The Choral Foundation, The Georgia Council for the Arts, & The Kenneth Babcock Memorial Music Fund Present
CONVOCATION 2025
Celebrating 40 Years of Festival Singers Tradition
The New South Festival Singers, Lynn Swanson, MME, Music Director
The William Baker Festival Singers With Special Guests, The Georgia Youth Choir, Alyssa Gangarosa, Music Director
Sunday Afternoon, 23 February 2025
The Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, Atlanta, Georgia
When we’ve been there ten thousand years, Bright shining as the sun. We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise Than when we first begun.
What wondrous love is this, O my
The New South Festival Singers
Gwinnett Festival Singers 1985-1998
William Baker Festival Singers Atlanta 1998-2015 Lynn Swanson Festival Singers 2015-2017
Lynn Swanson, MME
Music Director, New South Festival Singers Founder, Institute for Healthy Singing
William O. Baker, DMA
Creator of the Festival Singers & Choral Foundation
Jamea J. Sale, PhD
WBCF Executive Associate Director Director, Institute for Healthy Singing
Thomas Dixon, MM
Music Director, Summer Singers of Atlanta
Music Director-Elect, New South Festival Singers
Daniel Baker
Music Director, Northland Summer Singers
Leilani Velasco Vaughn
Music Director, Voces Festivas
Ed Frazier Davis, MM
Director, Institute for Choral Creativity
Artistic Director, Vox Venti Chicago
Christine M. Freeman, MME
Associate Music Director, Kansas City
Scott C. Smith
Choral Associate & Administrator, Atlanta
Sean Sweeden, DMA
Composer in Residence
James Jandt, Concert Manager, Kansas City
Sue Lawton, Concert Manager, Atlanta
Niccole Williams, MME
IHS&VR Education Director
Associate Director, Summer Singers Lee’s Summit
Leanne Elmer Herrmann, MM, Staff Accompanist
Ivy Belk Pirl, MM, Staff Accompanist
Geoffrey Wilcken, DMA, Staff Accompanist
The William Baker Choral Foundation, Inc. 5450 Buena Vista Street, Suite 100
Roeland Park, Kansas 66205 913.488.7524
www.FestivalSingers.org www.ChoralFoundation.org www.HealthySinging.org www.ChoralCreativity.org
Music Directors
William O Baker, DMA, 1985-2015; 2020-2021
Lynn Swanson, MME, 2015-2017; 2021-Present
Andrew Schmidt, PhD, 2017-2020
Executive Associate Directors
Janis M Lane, MM, 1985-2009
Melissa Shallberg, MME, 2009-2011
Lynn Swanson, MME, 2011-2017
Jamea J. Sale, PhD, 2017-Present
Terrell Abney ‘07
Kristin Boyle ‘14
Steve Brailsford ‘14
Anthony Cochran ‘22
Danelia Dwyer ‘24
Prisca Francis-Eronini ‘24
Marla Franks ‘03
Felicia Hernandez ‘04
Allison Holden ‘18
Virginia Jennings ‘12
Wayne Jones ‘23
Jody Kershner ‘09
Alexis LaSalle ‘10
Sue Lawton ‘14
Sarah Means ‘10
Audra Pagano ‘21
Yolanda Phillips ‘03
Susan Pierce ‘13
Benjamin Raynor ‘22
Heather Sabatino ‘09
Sarah Sambol ‘14
Scott Smith ‘94
Kevin Soderman ‘23
Charles St. Clair ‘11
William Valenti ‘18
Stephanie Wilson ‘21
Chloe Yeates ‘24
Rachel Schrauben Yeates ‘23
The Choral Foundation Board of Trustees
Dr. Kimberly Megow, Valdosta, GA, Chair
Mary Puetz, Cincinnati, OH, Vice Chair
Melissa Shallberg, Clear Lake, IA, Secretary
Ann Stoskopf, Marietta, GA, Treasurer & CFO
Dr. Kristin Boyle, Mableton, GA
Carl Chinnery, Lake Lotawana, MO
Ross Kimbrough, Overland Park, KS
Pamela Pendergast, Prairie Village, KS
Sarah Sambol, Roswell, GA
John Schaefer, Kansas City, MO
Trustees Emeritus
William W. Dreyfoos, Atlanta, GA, Legal Counsel
Ross Malme, Atlanta, GA
Brad Piroutek, Reno, NV
Scott Smith, Atlanta, GA
Greg Wegst, Kansas City, MO
Lynn Swanson, Music Director & Conductor
Lynn Swanson, Director of the New South Festival Singers, is a native of the Atlanta suburb of Marietta, Georgia. She holds the Bachelor of Music in Organ Performance from Shorter College, and the Master of Music Education in Choral Pedagogy from the University of Kansas.
