The Summer Singers of Lee's Summit

12/12/2023

12/12/2023

Lots of music to hear at Christmas! ❤️❤️❤️

12/07/2023

Don't miss these great Christmas concerts sponsored by the William Baker Choral Foundation! Merry Christmas, friends.

12/01/2023

Come support this wonderful Choral Foundation choir this Christmas! 🎄⛪️🌟

Voces Festivas se enorgullece de compartir este hermoso programa navideño con nuestra querida Kansas City. Hemos creado una hermosa programa navideño de música coral y villancicos para compartir con todos ustedes y prepararse para la temporada navideña. Miércoles 13 de diciembre a las 7:30 p. m. en la Catedral de Todos los Santos en Kansas City, Kansas. ¡La entrada es gratuita y esperamos verte allí!

Voces Festivas is proud to share this beautiful Christmas program with our beloved Kansas City. We have created a lovely Christmas program of choral music and carols to share with you all to prepare for the holiday season. Wednesday, December 13th @ 7:30pm at All Saints Cathedral in Kansas City, Kansas. The admission is free and we hope to see you there!

11/28/2023

Today, we appeal to YOU for your support of the ensembles and educational institutions of the William Baker Choral Foundation on GIVING TUESDAY 2023. As we culminate this wonderful 2023 year of growth and joy, we need your help to continue to stay debt-free and expand in our service to our members, our audiences and our growing international communities.

Donate TODAY at www.choralfoundation.org/makeagift

The thousands of listeners who have enjoyed performances by our over 600 participants involved in 10 performing ensembles in four states (KS, MO, IL, and GA) is thrilling, but it is far from the whole story. The Choral Foundation has long supported the choral art nationwide and, in 2023, has dramatically expanded an international profile.

The New South Festival Singers has been one of the South's leading choral ensembles for nearly four decades. Under the brilliant leadership of Music Director Lynn Swanson, the semi-professional Atlanta-based chorale is receiving accolades from audience members and critics alike. Recently, they have released a brand-new CD recording, Legacies of Light, on the AMBER WAVES label. It will be available for purchase on December 1 on CD and is already on all digital music platforms. The recording is a delightful blend of the Festival Singers' signature a ca****la classics and spirituals, recorded ‘live’ in concert at the 2023 Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston.

Three Fellows from the Choral Foundation's The Institute for Healthy Singing & Voice Research took the work of science-based singing instruction to Kenya to support music education in Africa. Through the work of Choral Foundation members and supporters, 100+ musical instruments have been sent to Kenya and more are waiting to be shipped. Interns and students of IHS&VR may now qualify for graduate and continuing education credit through a partnership with MidAmerica Nazarene University. Our staff of IHS&VR fellows now includes 14 voice scientists, teachers, MD otolaryngologists, and music therapists offering vocal training nationwide.

The 2023 Summer Singers of Atlanta, 110 voices strong, joined with full orchestra for a gala performance of the MASS IN Eb by Franz Schubert under the leadership of Music Director Andrew Smith. The 2023 Cobb Summer Singers, led by Lynn Swanson, performed a creative concert of works by Camille Saint-Saens and Johann Sebastian Bach, including the great master's beloved MAGNIFICAT. And, the The Summer Singers of Lee's Summit put together a program event with the Holocaust Cantata by Donald McCullough that will be remembered for many years to come by the Lee's Summit Community.

Voces Festivas, our Spanish language ensemble, continues to grow in size and reputation, having been featured in "The Independent" magazine on a number of occasions, on KSHB-41 television news, and through performances at the Hispanic Heritage Month Festival through the Johnson County (Kansas) Arts and Heritage Center and at Cinco de Mayo sponsored by the Guadelupe Center in Kansas City.

The JANE Sullivan Choral Library has greatly expanded its holdings and the number of ensembles it serves across the nation. Through a grant from the Kansas Creative Arts Industries Commission to archive music history, we have begun the process of digitizing our extensive collections, now among the largest in the United States. The library includes collections of rare recordings, 14,000+ octavo titles in quantity, books, hymnals, and scores available for researchers and historians.

