Strength in Harmony

The Rainbow Chorus is Brighton and Hove's largest community LGBTQ+ SATB choir.

 

About us

Welcome to the Rainbow Chorus! We are the largest community LGBTQ+ SATB choir in the south-east outside of London. Based in Brighton & Hove we have been celebrating diversity through music since 1997. We welcome people from all sections of our community.

 

We offer an enjoyable, supportive and affirming environment for LGBTQ+ members to sing, develop their community spirit and awareness, and enable individuals to develop their talents, skills and confidence.

 

Through public performance, we enhance the profile of LGBTQ+ people, particularly in Brighton and Hove, and contribute to the quality and range of community events. We believe that singing at events such as World Aids Day and TransPride sends a clear message that we are out and proud and all different. As part of our commitment to the local community, we also support other charities by singing to help them raise funds.

 

Join the Choir

Anyone who identifies as LGBTQ+ is welcome to join us. There are two ways to join the Rainbow Chorus family:

Join Rainbow Chorus

The Rainbow Chorus is a community choir with high standards that rehearses weekly on a Monday evening with additional rehearsals on some weekends. We have New Members Nights twice a year (January and September) with no obligation to join and no audition, although there is an expectation that you can sing in tune.

 

Join RC+

If you have less free time, or want to improve your singing voice in a less formal setting, our monthly RC+ sessions are loads of fun and a safe space where you can learn some great songs by ear, with sheet music and lyrics to aid if needed. 

Choir News

The Rainbow Chorus is delighted to be awarded £1500 by Tesco Community Grants to support their commitment to provide a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter at their main concerts in 2023 and also at the World Aids Day concert on 1st December.

 

We are committed to promoting diversity and inclusion. Sign Language Users, including deaf, hard of hearing, their families and friends are excluded from many aspects of life and often marginalised within the LGBTQ+ community. Rainbow Chorus will continue to reach out to them by working with Marco Nardi, a brilliantly skilled BSL Interpreter, well known and respected in the LGBTQ+ Deaf community, to provide BSL interpretation at our concerts and publicising this through deaf networks. Members of the choir will also learn some repertoire in Sign Supported English (SSE) to make their performances as inclusive as possible.

 

We provide BSL Interpreters at our 2 main concerts and we would like to develop more partnerships with other community organisations to spread the practice of using BSL interpreters at other LGBTQ+ events in the City.

 

Finola Brophy, Chair of the Trustees commented: “Our Sign Language User audience appreciate seeing our concerts interpreted. They also enjoy our SSE performances which are seen as pro-actively reaching out. Our hearing audience say this has increased awareness around deaf and disability issues. This was helped enormously by Rose Ayling-Ellis on ‘Strictly’ via that moment of silence. Her success also encouraged greater appreciation of the joy of music amongst the Deaf and Sign Language User community and a realisation that equality can be achieved in every sphere of entertainment. We are proud that Tesco customers have chosen Rainbow Chorus in the vote in local stores and look forward to welcoming more members of the Deaf and Sign Language User community at our concerts in 2023.”

 

Support the Choir

There are many ways to support the Rainbow Chorus:

Volunteer

Donate

Sponsor Us

Help Us

Find us on Social Media

You can find Rainbow Chorus on most social media platforms. Please follow us, show your support and keep up to date on the latest Rainbow Chorus news!

Youtube Logo

You can find videos of past performances on our Youtube channel.