After almost 18 years of coexistance, the San Diego Men’s Chorus (SDMC) and the Gay Men’s Chorus of San Diego (GMCSD) are merging.

Gary Holt, artistic director for the Gay Men’s Chorus, will retain his position with the newly unified organization.

“The guys are excited for showing up for their first rehearsal in September and having the size of the chorus go from 75 to over 120,” Holt said. “It’s just tremendously exciting. It’s going to make us one of the five or six largest gay choruses in the country. I think it’s a win-win situation.”

Holt said the departure of Jerry Foust, the artistic director for the SDMC was the catalyst for the merger. After a discussion with the president of SDMC, the two decided it was time for the organizations to blend into one.

Holt said it took almost 18 years for the organizations to come together because each chorus originally had a different mission. The GMCSD was largely performance driven, hosting three concerts a year during its 17 years of existence. While for the last decade, the SDMC has dedicated itself to community outreach, often performing for underserved communities to help showcase choral music in communities that may not be as familiar with it.

Holt hopes the merger will create a “super hybrid” of the two choruses resulting in increased community outreach and fantastic performances.

“We knew that it would benefit both choruses,” Holt said. “It will benefit the [GLBT] community, the arts community, the community of donors and the city Arts Commission, which can now devote greater resources to funding one arts organization instead of two.”

Alberto Cortes, the executive director for Mama’s Kitchen has been second tenor with GMCSD for seven years. The second tenor was a member of the SDMC in the ’90s.

The economy also motivated the organizations to merge. “The economic times make it that much more compelling to bring these entities together to work together and create synergy,” Cortes said.

Metropolitan Community Church’s Rev. Dan Koeshall has been a member of SDMC since the beginning of 2008.

“I think we are leading the way in showing wonderful unity,” the baritone said. “What I’m hoping is that we’re going to have a greater visibility in the community – not only in the GLBT community but within the arts community of San Diego.”

“It’s more than just a bigger chorus; it’s gonna be something exciting for San Diego and not just the LGBT community,” both Cortes and Koeshall said.

Seventeen years ago, the GMCSD was formed by a small group of people in the San Diego Men’s Chorus who were intent on being part of a chorus that was strongly gay identified.

“The times were different 17 years ago,” Holt said. “The political climate was different; it wasn’t as easy for people to be out 17 years ago. We flourished in a lot of ways because there were people who really wanted to support a chorus that was really open.”

The formation of the Gay Men’s Chorus of San Diego attracted media attention and motivated a story in the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Holt was the founding artistic director of GMCSD and returned in 2005 after pursuing other projects.

“Over the years, the San Diego Men’s Chorus has been much more aggressive in their gay identity,” Holt said. “They’ve been much more successful at being open about who they are.”

Over the years, the differences between the choruses faded, and people signed up not knowing which chorus they had joined.

Holt’s hopes for the chorus’ future are high. In 2011, the chorus plans to showcase a performance piece about crystal meth.

“We plan to keep entertaining, but a strong part of our mission is education as well,” Holt said.

“We’d like to bring more students into our performances; we hope to collaborate in some artistic way with the Hillcrest Youth Center. There’s really no limit to the kind of outreach work that we can do.”

The chorus’ Web sites feature an online contest, providing users the opportunity to choose the new name for the chorus. Members of both choruses will vote on a new name after a committee including Holt selects a list of possibilities from entries.

Koeshall said he hopes the new name includes the concepts of forward-thinking, unity and community.

For more information, visit www.sdmc.org or www.gmcsd.com.