The Institute for Choral Creativity received over 300 submissions from dozens of countries for its most recent new music competition. Winning choral works from the ICC have received regional premiers by Choral Foundation ensembles in Kansas City, Atlanta, Chicago, and at Charleston's Piccolo Spoleto Festival.

Staff members of the Choral Foundation continue gaining national and international recognition. Founder Dr. William Baker was named national second-place winner of the Dale Warland Award for Choral Conducting and was named a National Arts Associate by Sigma Alpha Iota. Executive Associate Director and IHS&VR director Dr. Jamea Sale has enjoyed scholarly papers reviewed by Dr. Jean Abitbol, a world renown otorhinolaryngologist in Paris and has been invited to speak about vocal health in 2024 in Helsinki, Finland. Lynn Swanson, MME, was chosen as one of eight music leaders world-wide to receive the ACME (Artists, Composers, Musicologists and Educators) Award from Mu Phi Epsilon Professional Music Fraternity International Fraternity and Foundation. These are but a few of the accolades bestowed this year on Choral Foundation staff members.

All this good news began in Atlanta with the creation of the first Festival Singers choir in 1985. It has grown and grown from three metro areas in the United States to an international presence from China to Kenya. I don't have space to tell you about the many exciting things also happening with our Kansas City and Chicago ensembles. As you can see the William Baker Choral Foundation is growing exponentially. Every day we serve the musical art, participants at all levels of skill and experience, and tens of thousands of listeners in concerts, broadcasts, and recordings.

We are as committed to fiscal responsibility as we are to musical excellence. We are one of the rare large arts organizations in America that is debt free. The opportunities are boundless, and the need is urgent. I am asking you to make a generous, tax-deductible gift TODAY to the GIVING TUESDAY Campaign. Please help us reach our end of year goal of raising $60,000 by December 31, 2023. Though we have until December 31 to apply gifts to our challenge goal, funds are needed immediately as we have launched a busy 2023-2024 concert season.

Making your generous gift TODAY is easy...
Online: Please visit www.ChoralFoundation.org/makeagift today. You will be directed to our Donor box giving portal. Your gift may be directed to a specific ensemble, location, or a specific project. It may also be given in honor or memory of a loved one.
By Mail: Please mail your generous check: William Baker Choral Foundation, 5450 Buena Vista Street, Suite 100, Roeland Park, KS 66205. Please make your check to WBCF.

BONUS!! Donors who contribute $1000 or more by December 1 will receive two complimentary Patron Reserved Seats to any (or all three) Carols by Candlelight with New South Festival Singers(Atlanta), Christmas with Vox Venti (Chicago) and/or Candlelight, Carols & Cathedral with William Baker Festival Singers (Kansas City). You will also receive a complimentary first-release copy of the New South Festival Singers' recording, Legacies of Light.

Thank you for your love of music of immortal beauty and worth, and for your generosity!

Laura Rene Baker
Choral Foundation Development Director
[email protected]
(816) 914-8791

11/23/2023

Happy Thanksgiving from the musical family that is the William Baker Choral Foundation. We give thanks today for the love and support of our participants, our audiences and our patrons. We give thanks for a Loving Creator Who is still about His work of loving and creating. We pledge to be there for you in in love this holy season at the crowning of the year and for many more years to come. www.ChoralFoundation.org

11/14/2023

Hope you can attend this special night of music and inspiration! 🎶🎵❤️🎶🎶❤️

11/11/2023

"The moon gives you light,
And the bugles and the drums give you music,
And my heart, O my soldiers, my veterans,
My heart gives you love."
(Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass, 1881)

Without FREEDOM the arts cannot survive in love and truth. Indeed, freedom is the oxygen of the arts. We give thanks to God for the men and women, past and present, who's courage, love and sacrifice has led them to take up arms to secure and defend the freedoms we enjoy. On this Veterans Day, the musical family that is William Baker Choral Foundation expresses our honor and our love for each one of our blessed veterans. May God preserve and protect you as your service to our nation protects each of us.

10/22/2023

Today!!!

08/18/2023

Dr. William Baker, music director of the Summer Singers of KC, offers thoughts and historical reference for Haydn’s Creation as a pre-concert talk from the J...