Ms. Swanson is one of the most consequential leaders in the fourdecade history of the Choral Foundation. She is, unmistakably, one of the most significant music leaders of our time In 2022-2023 Ms. Swanson was honored with the ACME award presented by Mu Phi Epsilon International Music Fraternity. Mu Phi Epsilon award recipients are chosen by their peers and are considered to have achieved a high level of professionalism and musical excellence in their concentrated field. The annual award honors Artists, Composers, Musicologists, and Educators from around the world.
She has enjoyed an accomplished international career, serving church positions in Germany that included a performance in the iconic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Significant church positions where she has served as Music Director and as Organist/Choirmaster, include All Saints Cathedral in Milwaukee, St. Benedict’s Episcopal Church in Smyrna, Georgia, Due West United Methodist Church in Marietta and, presently, Grace Episcopal Church in Gainesville. Ms. Swanson’s parish choir served as Choir-in-Residence at the Cathedral of St. Peter in Exeter, England, August 2024.
From 2017-2018 she served as Assistant Director of the Zhuhai Classical Children’s Choir in Zhuhai, China, near Hong Kong. During her lauded tenure there she conducted the chorus at Central Conservatory in Beijing where the performance was viewed on Chinese National Television. She also led the first-ever Buddhist Monastery Choir in a classical performance at the Beijing International Music Festival. From 2018-2020 she served as Executive Artistic Director of the Milwaukee Children’s Choir.
Ms. Swanson served a number of leading positions with the Choral Foundation since 2006. She founded the Cobb Summer Singers in 2006, the Northside Young Singers in 2008, the Cobb Festival Singers in 2009, the Institute for Healthy Singing in 2015. She served as associate director of the Choral Foundation’s original ensemble, now called The New South Festival Singers, from 2010 to 2015, before her appointment as the second music director of the ensemble in 2015, a position she held from 2015-2017 and resumed in 2021.
Lynn Swanson co-created the Summer Singers of Lee’s Summit in 2014, and served as Executive Associate Music Director of the Choral Foundation from 2011-2017.
Ms. Swanson’s conducting portfolio of choral-orchestral masterworks is extensive, including Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem, Bach: Mass in B Minor, Christ lag in todesbanden, and Wachet auf, Handel: Messiah, Israel in Egypt, Dettingen Te Deum and Coronation Anthems, Mozart: Coronation Mass, Solemn Vespers, and Missa Brevis in D, Beethoven: Mass in C and Mendelssohn: Elijah, along with many other works. Collaborations have involved musicians from the Kansas City Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and the Kazinetti Quartet.
The New South Festival Singers
Music of Timeless Beauty and Worth from Atlanta Since 1985
The New South Festival Singers traces its history to the 1985 creation of Gwinnett Festival Singers by founder William Baker and his long-time associate, Janis Lane The choir was known as The William Baker Festival Singers from 1998-2015. The Festival Singers was led by its founder through its 30th concert season. The ensemble is now “The New South Festival Singers” in homage to Atlanta’s historic legacy of tolerance, justice, opportunity and enterprise. The Choral Foundation’s original choral ensemble is now in its sixth season under the leadership of Music Director & Conductor Lynn Swanson.
The Festival Singers specializes in short-form sacred a cappella classics and spirituals, in addition to annual performances of masterworks for chorus and chamber orchestra. Major concerts have included a performance of Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem with the Gwinnett Symphony Orchestra, and a performance in Spivey Hall of Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. John Passion and Mass in B Minor Other masterworks over the years have included Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, Mozart’s Requiem, Solemn Vespers, Missa Brevis in D, and Mass in C minor; Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostri, and Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb and Ceremony of Carols, along with dozens of works from Palestrina to Kodaly. The Festival Singers performed the Ernest Bloch Avodath Hakodesh for the rededication of the magnificent pipe organ at The Temple on Peachtree, and at the historic Community Christian Church in Kansas City, a performance broadcast in its entirety by Kansas Public Radio on the eve of Passover 2012. The Festival Singers’ recording of the Requiem of John Rutter and Songs of the Holocaust by William Dreyfoos was reviewed graciously in the December 2020 edition of American Record Guide.
