One, two, three, one, two, three, drink! NYCGMC sing ‘Chandelier’ with Sia.

As if completing our European tour was not enough, we returned to NYC last week to a request from Sia herself to sing 'Chandelier' at her MTV/LOGO 'Trailblazers' Pride performance.

I devised the vocal arrangement on the plane and we assembled 16 NYCGMC guys to be her back-up singers. When she heard us sing in the cathedral, she was clearly genuinely gob-smacked and became unexpectedly tearful as she introduced herself. I found myself saying 'Hi, I'm the Artistic Director, yes - honored to meet you ...', while giving her the big hug that her tears seemed to indicate she needed.

She never shows her face to the camera, so NYCGMC and Ryan were 'Sia' for the performance. It was clear from the precision of her instructions that the whole thing was her unique vision - the spectacular lighting, the semi-improvised dance by her choreographer, Ryan Heffington, the blonde wigs and golden robes - we had beamed ourselves up into the middle of a brilliant piece of conceptual art that was simultaneously pop music. In case you haven't seen it yet, here is the original video:

It was a star-studded and extra-ordinary evening, an incredible and creative use of a cathedral and also great chorus exposure. With this, and 'The Normal Heart'. it's been quite a year.

One, two three, one two three, drink!