Men's chorus expanding horizons

With Andrew Lloyd Weber's play "Aspects of Love" as an inspiration, Quarryland Men's Chorus, the only area choir composed predominately of gay and bisexual men, holds its spring concert 7 p.m. Sunday at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 2120 N. Fee Lane. \nChorus manager Jim Johnson said Quarryland found its home in the large arts community in Bloomington.\n"Quarryland provides a sense of community for gay and bi men and their allies through performance experience," Johnson said.\nSince its creation in 2002, Quarryland has gained popularity with the local gay and bisexual community.\n"There are lots of people looking for a social outlet and other opportunities in the arts community," Quarryland director Barry Magee said. "This is something that has a purpose and the members can celebrate that purpose through the chorus."\nAccording to their Web site at www.quarryland.org, the group's mission is "to provide a positive performance-based community for gay and bisexual men and their allies in South Central Indiana. We foster talent, fellowship, pride, and understanding through excellence in vocal music." \nThe group holds performances year round and meets twice a month to practice their music. Entitled "Aspects of Love," the concert features songs from "South Pacific," Weber's "Aspects of Love," and singer Natalie Cole.\n"This concert deals with every aspect of love," Johnson said, "including emotions and the experiences that happen in relationships."\nIn addition to performances by the choir as a whole, the concert features solos and two quartets. Magee describes the quartets as "drastically different."\n"The first quartet is performing songs in French and the other is a barbershop quartet," Magee said.\nLee Chapman, a member of the chorus, wrote two of the songs performed in the concert. \n"Originally, I wrote these to be performed by me and my guitar," Chapman said.\nThe two songs have contrasting messages, one about young love and the other about settling for someone.\n"The first song called 'Your Perfect' was written for my partner on his 50th birthday," Chapman said. "The other is completely not like me. I don't really know what inspired such an evil song."\nThe group concludes every performance with the classic Muppet song "The Rainbow Connection," which debuted in "The Muppet Movie" in 1979.\nThe concert is free and open to the public and offers refreshments provided by BLEU Culinary Arts.\n--Contact staff writer Jaimie Cohen at jrcohen@indiana.edu