The ensemble is known for its expressive memorized performances of signature a cappella concerts demonstrating a striking diversity and depth of repertoire. The sound of the Festival Singers has been hailed by music critics and the general public, including The Atlanta Journal-Constitution “Sensuous tonal beauty .a level of balance, blend, intonation and expressiveness that puts the average community chorus to shame…” The Charleston Post & Courier, ”…the South’s premier a cappella choir…exceptional tone and ferocious emotion ” and the New Orleans Times-Picayune, “…inspiring and exhilarating.”
The Festival Singers has produced 25 nationally released recordings hailed in reviews by The Atlanta Constitution and The American Record Guide. The choir has been featured in local television programs across the South, and on national radio programs that include The Sounds of Majesty, The First Art and National Public Radio’s Performance Today. They have toured throughout the South and Midwest in the United States and Great Britain, having appeared in Birmingham’s Divinity Chapel, Atlanta’s Spivey Hall, the DeKalb International Choral Festival, Canterbury Cathedral, and the Bristol (England) Festival, in addition to annual performances before capacity audiences at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina, since 1989.
The Festival Singers has become a model for professional-level volunteer choruses that have inspired the creation of similar organizations in the Atlanta area and across the nation. Indeed, the ambitious chorus that met for a first rehearsal in the basement of a Norcross church in 1985 is now the flagship ensemble of the William Baker Choral Foundation, a national arts organization that through the years has created over a dozen choirs involving hundreds of men, women and youth in Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, and Missouri.
The William Baker Festival Singers
National Second Place Winner of the 2021 American Prize for Choral Performance
William O Baker, DMA, Music Director & Conductor
Jamea J. Sale, PhD, Executive Associate Director & Director of the Institute for Healthy Singing & Voice Research
Christine M. Freeman, MME, Associate Music Director & Senior Vocal Coach
Sean Sweeden, DMA, Composer in Residence & Editor in Chief of Amber Waves Music
Laura Adair ‘24
Daniel Baker ‘22
Laura René Baker ‘99
David Beckers ‘02
Dale Bolyard ‘19
Jocelyn Botkin ‘04
Courtney Cauley ‘23
Timothy DeWerff ‘22
Emily Fish ‘18
Christine M. Freeman ‘06
Karen Kay Hall ‘12
Chip Handrich ‘21
Marcia Higginson ‘02
Jill Holtkamp ‘07
Daniel Huxman, ‘19
Jim Jandt ‘01
Gary Jarrett ‘02
Donna Johnson ‘22
Amanda Kimbrough ‘08
Ross Kimbrough ‘08
Jennifer Lahasky ‘14
Jennifer Logbeck ‘08
Robert Logbeck ‘08
Ashley Maxwell ‘24
Kenneth Moncrieff, ‘19
Melissa Overton ‘06
Amanda Ramirez-Phillips ‘24
Jamie Roberts ‘12
Jamea J Sale ‘02
Erica Seago ‘17
Ethan Sherman ‘17
Cindy Sheets ‘09
Pratima Singh ‘06
Sean Sweeden ‘16
Jessika Toro ‘19
Daniel Trainor ‘22
Leilani Velasco Vaughn ‘20
Ashlynne Villaca ‘24
Drew Villaca ‘24
Ted Williams ‘18
Niccole Williams ‘14
The award-winning William Baker Festival Singers has been hailed by the Kansas City Star as “ the best of the several volunteer choirs in the city ” Though the membership of the 42 voice semi-professional chorale is composed of volunteers, a large majority of the singers hold music degrees and most are vocational musicians Now in it’s 27th concert season, the Kansas City based ensemble has enjoyed numerous triumphs through its tradition of ambitious concerts, tours and recordings
Tours have included performances in some of America’s most prestigious venues, including Trinity Wall Street Church in New York City, the National Cathedral and the Basilica of the National Shrine in Washington, DC, the Cathedral Basilica in St Louis, St James Cathedral in Chicago, St Louis Cathedral in New Orleans, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Atlanta, the Basilica of St Josaphat in Milwaukee, and the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in Kansas City. Their richness of tone, diversity of programming and expressiveness has won praise from audiences and critics alike. Following their debut in Helzberg Hall, including a performance of the Durufle Requiem with members of the Kansas City Symphony, John Heuertz, in the Kansas City Star said, “It’s hard to know where to begin praising this chorus’ performance What came across Thursday night above all was the great warmth in this chorus’ singing It was almost like hearing a family ”
Music Director William O. Baker, DMA, is the Founder of the Festival Singers At the age of 19 he created The DeKalb Choral Guild, now Harmonia Atlanta Before reaching the age of 21 he conducted the Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, Schubert’s Mass in G, and Handel’s Messiah, with full orchestra, launch a career of ambitious artistic leadership that has now spanned nearly a half-century Dr Baker created the Atlanta-based Gwinnett Festival Singers in 1985 that has grown in to the William Baker Choral Foundation, a national arts organization that involves hundreds of men, women and youth in a dozen performing ensembles in Georgia, Missouri, Illinois and Kansas The Choral Foundation sponsors the Jane Sullivan Choral Resource Library, one of the nation’s largest, the Institute for Healthy Singing & Voice Research, the Institute for Choral Creativity, along with the Choral Conversations and Choral Director’s Toolbox podcasts.