08/18/2023

Hello friends!
Please click on this pre-concert introduction video to hear a personal invitation and some historical reference for Haydn's CREATION that the Summer Singers of Kansas City will be performing this weekend! We think that Dr. Baker really knocks it out of the park! Let us know what you think...

Details for the concert -
Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral
13th and Broadway, KCMO
August 20, 2:00pm
tickets $25 general admission, $100 patron reserved
www.choralfoundation.org/concerts

https://youtu.be/1yDDxYQQbEI

Dr. William Baker, music director of the Summer Singers of KC, offers thoughts and historical reference for Haydn’s Creation as a pre-concert talk from the J...

08/09/2023

Auditions are being scheduled NOW for the William Baker Festival Singers!

The William Baker Festival Singers is a Kansas City area based semi-professional chorale that specializes in sacred a ca****la classics and spirituals, annual masterwork performances with full orchestra, regional tours, broadcasts and recordings. Membership is by competitive audition.

What do we mean by “semi-professional?” For us this means that the William Baker Festival Singers is a professional expectations choir where our members are paid with something much more precious than a check. Our membership includes leading music educators and church music leaders, professional singers, and voice instructors. The vast majority of our members hold music degrees and are vocational musicians. Most are paid singers in other places, but sing as volunteers with the Festival Singers because of their commitment to our unique mission. We invite committed singers to join us in our amazing journey of song and spirit.

If you are looking for a choral experience that will change your life, call or email today: 913-488-7524 or [email protected]

Artskc - Regional Arts Council

08/09/2023

Want to continue singing throughout the year with a high level choral ensemble in the William Baker Choral Foundation? Please consider auditioning for the William Baker Festival Singers!

08/03/2023

The Summer Singers of Lee's Summit know the art show reception after each concert was incredibly crowded, so we have a special link to share with you. The Heroes of the Holocaust projects by the 4th graders at Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy can be accessed through this link.

Each project has a child describing, in his/her own words, the hero that helped to save Jewish lives during the Holocaust. The projects are broken down into approximately 2 minute reports.

Thanks again for everyone involved in making this concert event in Lee's Summit a super success.

Heroes from the Holocaust

08/01/2023

Wow, wow, wow!! 🤩

What a whirlwind of a weekend with a dress rehearsal, 2 performances, and two receptions of the Holocaust Cantata culminating our 9th season of the Summer Singers of Lee’s Summit!

The idea started and ended with our talented and visionary director Jenni Lahasky. She had the courage to select this beautiful program In remembrance of the Holocaust and LOVE her singers throughout the whole summer experience.

Many others helped along the journey including all our partners in the Greater KC Jewish community, St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Lee's Summit, Mo., Jewish Community Center, Midwest Center for Holocaust Education, Father Tim Coppinger, Dr. William Baker, volunteer ushers, concert manager, Amy Kravitz Thropp, Laura Baker, Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy children artists, narrators- Rabbi Larry + Rhonda Karol, picture takers and so many more! It was truly an amazing community wide event that moved so many and brought us all closer together.

Please enjoy a scrapbook of images from our culminating concert yesterday evening, Monday July 31.

We will never forget…

07/31/2023

Part II tonight @ 7:30pm, St Paul’s in Lee’s Summit! Hope to see you there! Come early for best seating.

07/31/2023

Thank you to our amazing audience for Sunday's performance of the McCullough HOLOCAUST CANTATA. We are so appreciative of the capacity audience and the loving response for the concert and during the reception and art exhibit.

Comment from an audience member at Sundays concert… “Excellent narration. So sad. Wish everyone could hear this program. So very well presented but an emotional experience, for sure. Thanks to the choir, presenters, cellist, the soloists and pianist. You are all so talented.”

If you were unable to make it yesterday, or unable to get it, please come tonight at 7:30 PM, St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 416 SE Grand Avenue in Lee's Summit.

ChoralFoundation.org/concerts for tickets or at the door

07/31/2023

That was so much fun, let’s do it again tomorrow night! The Holocaust Cantata performance was an emotionally moving and amazing experience!
Thank you, Jennifer Lahasky! This music has brought all the singers into a closer bond. We don’t want it to end.

