The Art in Me

While we have seen marriage equality become the law of the land, LGBT youth still experience bullying, harassment, discrimination, and violence at alarming rates.  LGBT youth are four times as likely to attempt suicide, and the rate of substance abuse disorders may be 20% to 30% in the LGBT community, significantly higher than the general population (9%).  ECMC would like to acknowledge the LGBT artists who have taken their own lives, either through suicide or substance abuse.  On our Spring FREE AND EASY Concert, we will dedicate the Art in Me by Jars of Clay  to all those who struggled in the past and who continue to struggle today to be accepted for who they are.

ART IN ME by Jars of Clay

Images on the sidewalk
Speak of dream's descent
Washed away by the storms
To graves of cynical lament
Dirty canvases to call my own
Protest limericks carved
By the old pay phone

(Chorus)
And in your picture book
I'm trying hard to see
Turning endless pages
Of this tragedy
Sculpting every move
You compose a symphony
And you plead to everyone
See the art in me
See the art in me
See the art in me

Broken stained glass windows
The fragments ramble on
Tales of broken souls
An eternity's been won
As critics scorn the thoughts
And works of mortal man
My eyes have drawn to you
In awe once again

(Chorus)

 

New York Classical Chorus (singing) - NYC - NY Chorus - All Gay and Gay Friendly Men's Choir - NYC Classical Chorus - Empire City Men's Chorus
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A Drinking Song by Matthew Harris

One of the songs we'll sing on our FREE AND EASY Concert, May 7 and 8, 2016 is a setting by Matthew Harris of W.B. Yeats' poem A Drinking Song.  Matthew set A Drinking Song as a samba.  It is the fourth and final song of his Love Songs for Men's Chorus, a cappella.  

Matthew Harris's highly popular choral works have been commissioned or premiered by leading choruses such as the Dale Warland Singers, Phoenix Bach Choir, Los Angeles Chamber Singers, Western Wind, and Cantori New York, and sung by countless school and community choirs across America. His A Child's Christmas in Wales, a cantata for chorus and orchestra commissioned by Harmonium, is performed throughout the US and UK.

Other commissions have come from the Fromm Foundation/Aspen Music Festival (where he was a guest composer), Verdehr Trio, Modesto Symphony Orchestra, Haydn-Mozart Orchestra, American Composers Forum, Schubert Club and US-Mexico Cultural Fund. 

Mr. Harris studied at The Juilliard School, New England Conservatory and Harvard University, and has taught at Fordham University and Kingsborough College, CUNY. In 1988 founded Harris Musicology. He currently teaches at Brooklyn College, CUNY and New York City College of Technology, CUNY.

Be sure to click on the photo to visit Matthew's website, where you can read his complete bio and sample his music.

 

 

New York Classical Chorus (singing) - NYC - NY Chorus - All Gay and Gay Friendly Men's Choir - NYC Classical Chorus - Empire City Men's Chorus
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