An Atlanta native, Dr. Baker studied voice and choral conducting at Mercer University and the University of Georgia before culminating his formal education at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago where he earned the Doctor of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting. His accomplishments have been recognized in his home states through proclamations by two Georgia Governors, Joe Frank Harris and Sonny Purdue, by Kansas Governor Jeff Colyer, by United States Congressman Phil Gingrey, by proclamations from the cities of Kansas City, MO and Roeland Park, KS, by the Johnson County (KS) Commission, and by a 2015 proclamation by the State of Georgia House of Representatives In 2012 he was honored for his contributions to the cultural life of his hometown by the Pro-Mozart Society of Atlanta In 2015 he was named Conductor Emeritus of The DeKalb Choral Guild and in 2023 he was named a National Arts Associate by Sigma Alpha Iota
The Georgia Youth Choir
Alyssa Gangarosa, Artistic Director
Caitlin Grubbe, Accompanist
Paul Burton, General Manager
Lillian Ball
Samuel Batey-Peterson
Eva Burton
Bailey Byrnes
John Wyatt Coleman
Morgan Coote
Ari Davis
Kathleen Ellis
Caroline Frazier
Mirella Haynes
Audie Heckman
Hannah Hornsby
David Kochamba
Edythe Lanier
Lorelei Lipson
Sarah Lott
Margaret Mitchener
Bella Ncho
Popsi Ncho
Leah Peters
Rose Quarles
Madison Ross
Towry Roth
Bonnibel Simpson
Vanya Sinha
Milly Sullivan
McKinley Twiggs
Aiden Walker
Sophie Wehbi
Claiborne Winter
The Georgia Youth Choir is one of the premier youth choirs in the Southeast, providing excellence in vocal instruction and unique professional performance opportunities. GYC was co-founded by Alyssa Gangarosa, Artistic Director, and Paul Burton, General Manager. Beginning in 2007, Georgia Youth Choir was the exclusive choir for all performances of the Atlanta Ballet’s Nutcracker -the Snow Scene- at the Fox Theater, for well over a decade. GYC has appeared in two major motion picures, including A Bad Mom’s Christmas (2017), filmed under the direction of John Lucas and Scott Moore, in television episodes, including the 2015 grand closing scene in the Season II Premier for the highly acclaimed Starz TV Network show, Survivor’s Remorse, co-produced by LeBron James, created by the renown Mike O’Malley, and directed by Peter Segal. GYC has performed with and for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra String Quartet, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, the Atlanta Hawks, the Harlem Globetrotters, CNN, Atlanta Gladiators, and composer Moira Smiley and other prominent musicians and organizations. Georgia Youth Choir members were also filmed for episode twelve, season one, in the highly acclaimed Marvel/Fox Television series The Gifted (2017). Many of our alumni have pursued a career in music and/or continue singing as a life-long passion.
