Working together to make beautiful music
The Lesbian/Gay Chorus of SF invites community members to celebrate our great work and inspire other leaders by serving on the LGCSF Board of Directors.
The Chorus enriches and inspires the greater LGBT community to live lives filled with laughter, joy and authenticity through music. The Chorus seeks individuals from San Francisco's music, philanthropy, business, and arts communities as candidates for its board of directors. The board includes singing chorus members as well as supporting members.
Basic responsibilities of the board include participation in a monthly meeting, working within committees, and seeking financial support from events, sponsorships, grants and donations. The LGCSF chorus is an independent 501c3 non-profit organization. To learn more, contact board members Tom McElroy and/or Shay Aaron Gilmore at board@lgcsf.org
LGCSF has a seven to fifteen member Board of Directors who are elected by the chorus membership. Board members serve two-year terms with half of the board up for re-election each year.
You can click on the links to download a copy of the
Dale Danley, President
Dale sings in the bass section of LGCSF. He serves on the production committee and joined the board of directors in 2009. Before finding a musical home at LGCSF, Dale sang with choruses at local churches, Buddhist sanghas, and pagan festivals. Dale is passionate about restoring native habitats in our natural areas of the Bay Area, and organizes the community in the North of Panhandle neighborhood to improve the neighborhood park. From 2000 to 2005, he was on the board of directors of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. He studied Public Health at UC Berkeley, and has worked in university-based clinical research and as a grantmaker for a health care foundation.
Alyssa Stone, Vice President
Northern California native Alyssa Stone performs regularly in the San Francisco Cabaret scene, doing shows at Martuni’s, Rrazz Room in Hotel Nikko, Café du Nord, Eureka Theater, and many other local spots. Her captivating Cabaret style is a combination of operatic coloratura, musical theatre faux-belting, and awkwardness. She completed her Post Graduate Degree in Voice at San Francisco Conservatory studying with Catherine Cook after receiving her Bachelor of Music from Illinois Wesleyan University while also Minoring in Theatre Dance, and her Master of Music from New England Conservatory. Currently, Alyssa has her hands all over Arts Education in San Francisco as the Education Outreach Coordinator at Stern Grove Festival, Artist in Residence for San Francisco Arts Education Project, Project Assistant and Teaching Artist for the San Francisco Opera, and voice teacher. Performing since she was 8 years old, Alyssa was most recently seen as Sophie de Palma in the extended hit run of Master Class at New Conservatory Theatre Center. Alyssa has also performed as La Fée in Cendrillon (Massenet), Lucia in The Rape of Lucretia, Clorinde in Cendrillon (Isouard), Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire, Madame Goldentrill in The Impresario, The Queen of the Night in Die Zauberflöte, Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Despina in Così fan tutte, Frasquita in Carmen, Mariane in Tartuffe, Nanetta in Falstaff, and Tytania in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and the Soprano Soloist in Handel's Messiah, Peppermint Patty in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Soupy Sue/Mrs. Millenium in Urinetown, Carrie in Carosel, Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, and a Fairy in Iolanthe. At New England Conservatory, Alyssa was awarded a Fellowship Grant to perform recitals around the Boston area and had the opportunity to direct along side the Opera Faculty for a number of scene productions. She also acted as the Assistant Director for Boston Opera Collaborative's production of Don Giovanni. www.alyssaystone.com
Nathan Marken, Treasurer
NATHANIEL MARKEN is honored to serve on the Board of Directors for the Lesbian/Gay Chorus of San Francisco. Nathaniel brings a diverse musical background and unique aesthetic that comes from jaunting in new operatic ventures, most recently with Goat Hall Productions, bringing to life a variety of characters including the title role in George [W.] Bush: The Last Hundred Days and Mr. Hale in the World Premier of Trifles during the 2010 Fresh Voices X. Nathaniel previously debuted as Pope John Paul II and Ronald Reagan in the U.S. Premier of Solidarity in the Fall of 2009 as Wagner with San Francisco Parlor Opera's Faust in the Spring of 2009. Nathaniel has sung such 20th century pieces as Ben in Menotti's The Telephone, Snug in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Gideon in Mark Adamo's Little Women and the role of Phagita in the 2007 premier of Lou Harrison's Young Caesar with Ensemble Parallèle. Nathaniel was in the closing cast of Insignificant Others, the only-in-San-Francisco-musical at Pier 39 during the fall of 2008. He also co-directed and -produced of Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in 2008 prior to completing his Masters in Voice Performance at the Conservatory. Nathaniel has also sung with Bay Area ensembles including Soli Deo Gloria and the Mission Dolores Basilica Choir.
