HISTORY & CURRENT

Stockholms Gaykör (Stockholm Gay Men Chorus) was founded in 1982 by Raino Kirkma who, together with several friends, thought that it would be fun to sing together as an alternative to parties and going to clubs. From a modest start with about 15 men who sang in unison, the choir has grown to have, at its peak, 70 singers, who successfully tackle up to 7-part arrangements for male voices. 

Today, the choir is a multicultural organisation with members from many different parts of the world. The choir also has an octet that represents the choir and performs in smaller settings. 

MISSION

Stockholms Gaykör strive to be a meeting place for gay men of all ages and origins and to spread joy and music, as well as improving skills and musical proficiency. 

We also find it important to partake in gay culture, and not only in the glitteraty of night clubs. For example: For over 20 years, the choir has taken part in the ecumenical mass dedicated to love and tolerance in Stockholm Cathedral that concludes the Pride week in Stockholm. We have also collaborated at several "Rainbow Masses" and it is of importance to us to sing at the Mass of Remembrance at World Aids Day.

PS. We like glitter too

CONDUCTORS

1999-2007, the choir was under the direction of Karol Vieker (a university-educated choral conductor from the United States), followed by classically schooled Jacob Mølgaard Laustsen until 2010. After that, conductor and accordion player Jerry Adbo led the choir, sometimes with help from piano player Magnus Bergman.

In 2022, Tony Margeta not only conducted the choir but raised the quality and singing technique immensely, to hand over to Hugo Frimodig Södersten in 2025. 

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SUCCESSES

Our concerts have drawn an ever-growing audience. Our joint Christmas concerts with Sapphonia Kvinnokören (Sapphonia Women’s Choir, www.kvinnokoren.org) have sold out, despite double performances. 

Our spring concerts have included a number of well-known guest artists, including Mark Levengood, Petja Svensson, and PomPeriPossaBand. 

​The choir’s 20th anniversary in the spring of 2002 drew a great deal of media attention. This led to the choir increasingly performing on the radio and on TV. The Christmas concert in Tyska Kyrkan (The German Church) in 2004 was recorded live by the Swedish national radio and broadcast several times, including a nationwide broadcast on Christmas Eve.

Over the years, Stockholm Gay Men Chorus has won a number of awards, such as the Culture Award from Rosa Rummet (The Pink Room), the Arco Nordica award from the International Lesbian & Gay Cultural Network–Nordic, and the award for “Best Musical Performance” at a gay choir competition in Antwerp. Most recently, the choir was awarded the Lars Rading Cultural Award by Noah’s Ark and by the Red Cross for being “an appreciated and constant feature in different activities in the LGBT community and in making HIV positive and AIDS afflicted people visible, both in Sweden and abroad.”