
Choice raises some
eyebrows, but the
show must go on
by ADAM J. SANK
“There’s some really nice singing going
on here, very nice,” says the director, hands
waving emphatically across the chorus’s 50-
plus members, “but can you work toward a
more open sound on the word ‘fire?’ Let’s try
it again, please.” The members commence
“Fire, Fire,” a madrigal piece they are re
hearsing for their December concert, and this
time one can truly hear a clearer, more open
“fire.”
To the observer, nothing seems unusual
about this Sunday evening rehearsal—expect
that this is the Atlanta Feminist Women’s Cho
rus (AFWC), and the director, Robert Glor, is
a man.
Fire, fire, indeed.
Since April, the 12-year-old, mostly les
bian AFWC had been searching for a person
to direct the chorus, following the departure
of Glenna Shepherd, who had served as direc
tor for the 1993-94 season. The chorus’s board
of directors sought a person, presumably a
lesbian, with sufficient experience conduct
ing choral music who could commit to the
position. That task turned out to be more dif
ficult than they had anticipated.
“One would think that there are hundreds
of appropriately trained, ‘out’ lesbian femi
nists just waiting for this opportunity,” says
Eileen Stone, chair of the AFWC Concert
Committee, in an open letter to the lesbian
community, “but one would be terribly
wrong.” In fact, the board found few candi
dates that were both qualified and committed
to directing the chorus. One woman was hired
in the spring, but she resigned shortly after
ward. As the fall rehearsal season drew closer,
chorus members worried that a suitable per
son would not be found in time to prepare for
the December concert.
A general business meeting of the full cho
rus was held in August, at which chorus presi
dent Teri Atkins first suggested to the mem
bers the possibility of hiring a director with
out regard to her or his gender or sexual ori
entation. Members of the full chorus were at
first reluctant to consider even the possibility
of a male director, says Atkins, but a lengthy
dialogue brought out a wide spectrum of opin
ions on the issue.
“What I think was so fabulous,” says
Atkins, “was that a number of women started
from a place of ‘I have a real problem with
this and I don’t know if I can sing [with a
male director], and through discussion we were
able to get to a place of ‘OK, I’m willing to
see how it feels.’”
As strongly opposed as some women were
to the idea of a male director, the notion of
canceling the season altogether was far more
unpleasant. “The prevailing theme was that
the chorus must continue,” notes Stone.
After deciding to broaden their search to
include candidates of both genders, the AFWC
board selected two men and one woman to
audition in front of the full chorus on Septem
ber 11. All three potential directors conducted
a vocal warm-up and then ran through a por
tion of a new piece of music. Each had his or
her own personal style, according to Stone,
and the goal was to determine which had the
best rapport with the chorus, aside from being
qualified. Following the audition, members
voted for the candidate they wanted most as
their director—and again on whether they
wanted to simply cancel the December con
cert.
In the end, the majority felt that the show
must go on, and that gay male Robert Glor
made them want to sing the most. Glor, the
MCC Christ Covenant choral director, was
offered the position of interim director and
has been working with the chorus every Sun
day since.
“I spent a lot of time that weekend think
ing about what I was going to say,” Glor
recalls of his audition, “so I talked to them
about my fears and my excitement in doing
it.”
Though he was thrilled to be chosen, Glor
is careful to emphasize that a female director
would better lead the AFWC in the long term.
“I’m the interim director,” he states. “I think
that’s a real important word in there. I would
hope that the...lesbian community would un
derstand that this is a bridge-type thing. It’s
CONTINUED ON PAGE 18
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