Tom McElroy, Secretary
Tom McElroy is an architect who started his own practice in 2009. A transplant from New York, he dove into the performing arts upon arrival and has been a member of the Lesbian|Gay Chorus of San Francisco for 9 years. Tom joined the Board in 2009 and became Secretary in 2011. When he’s not bouncing around the stage and singing at the bottom of the range with the basses, he can be found juggling several residential design projects throughout the Bay Area. He also serves as chairperson of the Small Firms Committee at the AIA, and is on the Land Use Committee of Duboce Triangle Neighborhood Association. In his free time he enjoys cooking, estate sales, yoga, and travel.
Shay Aaron Gilmore
Shay joined the LGCSF Board of Directors in August 2011 and is thrilled to support the Chorus' groundbreaking and inspirational musical achievements. Shay is an in-house attorney doing corporate litigation by day, but Shay still finds time to serve on the Board of Directors of the Transgender Law Center as well as the Judiciary Committee of the Bar Association of San Francisco. Shay loves going to the Chorus performances and enjoys the light-hearted shows in particular. Shay lives with his boyfriend, Mark, in the Castro and enjoys yoga, tennis and good food.
Rachel Pokorny
Rachel Pokorny is honored to bring her ten years of professional choral management with the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus to the Lesbian Gay Chorus of San Francisco. Having experienced first-hand the family, activism and musical excellence of a boldly-identified community chorus, she looks forward to helping LGCSF grow for another 35 years. In her copious spare time, Rachel is completing her Master's in Victorian History at San Francisco State University.
Kory Cogdill
Kory is native to the Midwest and studied musical theatre in Chicago at Roosevelt University. Eventually making his way out West he spent 6 years in Los Angeles working in restaurant management and event production. Currently he is the director of sales and marketing for a San Francisco based restaurant, Tacolicious, with locations in the Marina and Mission districts and a stand at the very popular Ferry Plaza farmers market on Thursdays. He is proud to serve on the board and can't wait to help further the outreach of LGCSF in our local community and beyond.
William Sauerland , Artistic Director
William Sauerland is delighted to join the Lesbian/Gay Chorus of San Francisco as the Artistic Director. A native of New Paris, Ohio, Mr. Sauerland holds a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education (Choral/General Music Emphasis) and Vocal Performance from Miami University, where he studied choral conducting with William Bausano and Ethan Sperry. The recipient of a prestigious Marshall Scholarship, Sauerland completed a Master’s degree and Post-Graduate Diploma in Advance Vocal Performance from the Royal College of Music in London. Mr. Sauerland has worked professionally as a singer in opera, concerts and choral ensembles for over 15 years. He is known in the Bay Area as a professional countertenor, having sung with Festival Opera Company, two seasons with the internationally renowned vocal ensemble Chanticleer, and most recently in the world premiere of Dieci Giorni at the Thick House. In England, he held the position of Artist-in-Collaboration at the Royal College of Music, and was the Singing Teacher at St. Lawrence College. Mr. Sauerland is currently a Choir and Voice Teacher for the Grammy award-winning Pacific Boychoir Academy in Oakland, and teaches choral music at Lick-Wilmerding High School in San Francisco.