Alyssa Gangarosa, Artistic Director of the Georgia Youth Choir since co-founding it in 2007, is a current resident of Cobb County, Georgia. Ms. Gangarosa has been a Music Specialist at Trinity School, Atlanta, for 18 years, having served in public school music education in Georgia and Indiana for 18 years before her appointment at Trinity. While in Indiana, she served Assistant Director of both the Indianapolis Children’s Choir, under the direction of the internationallyrenowned Henry Leck, and the Columbus Indiana Children’s Choir with Ruth Dwyer. Ms. Gangarosa has been a guest conductor/clinician for honor choirs, choral festivals, and workshops across the country. Her conducting engagements include the Georgia All-State Elementary Choir, Jacksonville Children’s Chorus First Coast Honor Choir Festival, North Texas Children’s Festival Choir, Midwest Kodály Music Educators of America Middle School Honor Choir, and South Washington and Oregon Kodály Educators Honor Choir Festival. She also served as choral director for the annual Junior Academy of Music at the University of Michigan-Flint for over a decade. Ms. Gangarosa has reviewed choral literature for OAKE’s national publication, The Envoy. She is past president of the Indiana Kodály Educators and and a founding board member of the Kodály Educators of Georgia. Ms. Gangarosa holds the Bachelor of Music Education from Augusta State University, Georgia, and Master of Music in Education from the Florida State University. She is an inductee into the Phi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society via Florida State University, and a certified Kodály instructor, receiving her training at Indiana University under the esteemed Dr. Jean Sinor.
A Personal Word from the Festival Singers Founder
It was a rainy evening on Tuesday, February 26, 1985, when 21 singers gathered in the basement choir room of the John Wesley United Methodist Church in Norcross, Georgia We named our enterprise “The Gwinnett Festival Singers” after the county that would be our home for our first 13 seasons. Our young singers were mostly under 30, as was the case with Yours Truly as director, and our creative associate director, Janis Lane
We had a vision to create a unique choral ensemble, a professional-level chorus of dedicated volunteers. Our conversations centered around the question, “What would it be like if the great collegiate choirs -thinking St Olaf, Westminster, Concordia, etc- stayed together as a singing family after graduation?” The idea of the professional choir where singers were compensated with something much more precious than a check was an inspiration by Robert Shaw and his Atlanta Symphony Orchestra choruses, but focused on short-form, sacred a cappella repertoire.
The vision of the Festival Singers from the very beginning was the celebration of a world-wide repertoire of sacred music As a completely independent organization we claimed the freedom to consider not only the aesthetic and historical aspects of the music, but also the spiritual implications as well For example, in a time when scholarly approaches to music of the African-American spiritual and gospel tradition was largely shunned in the professional chorus world, the Festival Singers embraced this glorious music as a signature of our programming
The Festival Singers was also committed to performances of choral-orchestral masterworks from the very beginning with the same care and attention to historical, musical, and spiritual integrity. In the first 18 months of the Festival Singers existence, the ensemble performed the Vaughan Williams’ “Mystical Songs,” Rutter’s “Gloria,” Bach’s “Magnificat,” and three performances of Brahms’ “Ein deutsches Requiem ”
The vision of the Festival Singers was ambitious from the beginning, but the chorus rose to the occasion in a most spectacular fashion. Gwinnett County in the late 1980s was one of the fastest-growing communities in the nation Many experienced singers new to the Atlanta area found a home and social connection through the Festival Singers, and helped lead it to become a regional sensation
Our hardy band of 20-something leaders in the 1980s could never have imagined what would become of the spunky ensemble born in the church basement forty years ago this month Within three years the Festival Singers performed in England’s Canterbury Cathedral Within four years the Festival Singers performed to a capacity audience for the first time at Charleston’s Piccolo Spoleto Festival, an annual tradition that continues to this day The first Summer Singers of Atlanta season came within five years Now called The New South Festival Singers, the first-born ensemble of the Choral Foundation has led to the creation of a dozen performing ensembles based in four states, involving hundreds of singers The Choral Foundation sponsors two educational institutions with international profiles, the Institute for Healthy Singing & Voice Research and the Institute for Choral Creativity, along with the Choral Conversations and the Choral Director’s Toolbox podcasts, the Jane Sullivan Choral Library, and many other unique services to choral leaders, participants and enthusiasts.