I know one singer who forgot to bring Kleenex on stage… she’s not gonna make that mistake on Monday.

07/30/2023

After three years in Dayton, Rabbi Larry served congregations in Topeka, KS (22 years); Dover, NH (5 years); and Las Cruces, NM (9 years). Besides a full range of congregational responsibilities, Rabbi Larry has participated in and facilitated local interfaith and multicultural education programming, and was appointed to the State of Kansas Holocaust Commission in 1987, serving as commission chair in 1995-2006. He has been a Jewish singer/songwriter since 1999 and has released three albums of original Jewish music.

Rhonda has taught in religious schools in Jewish congregations for 40 years, worked in and directed early childhood education centers, worked with a community reading grant, and served as an Outreach Storyteller (for local early childhood learning centers) in the Youth Services department of the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library. She taught early childhood education at community colleges and at Washburn University in Topeka. Her passion is for children, who are our future.

Rabbi Larry and Rhonda moved from New Mexico to Overland Park in 2021 for retirement. They are members of The Temple, Congregation B’nai Jehudah, Larry’s home congregation. The opportunity to come full circle is very special for them.

They will be narrating at the Summer Singers of Lee's Summit concerts this weekend, the Holocaust Cantata.

https://www.festivalsingers.org/concerts for information and tickets
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07/30/2023

Tomorrow is the first concert! Here are some rehearsal pictures from a few weeks ago.

What a journey this has been! ❤️

https://www.festivalsingers.org/concerts for information and tickets
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07/30/2023

Here's a little glimpse into the Summer Singers Experience ... three great concerts coming up in Lee's Summit and in Kansas City!

Tonya Parker just happened upon the Sunset Singers of Lee's Summit one Thursday evening. She's friends with Amy Chinnery-Valmassei who directs the handbell choir at St. Paul's, and also works just down the street. When she was dropping something off at the church, Amy introduced her to Jenni Lahasky, the director, and the rest is history!

Tonya hasn't, other than singing with her Church of Christ congregation, really sung with any groups since High School choir. Without even knowing anything about the concert material, she said "Count me in!" She could tell this was going to be a quality experience.

She appreciates Jenni's style of meeting singers on their own level, wherever they are, especially since the Summer Singers choir is non-auditioned. But, for Tonya, she really enjoys being surrounded by such beautiful voices and getting to sing in a formal setting again.

She would love to see you on Sunday or Monday, July 30 or 31, for the concerts in Lee's Summit. Or maybe ... maybe as a fellow Summer Singer NEXT year!

https://www.festivalsingers.org/concerts for information and tickets
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07/29/2023

Our dress rehearsal went very well this morning! We added cello, soloists, and a new director, Amy Thropp, who just flew into KC from Atlanta!! Amy will be conducting the Summer Singers of Lee’s Summit in her composition Kaddish for the 6 million, which opens the choral part of the afternoon.

Please support this very unique and important program. See you at 4:00 Sunday afternoon or 7:30 Monday evening. Tickets at www.choralfoundation.org/concerts or at the door.

07/29/2023

Please listen to this thoughtful and insightful interview from our talented conductor, Jennifer Lahasky about the upcoming Holocaust Cantata concert.

Thank you, .org, 91.9 Classical KC, and Kiana Fernandes for the excellent story and support of our collaborative program. We are so blessed to have your wonderful radio station in Kansas City!

Still need tickets? www.choral foundation.org/concerts

Tickets will also be available at the door!

The Summer Singers of Lee's Summit will be performing three works on Sunday and Monday that commemorate the millions of lives lost during the Holocaust. Director Jennifer Lahasky talks about the program, the collaboration with the Jewish community and her hope that the music will help audiences find...

07/28/2023

BIG, BIG, BIG Congratulations are in order for our amazing William Baker Choral Foundation music director, Lynn Swanson!

Lynn has been recognized as a outstanding member of Mu Phi Epsilon International Music Fraternity. Mu Phi Epsilon recognizes its stellar members through the ACME honorific (Artists, Composers, Musicologists, and Educators), awarded to members who are distinguished in their field.

