Men love
| Men love | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Seat: | Berlin / Germany |
| Founding: | 1987 |
| Genus: | Male choir |
| Voices : | 25 (TTBB) |
| Website : | http://www.maenner-minne.de/ |
MÄNNER-MINNE - Schwuler Männerchor Berlin e. V. was founded in February 1987 as the first gay male choir in Berlin . The association has been recognized as a non-profit organization since 1989 .
The purpose of the association is the maintenance, promotion and dissemination of choral singing and the preservation of musical and cultural goals to strengthen the community between different social strata and groups at home and abroad. For this purpose, the common music-making of the members, the public concerts - through the prejudices against homosexuals in other population groups are broken down - and contacts with other choirs should serve.
Men-Minne is a member of the following associations:
- Legato (European umbrella organization for gay and lesbian choirs)
- Choir Association Berlin
- Lesbian and Gay Association in Germany (LSVD)
Appearances (selection)
In December of the founding year 1987, the choir presented itself to the public for the first time.
A first highlight was the hosting of the 4th European gay and lesbian choir festival in May 1988. Since then, Männer-Minne has participated in the European choir festivals in Hamburg , London , Groningen , Munich and Paris . Another choir festival, Various Voices, took place in Berlin in May 2001, and Männer-Minne played a key role in its preparation and implementation.
Since 1991, when the choirs from Seattle , Los Angeles and New York were guests in Berlin, there have been contacts in the USA . Since 1992, Männer-Minne has performed at the GALA festivals of American gay and lesbian choirs in Denver , Tampa and San José (California) . The trips were supplemented by small tours through different cities.
Above all, however, the German and European contacts are maintained. Visits to and from Dresden (as early as 1990), Frankfurt am Main , Hamburg, Hanover , Munich, the Ruhr area , Stuttgart , Copenhagen , Leeuwarden , Ljubljana and Zagreb are examples .
The programs show a great variety. Early highlights were e.g. B. a Berlin - Revue , a Western program and a program in which a certain " Johnny " was searched. After the “jubilee concert” for the tenth anniversary in 1997, which showed a cross-section of the previous programs, the musical “Unter Brüdern” and two Christmas programs were performed. In February 2003, Männer-Minne went on stage with a sixties review entitled “ Music is Trumps ”, in the following year the 25 active members “occupied” twice, a musical tour of the city through the four occupation sectors in Berlin in the 1940s. This was followed by an homage to the composer Friedrich Hollaender , whose career started in Berlin , under the title “I would so much like to have sex appeal” .
After the program “In the Magic Forest”, in which well-known fairy tales were interpreted in a new way, another program dealt with the text and hit poet Bruno Balz . In 2012 the choir celebrated its 25th anniversary with a concert of old and new pieces. The choir's last two programs were “Willkommen in Xanadu”, in which well-known and lesser-known hits from gay icons such as Madonna , Kylie Minogue and George Michael were taken up, and “Let's do it”, with which the choir premiered in 2018 and which was dedicated to the gay composer Cole Porter .
With other gay and lesbian ensembles, the choir also rehearsed the Carmina Burana , which was or will be performed at the Various Voices 2018 festival in Munich on the Odeonsplatz Open Air as well as with the Berliner Ensembles in the concert hall of the University of the Arts.
CD recording
On the occasion of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf's move from Berlin to Sweden , a CD entitled Farewell was released in 1996 . On this, Männer-Minne is represented with a song sung together with Charlotte von Mahlsdorf and a piece of their own.