As we celebrate our fortieth anniversary with thanksgiving and joy, we recognize the retirements of two of our organization’s great leaders Music Director Lynn Swanson has been described as one of the most consequential leaders in the history of the Choral Foundation. Those words are inadequate to describe what a creative, brilliant and gifted person Lynn Swanson is and the impact she has made on my life and the life of the Choral Foundation She has been a most trusted friend Her talents as a conductor of adults, children, youth and orchestra are without peer. Her vision, creativity, passion and commitment to excellence has inspired every day of my life since I first met her. I thank God every day that she has been a part of the Choral Foundation
Scott Smith has been a part of the Choral Foundation and Festival Singers family for over 30 years There were many times during dark days that Scott Smith carried the vision and hope of the Choral Foundation on his back His brilliant talents as a singer, his spirit of kindness and integrity, and his loyalty to the ideals that we serve have been one of the rocks upon which the success of the Choral Foundation and the Festival Singers has been built
As we look to the future we congratulate Thomas Dixon on his appointment as Music Director & Conductor of both the New South Festival Singers and the Summer Singers of Atlanta He is possessed of brilliant gifts, and he will lead our mission in Atlanta to a new era of growth
Thank you for coming to celebrate with us today. May God continue to bless the mission of our musical enterprise.
Soli Deo Gloria,
William O Baker, DMA Founding Director of the
New South Festival Singers
CHORAL FOUNDATION CONVOCATION 2025
Celebrating Forty Years of Festival Singers Tradition
Sunday Afternoon, 23 February 2025, 4:00 PM, Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, Atlanta
Please Silence Electronics & Please Withhold Applause Until the Conclusion of Each Set
Hosted by Doug Woolery, Social Media Director of the William Baker Choral Foundation
Introit Sung from the Rear of the Nave
LET ALL MORTAL FLESH KEEP SILENCE
Daniel Baker & Robert Logbeck, soloists
Edward BAIRSTOW, 1874-1946
The Liturgy of St. James
The William Baker Festival Singers, Dr. Baker, conducting
SING ME TO HEAVEN
MY FLIGHT FOR HEAVEN
Welcome
Daniel GAWTHROP, Born 1949 Jane Griner, 1941-2007
Blake HENSON, Born 1983
Robert Herrick, 1591-1674 WHERE IS HEAVEN? riks EŠENVALDS, Born 1977
Rabinindranath Tagore, 1861-1941
THE 23rd PSALM (DEDICATED TO MY MOTHER)
Bobby McFERRIN, Born 1950 From Psalm 23 in paraphrase WANTING MEMORIES Ysaye M. BARNWELL, Born 1946
SET DOWN SERVANT
Wayne Jones & Scott Smith, soloists AIN-A THAT GOOD NEWS
American Spiritual arranged by Robert Shaw
American Spiritual arranged by William Dawson
The New South Festival Singers, Music Director Lynn Swanson, conducting Ivy Belk Pirl, accompanist
REMARKS & SPECIAL RECOGNITIONS
Intermission of Ten Minutes
NOTES FROM EMILY
CITY CALLED HEAVEN
Robin McLaughlin CONINE, Born 1994 Emily Dickinson, 1830-1886
American Spiritual arranged by Josephine Poelinitz
The Georgia Youth Choir
Music Director Alyssa Gangarosa, conducting
THE EXALTATION OF CHRIST
THREE EARLY AMERICAN HYMNS
Charles FORSBERG, 1934-2021 Philippians 2:7-11
American Traditional arranged by Alice Parker
O Happy Souls * Wondrous Love * Hark, I Hear the Harps Eternal
Ashlynne Villaca, soloist
SVETE TIKHIY
Sung in Church Slavonic Sergei RACHMANINOFF, 1873-1943
Sean Sweeden, soloist All Night Vigil of the Orthodox Church
THERE IS NO ROSE Sean SWEEDEN, Born 1989
Dr. Sweeden has been Composer in Residence of the Choral Foundation since 2018
GLORIA DIOS from Misa Criolla
Ariel RAMIREZ, 1921-2010
Jennifer Lahasky, conducting Ordinary of the Mass
INDODANA Sung in isiXhosa
Associate Music Director Christine Freeman, conducting
I’M GOIN’ HOME
Ethan Sherman, soloist
South African Traditional arranged by Michael Barrett
American Spiritual arranged by Undine Smith Moore
In the 2024-2025 season the Choral Foundation honors the creation of our first Festival Singers ensemble in Atlanta. Founded in 1985 as Gwinnett Festival Singers, known as William Baker Festival Singers Atlanta, 1998-2015, and Lynn Swanson Festival Singers, 2015-2017, it is now New South Festival Singers.
