Two years ago, a member of the Twin Cities Gay Men's Chorus, a well-respected teacher, was arrested for theft. It came out later that he stole to support a crystal-meth habit. This began discussions in the chorus that led to this weekend's premiere of "Through a Glass Darkly," a 45-minute oratorio about three men affected by crystal meth, commissioned from New York-based composer Michael Shaieb.
"When we began talking about it, it turned out that most of the younger men in the chorus know someone who was addicted," said director Stan Hill.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that meth use is more prevalent among gay men than among the general population, and that using it correlates to riskier sexual behaviors.
"We decided that we wanted to get people talking," Hill said. "Back in the 1980s, we sat and watched as the community died around us [of AIDS]. Our music then was reactionary. With this devastation hitting the community, we wanted to be proactive."
Shaieb found out about the opportunity from the American Composers Forum. "My first reaction was that it was a really dumb idea," he said. "But I sent them my tapes, some choral stuff, but also club electronic tracks. I decided that if they could relate to this, then I could do it."
More than a public service announcement
The chorus was clear that it wanted a predominantly choral work. "But I never wanted the piece to be an anti-meth PSA," Shaieb said. "As an audience member, I want to connect with a piece, and the only way to do that is through characters."
So Shaieb tells the story of three young men: Sebastian, a successful stock trader addicted to crystal meth; Zack, his partner, waiting at home, and Billy, a boy he meets at a club and turns on to meth. But the focus remains very much on the men's chorus. "They act as a Greek chorus," he said, "putting the more immediate story in a broader context."
