History

In 1979, ten years after the Stonewall riots, New York City's gay band was born. At the time it was only the third such band in the United States. The spark for this novel idea came at the same time as the First National March on Washington, D.C. As New Yorkers prepared for the rally, two gay musicians, Nancy Corporon and Bob Wolff, had a dream of their own, inspired by Jon Sims, a San Francisco musician credited with founding the gay band movement. With Jon's help, Nancy and Bob were soon posting flyers all over Christopher Street asking musicians to get their instruments out of the closet and join the ranks of a very special new band. Only one year later, that band would become the first openly gay and lesbian musical organization to perform at Lincoln Center.

Today, The Lesbian & Gay Big Apple Corps is New York City's premier symphonic and marching band. As a symphonic band, we perform several concerts each year in venues ranging from local schools and churches to Alice Tully Hall. Larger concerts are often performed in conjunction with the Lesbian and Gay Band Association, and have included performances at the Paramount Theatre, the Hollywood Bowl, the 2000 March on Washington, both inaugurations of President Clinton, and Gay Games events around the world. In addition, band members often get together to create small chamber ensembles, including flute trios, woodwind quintets, brass choirs, and saxophone ensembles.