This arrangement of “I’m Goin’ Home” was performed in the very first concert of the storied Atlanta choir on Sunday, May 20, 1985, at the Christ the King Lutheran Church in Norcross, Georgia. Founder William Baker conducted with Gregory Doss, soloist. We dedicate this performance to our New South Festival Singers brothers and sisters.
I CAN TELL THE WORLD
American Spiritual arranged by Moses Hogan
I BELIEVE IN GOD Credo from Gospel Mass Robert RAY, 1946-2022
Jessika Toro, soloist Ordinary of the Mass
The William Baker Festival Singers
Karen Kay Hall, piano Erica Seago, flute Daniel Trainor, bass Sean Sweeden, percussion
PRAISE TO THE LORD
CHANGED MY NAME
Yolanda Phillips & Scott Smith, soloists
O HAPPY DAY
Daniella Dwyer & Prisca Francis-Eronini, soloists
German Traditional arranged by F. Melius Christiansen Joachim Neander, 1650-1680
Linda TWINE, Born 1944
Johann Anastasius FREYLINGHAUSEN, 1670-1739
Gospel Setting by Edwin Hawkins
The New South Festival Singers, Georgia Youth Choir & The William Baker Festival Singers
Lynn Swanson, conducting Ivy Belk Pirl, piano Jeffrey Kershner, percussion
AMAZING GRACE
American Traditional arranged by Janis M. Lane
Members & Alumni of the Festival Singers, Founder William O. Baker, conducting
The Summer Singers of Atlanta
Atlanta’s Original Summer Chorus Welcomes New Music Director Thomas Dixon, MM, For Our 35th Summer of Joyful Singing
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart CORONATION
Michael John Trotta FOR A BREATH OF ECSTACY
Performed With Professional Orchestra and Distinguished Soloists Morgan Watts, soprano Heather Witt, alto Cory Klouse, tenor Antonio Azpiri, bass
Rehearsals Monday Evenings, beginning June 2
Dress Rehearsal, Saturday, August 2 - Performance Sunday, August 3
CHORAL DIRECTOR’S TOOLBOX
William Baker Choral Foundation Center
5450 Buena Vista Street, Suite 100, Roeland Park, KS 66205 913-488-7524
The William Baker Choral Foundation is proud to be in partnership with Allegro Choirs of Kansas City. Please visit www.AllegroKC.org for information.
William Baker Festival Singers, Prairie Village, Kansas, 1998
New South Festival Singers, Atlanta, Georgia, 1985
Lynn Swanson, MME, Music Director & Conductor
Thomas Dixon, MM, Music Director-Elect
Summer Singers of Atlanta, Midtown Atlanta, 1990
Thomas Dixon, MM, Music Director & Conductor
Summer Singers of Kansas City, Kansas City, Missouri, 1999
Summer Singers of Lee’s Summit, Lee’s Summit, Missouri, 2014
William O. Baker, DMA, Music Director & Conductor
Cobb Summer Singers, Marietta, Georgia, 2006
Northland Summer Singers, Liberty, Missouri, 2025
Daniel Baker, Music Director & Conductor
Zimria Festivale Atlanta, Atlanta, Georgia, 2014
Amy Thropp, Music Director & Conductor
Voces Festivas, Roeland Park, Kansas, 2021
Leilani Velasco Vaughn, Music Director
Kansas City Bronze, Roeland Park, Kansas, 2018
Summer Ringers Academy, Lee’s Summit, Missouri, 2024
Amy Chinnery-Valmassei, Music Director
Vox Venti, Chicago, Illinois, 2022
Ed Frazier Davis, MM, Music Director & Conductor
Institute for Healthy Singing & Voice Research, Roeland Park, Kansas, 2015
Jamea J. Sale, PhD, Director Lynn Swanson, MME, Founder
Institute for Choral Creativity, Chicago, Illinois, 2020
Ed Frazier Davis, MM, Director
Choral Conversations Podcast with William Baker & Jamea Sale, Roeland Park, Kansas, 2018
Jane Sullivan Choral Resource Library, Roeland Park, Kansas, 2016
Amber Waves Music Publishing & Sound Recordings, Roeland Park, Kansas, 2002
