First Ever Wedding at Lincoln Center During a Concert - After Groom Performs!
Billy and Randall said “I do” to a crowd of surprised audience members and fellow singers as they became the first couple to get married during an actual concert at New York’s Lincoln Center. The concert was presented by Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY).
Billy, part of Distinguished Concerts Singers International, had just finished a sublime performance of Mozart’s Requiem. As intermission began, a brass quintet caught everyone’s attention in the lobby, and the audience, along with members of the chorus, became instant wedding witnesses and guests and joined in celebrating the happy couple.
Billy Hurbaugh and Randall Day met on the steps of St Thomas Church Fifth Avenue 21 years ago. Randall, who worked for Canterbury Cathedral in DC, was visiting New York when he caught the eye of Billy, a born and raised New Yorker, walking down Fifth Avenue. Randall, who was on his way to services, thought he would have to abandon the chase when, to his surprise, the young man turned to enter the church. The ushers at St. Thomas directed Billy to a pew and placed Randall directly behind. When Billy heard Randall’s beautiful singing voice, he had a reason to turn around and start a conversation with a compliment, and the two continued their chat on the church steps afterwards. Meeting friends for lunch, Billy announced that that he had “met the man I'm going to marry." This outburst drew a round of laughs, not only because it was 1991 and same sex marriage wasn’t in consideration, but because Billy did not know the fellow’s name.
Nevertheless, Billy remembered when Randall worked and tracked him down in DC. Randall came to New York three months later for a visit and the two have been together ever since.
The couple now lives in glorious California wine country where Billy is a member of the Santa Barbara Choral Society and Randall is the priest at St. Marks-in-the-Valley church, located just a couple of miles from Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch.
Both gentleman are thrilled to return to New York, and this beautiful concert, to make their partnership legal. Billy’s parents were at the ground-breaking for Lincoln Center in 1959, an event also attended by President Eisenhower. (The couple’s Bichon Frisée, “Ike,” will attend the reception.) Additional special guests included Chairman and CEO of 20th Century Fox, Gary Newman and his wife Jeanne Newman, an entertainment lawyer who represents Mad Men among other shows, friends of the couple.
This concert of sacred music from DCINY brought the two back to the sacred music that first brought them together. For the second half of the concert – a new Requiem by composer René Clausen – the two gentlemen returned to Avery Fisher Hall to sit side-by-side as a married couple.
Billy, part of Distinguished Concerts Singers International, had just finished a sublime performance of Mozart’s Requiem. As intermission began, a brass quintet caught everyone’s attention in the lobby, and the audience, along with members of the chorus, became instant wedding witnesses and guests and joined in celebrating the happy couple.
Billy Hurbaugh and Randall Day met on the steps of St Thomas Church Fifth Avenue 21 years ago. Randall, who worked for Canterbury Cathedral in DC, was visiting New York when he caught the eye of Billy, a born and raised New Yorker, walking down Fifth Avenue. Randall, who was on his way to services, thought he would have to abandon the chase when, to his surprise, the young man turned to enter the church. The ushers at St. Thomas directed Billy to a pew and placed Randall directly behind. When Billy heard Randall’s beautiful singing voice, he had a reason to turn around and start a conversation with a compliment, and the two continued their chat on the church steps afterwards. Meeting friends for lunch, Billy announced that that he had “met the man I'm going to marry." This outburst drew a round of laughs, not only because it was 1991 and same sex marriage wasn’t in consideration, but because Billy did not know the fellow’s name.
Nevertheless, Billy remembered when Randall worked and tracked him down in DC. Randall came to New York three months later for a visit and the two have been together ever since.
The couple now lives in glorious California wine country where Billy is a member of the Santa Barbara Choral Society and Randall is the priest at St. Marks-in-the-Valley church, located just a couple of miles from Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch.
Both gentleman are thrilled to return to New York, and this beautiful concert, to make their partnership legal. Billy’s parents were at the ground-breaking for Lincoln Center in 1959, an event also attended by President Eisenhower. (The couple’s Bichon Frisée, “Ike,” will attend the reception.) Additional special guests included Chairman and CEO of 20th Century Fox, Gary Newman and his wife Jeanne Newman, an entertainment lawyer who represents Mad Men among other shows, friends of the couple.
This concert of sacred music from DCINY brought the two back to the sacred music that first brought them together. For the second half of the concert – a new Requiem by composer René Clausen – the two gentlemen returned to Avery Fisher Hall to sit side-by-side as a married couple.
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