How this Nashville LGBTQ choir celebrates 20 years of harmony

When LGBT-focused choir Nashville in Harmony was founded in 2004, many of its members had to be discreet.

“A lot of people performed in the choir in secret,” says Artistic Director Wesley King, “because then somebody would look it up and find out what it is.”

Twenty years later, the choir is still an important gathering place for queer singers. It has also grown into a major artistic voice, both locally and nationally. This season, Nashville in Harmony performed at Carnegie Hall, and the group has upcoming concerts scheduled for the Ryman Auditorium and the GALA festival, an event for LGBT choruses from all over the world.

At 2 p.m. Saturday, June 22, the choir performs on the main stage at Nashville Pride.

WPLN visited a Sunday afternoon choir rehearsal. Before the music started, members described what the choir meant to them. Here’s what they said, in their own words:

Molly Horth, member since 2022

Char Daston WPLN

Molly Horth has been a member of Nashville in Harmony since 2022. She says it’s been an important part of understanding her queer identity.

I didn’t feel like Nashville was my home until I joined this choir. It was such a welcoming place that I made so many friends. It allowed me to feel comfortable here in a way that I did not expect.

As a queer person, I was very new into exploring my queer identity. Knowing that (within the choir) you didn’t have to come out, you didn’t have to share anything about your identity that you didn’t want to, it allowed me to continue exploring my sexuality, so that I didn’t have to put a label on it until I was ready to.

I’m from a very small conservative area way up in New York. “Lesbian” was a bad word when I was growing up. And if you were bisexual, you were “looking for attention.” So knowing that there were so many people of various identities who have identified as such for a few months, (or) for a year, (or) for 50 years. Knowing that there were people who were much older than me who were so comfortable being who they were, who had been so comfortable for so long, or went through more struggles than I would ever know — it was special. This is a special group.

Wesley King, artistic director since 2020

Char Daston WPLN

Wesley King has served as Nashville in Harmony’s artistic director since 2020. He’s taken the choir to Carnegie Hall and directed choral masterworks like Beethoven’s 9th symphony.

This year we partnered with the Nashville Philharmonic, who are (also) celebrating their 20th year anniversary, to do Beethoven’s 9th Symphony. And I (said) to the choir, “You know, typically people would categorize us as only doing pop and and Broadway-type music.” So it was kind of a statement for us to say, “No, we can do (Classical music) as well.” It’s a choir made up of varying abilities. We have people who have never sung in a choir before next to people who have master’s degrees in vocal performance or choral conducting. So for us to claim that space was very important.

We talk a lot about our feelings. We talk a lot about what the music means to us or how we might analyze the music through a queer lens. We performed an arrangement that I did of the Tennessee Waltz, which traditionally is thought of about a heterosexual couple dancing, and then one of the partners being stolen away by their best friend. What does it mean for a queer choir, a choir made up of predominantly LGBTQ people, to sing this song?

Also, kind of more in the metaphorical sense, we talked about, you know, we love the South, we love the state of Tennessee, but oftentimes we feel like the state is working against us and that the state is that person stealing our partner away.

Dyson Schaible, a.k.a Trinity Monroe, member since 2009

Pride Season, it’s a huge season for me. Busy, busy, busy, busy, just getting out our stories of who we are. You know, too many people think we’re freaks, and we’re not freaks.

Char Daston WPLN

Dyson Schaible has been part of Nashville in Harmony since 2009, and also performs as the headlining drag queen Trinity Monroe.

I sing in our concerts in drag, because it’s part of the LBGT community and we like to have everybody up on our stage and be seen. One of the main reasons why I sing in drag is because I usually have a show at 10:30 after our concert. And so for me to not have to take off work, I have asked to perform as my alter ego.

When all that was going on last year with the (Tennessee state legislature banning) drag and everything, Nashville in Harmony said, no matter what, if you’re going to sing in drag, you’re going to be on that stage in drag. And they were like, “We’ll find an escape route for you to get out of the performance space!”

Back in 2009, I was lost and defeated and had this huge hole in my heart. I have a music degree, a bachelor’s and master’s degree in music, and I just wasn’t getting that fulfilled in Nashville. I went to the Love Can Build a Bridge concert for Nashville in Harmony, and I (said), “That’s what I need.” I joined the next season and I haven’t missed a concert since.

This is my family. When I need a shoulder to cry on, or I need to make a phone call to talk about a promotion I got at work, or the flowers I’m growing in my front yard. This is the family I needed.

These interviews have been edited for brevity and clarity.