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. There were only EIGHT members from around the world chosen to receive the award this year, and our distinguished director is one of them!

Mu Phi Epsilon is focused on the advancement of music in the community, nation, and world through promotion of musicianship, scholarship, therapy, and education, with an emphasis on service through music. Lynn Swanson has always been a Stand-out in the Choral Foundation and we could not be more proud of her international recognition with this award!!

Lynn is currently the Music Director & Organist of Grace Episcopal Church, as well as Director of the New South Festival Singers and the Cobb Summer Singers. 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.
Here's a fun fact about Lynn...

From 2017-2018 she served as Assistant Director of the Zhuhai Classical Children’s Choir in Zhuhai, China, near Hong Kong. Lynn conducted the chorus on national television as part of the Tenth Annual International Chamber Music Festival of the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. While in residence in China, she traveled to the city of Wuhan where she served as Artist-in-Residence at the Hong An Tian Thai Temple Monastery. Lynn prepared the 60 voice Monastery Choir for their first performance at the Beijing International Choral Competition 2018. The choir performed Italian motets, anthems in Latin, English and Chinese and were awarded gold medals for their inaugural performance by adjudicators from around the world.

07/28/2023

Here is a peek into our last regular rehearsal tonight! We are ready to add instruments and soloists on Saturday morning. Can’t believe our summer of singing is almost over…

This Holocaust Cantata project has been in the works since last December with lots of behind the scenes helpers and visionaries. Thanks to everyone involved! We are poised for an excellent performance. 👏👏👏👏👏👏

07/27/2023

Thanks to Lee's Summit Tribune for posting this wonderful article about our upcoming performances of the Holocaust Cantata. We will see YOU on July 30 @ 4:00pm and July 31 @ 7:30pm.

It is not too late to purchase your tickets, www.choralfoundation/concerts , but they will also be available at the door for purchase.

Summer Singers, please forward this post far and wide! Like, share and comment!

The 40-voice Summer Singers of Lee’s Summit will join with soloists Megan Moore and Joshua Markley, Kansas City Symphony cellist Larry Figg, and pianist Dr. Geoffrey Wilcken, to perform a dee…

07/27/2023

Congratulations are in order for Carl Chinnery. He was just appointed to the Board of Trustees for the William Baker Choral Foundation and it was just announced he is being honored as Citizen of the year for the City of Lee's Summit! Chinnery is recognized for his service to the communities, civic activities and legal work for nonprofits. He will be honored at the Truman Heartland Community Foundation’s Annual Citizen’s Reception in early September and its “Toast to Our Towns” Gala on September 23.

You may recognize Carl from singing in our tenor section this summer, as he does every summer, since the beginning of the The Summer Singers of Lee's Summit, being a charter member. We appreciate you Carl Chinnery and all your support of the Choral Foundation ensembles. If you get a minute this evening at rehearsal, please give Carl your congratulations and a handshake. He truly is a citizen worthy of being recognized in our community.

To read the full press release, click on this link... https://cityofls.net/news-media/press-releases/artmid/1782/articleid/6815/carl-l-chinnery-named-citizen-of-the-year

07/27/2023

07/22/2023

Here's a little glimpse into the Summer Singers Experience ... three great concerts coming up in Lee's Summit and in Kansas City!

Stacy Greenbaum hopped over the Summer Singers fence this year ... for the past 6 or 7 years she has been active with the Summer Singers of Kansas City, but upon hearing that the Summer Singers of Lee's Summit would be singing the "Holocaust Cantata" this year, she felt called to make the extra drive and participate. This music "fills my soul," she said.

Raised in the strong Jewish community of Overland Park and Greater Kansas City, Stacy celebrated her Bat Mitzvah at Kehilath Israel in Overland Park. She believes strongly in the concept of "tikkun olam," which is significant in Judaism. Tikkun olam is a Hebrew phrase that translates to "repair of the world" or "healing the world." The concept is about striving to make the world a better place through acts of kindness, compassion, and social responsibility.

