Quire Milestones

April 1995 Founding, Rick Yramategui, Director

June 1995 First performance at Iowa City Pride Talent show

December 1995 First season’s concert, about 16 members
First Martin L King University convocation performance

January 1997 First Interfaith Martin L King Service
Joined the international organization Gay and Lesbian Associated (GALA) Choruses, Inc.

Fall 1997 Officially adopted organizational by-laws

December 1998 Last performace with Rick Yramategui as Director

Spring 1999 Marlys Boote becomes Director

Fall 2000 Linda Kroon joins as Co-Director

November 2007 One Voice, Minnesota’s Mixed GLBTA Chorus performs with The Quire

Fall 2009/Spring 2010 Guest Directors:  Regenia Bailey, Susan Beckett, David Evans, Avery Willis

Summer 2010 Celebration of The Quire’s 15th Anniversary

Fall 2010/Spring 2011 Kurt Juhl joins as Co-Director

Spring 2012 Michael Schnack joins as Director

Fall 2012 Peter Grau joins as Director

Fall 2014 Carl Rowles joins as Director

Spring 2015 Patrick Zubiate joins as Director

Fall 2016 Gayle Hartwig joins as Director

June 2018 The Quire performs “Bayard Rustin: The Man Behind the Dream” as one of the original commissioning choirs.

June 2019 The Quire performs “Quiet No More: A Choral Celebration of Stonewall”, commemorating 50 years since the Stonewall Riots, of which The Quire was a commissioning group. In July, Members of The Quire joined with One Voice Mixed Chorus and four other LGBTQ Midwestern choirs at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts in St. Paul, MN for a full staged performance of the work.

February 2020 The Quire presents “Bayard Rustin: The Man Behind the Dream” in a double-appearance series, in honor of Black History Month. With the Iowa City concert seeing record attendance, The Quire was equally excited to return Cedar Rapids for the first time in many years. The rehearsals of this work also included a visit from the composer, Steve Milloy, with a nod to The Quire’s participation in the presenting of this work at the GALA Festival in 2020 2021 “??”.

June 2020 Amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, The Quire was unable to present the commissioned work celebrating the 25th Anniversary of our founding. In spite of that, the work continues and the next 25 years awaits!

April 2021 The debut of the Virtual Quire Project’s video of “A Song of Life” from Song of Our Pride, a song cycle commissioned to celebrate The Quire’s 25 years and composed by Connor Warren Smith.

September 2021 Alex Heetland joined as Director.

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