The Choral Foundation is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation of the State of Kansas, certified and licensed for business in the State of Illinois and the State of Missouri The William Baker Choral Foundation of Georgia, LLC, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the WBCF, Inc
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Available at Today’s Concert iTunes, Amazon, Spotify, CD Baby and FestivalSingers.org/Recordings
Lauded by The American Record Guide THE SACRED FIRE RUTTER REQUIEM Jan./Feb. 2020 Nov./Dec. 2020
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Kenneth Hoag
Dallien & Jill Holtkamp
Ross & Amanda Kimbrough
Bess Miller
Dr. Eric Nummela
David Ormesher
Pamela Pendergast
Yolanda Phillips
Charles St. Clair
John Schaefer
Richard Shepro in memory of Sir Andrew Davis
Monty & Laura Smith in honor of Christine Freeman
Ann Stoskopf
Karen Svetlic
Ted & Barbara Williams
Williams Family Trust Scott & Sharry Willoughby
BEL CANTO CIRCLE
Gifts of $500 to $1000
Robert & Ruth Abbott
Dr. Henry & Laura Antolak In honor of Ann Woodyard
Jean Ayers
Daniel & Lara Balach
Deborah Baughman in memory of Sir Andrew and Gianna Rolandi Davis
Mary Burnett & Ken Werne
Community Foundation of the Ozarks in honor of Ann Woodyard
Jim & Betsy Crawford
Timothy DeWerff
R. Larry & Marsha Freeman
Bruce Fuerstenberg
Karen Kay Hall
Hallmark Corporate Foundation
Patricia Higgins
Marcia Higginson
Keller Charitable Trust
Kevin & Barbara Kennedy
Mr. & Mrs. Robert Knox
David Loftus
Chris & Michelle Masoner
James Megow, Hahira Nursery
Network for Good
Vera Newnan
Paul & Trisha Reichert
Devon Rolf
Cindy Sheets
Marion Sullivan in honor of Jane G. Sullivan
Nicholas Trivelas
Susan N. & Horace White
SECTION LEADER’S CIRCLE
Gifts of $250 to $500
Glenna Abney
Elaine Adams
Geneva Benoit
Robert & Linda Bonstein
Rebecca & Frank Boos
Jocelyn Botkin
Ronald Burgess
Renee Carlson
Patti & Gabe Combs
Kent & Laura Dickinson
Anthony & Julianna Drees
James & DeeAnn Freeman
Timothy M. Gould & Judith A. Fitzgerald
Chris & Lisa Greenwood
Byron & Terese Grossnickle
Rebecca Hafner-Camp
Elisabeth Henry
Hiawatha Music Club
Mark Houghton
Hunkeler Family Fund
Sara Kurtz
Sue Lawton
Arietha Lockhart
Jennifer Logbeck
Shiela Ogden
Cathy Ramos & Stephen Barnes
Jill Reynolds
Carole Rothwell
St. Stanislaus Kostka - Chicago
Jennifer Schoenfeldt
David Street
Joan Thomson
William & Mary Anne Valenti
Thomas R. Williams
Joe & Ann Woodyard
SINGER’S CIRCLE
Gifts of $100 to $250
Julia Babensee
Bank of America
Mike Barnes
Gregory & Judith Beck
Jeanne Bedell in memory of Brad Bedell
& Ben Koomen
Laura & Randall Beeves
Benevity Community Impact Fund
Connie Bergeron
Karen Berroth
Black &Veach
John& Alisa Carmichael
Joann Carroll
Mrs. Mary C. Davis
Arlen Dominick
Greg Elliott
Susan Fowler
Gerry Fairly
Kate Foster
J.T. & Pattie Frierson
Victoria & Bill Harkins
Lee Anne Hayes
George Helmkamp
Gordon Henke
Felicia Hernandez
David Hober
Susan Holton
Richard Hoskins
Don James
Virginia Jennings
Bethann Johnston
Thomas & Helen Jones
Denny Kurogi
Marlene Link
Justin McConville
John & Mary Sue McCullough
Roger McDougle
Judy Martin
James & Barbara Meadows
Kathleen Michaud
Bill Moody
Megan Moore
Todd Allen Moore
Carter & Hampton Morris
LaDonna Pitts
Katherine Polcar
Jen Porter
Sally Rose
Kat Sale
Jennifer Scott
Kathryn Senkbiel
Gary & Pam Smedile
Frances Spinelli
Ann Umbaugh
Phyllis Vasquez
in memory of Leroy Schnorf
Katherine Villyard
Bradley Wilkenson
Lynn Winney
Tom Woodliff
Charlene Zimmerman