She is putting her faith into action, including by substitute teaching young adults, singing as an ally with Choral Spectrum - a KC LGBTQIA+ choir, and participating in the Summer Singers programs. She sees a world with anti-semitism on the rise, with increased rhetoric against the LGBT+ community and other minority groups, and she wants to be a part of those who are engaged in "repairing the world."

In closing, a quote from Rabbi Hillel that helps Stacy stay on course each day: "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am not for others, what am I? And if not now, when?"

Stacy would love to see you on Sunday or Monday, July 30 or 31, for the concerts in Lee's Summit. Or maybe ... maybe as a fellow Summer Singer NEXT year!

https://www.festivalsingers.org/concerts for information and tickets
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07/21/2023

Join us for the art open house this evening from 5-7 at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Lee's Summit! The women's group at St. Paul's has prepared an impressive array of snacks, so come hungry. There will be wine and non-alcoholic beverages served as well.

Also, please bring your phone with you, so you can access the QR codes on the 4th grade Jewish Heroes project. Each child did an approximately 2 min. recording in their voice that gives additional information about each featured person. There are about 20 people featured, including Schindler, that many of us may know from the Stephen Spielberg movie, Schindler's List.

See you tonight!!

07/21/2023

It’s all starting to fall in place… artwork by children at Hyman Brand Hebrew Academy is ready for its opening tomorrow and we had our first standing rehearsal!

Hope to see you tomorrow night for the art show. It starts at 5:00pm and lasts to 7:00pm.

Got your tickets for the concert/s yet?? Sunday July 30 and Monday July 31. We are expecting large crowds, so grab your tickets online now! And if you don’t make the Art opening you can still see the art as a part of each concert!

www.choralfoundation.org/concerts

07/20/2023

The Summer Singers Experience!

Amy Chinnery-Valmassei calls St Paul's Episcopal Church in Lee's Summit, where the Summer Singers of Lee's Summit rehearse, home. She was baptized there, married there, attends with her husband, sings in the church choir, and directs the church's handbell ensemble, the St. Paul's Ringers.

A founding member of the Summer Singers of Lee's Summit, started back in 2014, Amy appreciates the opportunity for choral training and getting to rehearse and perform with a larger choir. As a water ski coach by day, in the evenings she enjoys making music with the church choir and the handbell choir, and then in the summers she gets to experience something totally different. She says "There's something special about singing stuff I've never seen before, or hearing it somewhere and thinking 'Oh! I sang that!' It's a great feeling."

Amy mentioned how this material, the Holocaust Cantata by Donald McCullough, is going to be very different this year. It is haunting music, moving, and when the orchestra is added it will be challenging to not be overly emotional while singing. The rabbis will be doing narration between movements, and that will add a lot of context to the songs.

Amy would love to see you on Sunday or Monday, July 30 or 31, for the concerts in Lee's Summit. Or maybe ... maybe as a fellow Summer Singer NEXT year!

https://www.festivalsingers.org/concerts for information and tickets
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07/18/2023

We want to give a big SHOUT OUT to the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education (MCHE), who is located inside the Jewish Community Center in Overland Park, KS. MCHE will be offering a short educational introduction before each Holocaust Cantata concert. Dr. Shelly Cline, the Historian and Director of Education, will be presenting a talk about the role of music during the Holocaust in the camps and in ghettos.

Shelly has done a lot of Holocaust related travel including living in Germany for one year to research her dissertation, “Women at Work: The SS Aufseherinnen and the Gendered Perpetration of the Holocaust”, receiving her Ph.D. from the University of Kansas in 2015. She travels less now for research and more to help lead educational experiences. Currently, Dr. Cline is with a group of 18 teachers that MCHE has brought to see the Holocaust museum in Poland.

Cline is an instructor in the Jewish Studies Program at the University of Kansas and has also served on the faculties of the Kansas City Art Institute and the University of Missouri Kansas City.

Please welcome Dr. Cline and the Midwest Center for Holocaust as a part of the William Baker Choral Foundation's partnership with the Jewish Community Foundation of KC, sponsored in part by the Louis and Frances Swinken Supporting Foundation & the Lee's Summit Cultural Council.