Charlie Beale

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Our response to the Orlando tragedy ...

Yesterday, New York CIty Gay Men's Chorus were asked to sing in Times Square on 'Good Morning America'. We sang my arrangement of ‘Light’ from ‘Next To Normal’. Above is the video we produced, that was shown on breakfast TV across the nation. I was hugely proud of our singers, 70 of whom got up for a 5.45am call in Times Square in show week, at less than 24 hours notice. They did a great job.

I was even prouder of the response. We got 1.4 million views in the first 24 hours. Friends and colleagues from Australia, the UK, the US and around the world sent messages of love. They said how the song had made them cry and helped them heal. LGBTQ choruses across the world have led their communities by singing at vigils in the last few days. This is why singing, music and the arts is so important. When words alone are not enough and the stories we need to tell go too deep, singing brings us together.