It’s summer 1996; Beautiful Thing is in cinemas and Mama Cass is crooning ‘Make Your Own Kind of Music’ on the soundtrack as two teenage boys kiss—and break the law, the age of consent for gay men being still an unequal eighteen. I myself am only just in my twenties and have only just moved to London; I’m on my first Pride demonstration. Anyone could march, then, and it was still a protest: the Conservative government who gave us Section 28 would be in power another year; the legislation, which banned the ‘promotion of homosexuality’ and overshadowed my own adolescence, would not be repealed for a further six.
‘Marching with LGSW at Pride was the most affirming experience of my life—being somewhere where I felt loved BECAUSE of who I am, not despite it.’
Clare
Somewhere along the route, a photocopied flyer was thrust in my direction. The details are somewhat lost in the haze machine of time: perhaps it was hand drawn; perhaps there was a number at the bottom; perhaps I stared and stared at it until, some days or weeks later, I dared to ring it, and with a touch more tremolo than I’d intended, said I’d responded to the callout for players, news enthusiastically received by conductor Robin Gordon-Powell who, a few months earlier, had set-up London Gay Symphony Orchestra to ‘give queer individuals the opportunity to make music together in a friendly and supportive environment without fear of prejudice’.
‘I’ve faced homophobia in other music organisations, however in LGSW I can be completely me and not feel judged or ashamed.’
Yaz
The classical music scene can be pretty conservative; the amateur music scene can be pretty cliquey; my reception, when I showed up for first rehearsal that September (hiding behind my hair) was more than friendly: I was welcomed into the family, as every player is always welcomed into the family, and three decades later, the hair is greyer, thinner, but I’m still in the principal oboe chair, LGSO a constant, in a world that has changed, for worse and better.
In the early years, there were existential questions: what is the point of a gay orchestra, and how gay should the music we play be? We dabbled with drag queen galas, cult movies scores, singing-slash-skating nuns, and ten years in, some members of the orchestra chose to pursue an altogether different musical direction—in 2006 founding London Gay Symphonic Winds.
Two decades on, LGSW are performing three major concerts a year, plus smaller gigs at bandstands across town, and they’re a regular highlight of the London Pride parade. Their twentieth anniversary celebration will combine classical arrangements and beloved wind band repertoire with musical theatre, film music, and camp pop favourites, culminating in an encore featuring returning former members—all led by Musical Director John Brown, with Reece Connolly of The Gallifrey Cabaret compering.
LGSW chair Ricky Holtz, and LGSO co-chairs Gary Clarke and Josh Sturges say: ‘We are beyond excited to be honouring our groups’ shared history of inclusive music-making through two concerts which celebrate the generations of queer musicians, conductors and supporters who have made it all possible.’ Both concerts showcase the range of LGBT+ music-making in London: LGSO now performs five concerts a year featuring boundary-pushing repertoire, our place as one of the country’s most accomplished amateur orchestras proven in 2016 selection for the BBC’s Great Orchestra Challenge. Our anniversary concert will feature the world premiere of ‘Restless Host’ by Mark Bowden—acclaimed composer and viola player with the orchestra—plus pieces performed in our very first season; under the baton of newly appointed musical director Sonia Ben-Santamaria, we may do better by Tchaikovsky and Liszt than we did in 1996.
This is mainstream symphonic music, which has always been the core of our repertoire. And that, it turns out, is the point of a gay orchestra: to insist that this music, and this life, is ours as much as anyone else’s. Those two boys making out in the park probably did as much for social change as any petition or protest, and so I believe has the making of music.
LGSO 30th Anniversary Concert
Sunday 18 October 2026, 6:30pm
Cadogan Hall, 5 Sloane Terrace, London SW1X 9DQ
Tickets from £24.50: https://cadoganhall.com/whats-on/london-gay-symphony-orchestra-30th-anniversary-concert/
LGSW 20th Anniversary Concert
Saturday 24 October 2026, 7:30pm
St John’s Church, Waterloo, London SE1 8TY
Tickets from £14: https://www.outsavvy.com/event/37220/london-gay-symphonic-winds-20th-anniversary-concert-
Nathan Evans is the writer of a novella, a short fiction collection and three collections of poetry, which can be found at https://www.inkandescent.co.uk
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