A New Choral Ensemble in Lexington
In 1959, a small group of men and women decided that Lexington needed a community chorus. Most had previous choral experience, such as church choirs, but none were professional musicians; they worked in sales, engineering, purchasing, or homemaking. But if their experience was modest, their goals were not. From the start they aimed for "the best possible performance of the most challenging music from the choral repertoire."
These were big ambitions for such a small group. They knew they would need someone special to share their vision. Many members of this eager group had sung in community choruses conducted by Phyllis Jenness of the University of Kentucky Music Department. They were so impressed with her skills that they invited her to be their director; and she, sensing something special was in the making, accepted.
Having recruited a superb director, the new group was equally fortunate to recruit as its first accompanist a remarkably talented and enthusiastic young member of the UK Music faculty, Ann Huddleston. With a background in both piano and voice, she was uniquely suited to her role as accompanist, assistant conductor, and chorister. It was the start of a fond association that spanned over four decades.
The new chorus was christened the Lexington Singers. Membership was by audition, and in September 1959, invitations were sent to area church choirs, UK Music faculty, and other interested musicians. Thirty-four singers were accepted, and the first rehearsal was held on September 21, 1959, in Room 17 of the UK Fine Arts Building. The group planned a two concert premier season for the following spring.
The debut performance of the Lexington Singers took place on March 22, 1960, in Memorial Hall on the UK campus. The program included a whopping 21 songs - all memorized - ranging from Brahms and Bruckner to Ned Rorem and Cole Porter. The packed auditorium was described as enthusiastic, and local music critic Henry Horton termed the premier "auspicious." Just two months later, the new Lexington Singers gave its second concert, joining with the Transylvania University Choir for a performance of Haydn's The Creation, with Ms. Jenness as contralto soloist.
But the fledgling group's first major challenge occurred almost immediately. Phyllis Jenness had been awarded a prestigious Fulbright Fellowship, and would spend most of the second season studying music in Vienna. It was a perilous time for the infant Lexington Singers to be without its director. UK's director of choral activities at that time was Aimo Kiviniemi,
a talented conductor whose background included training at the Julliard School; and when he stepped forward to substitute for the season, the Singers immediately took to him. The spring concert on April 17, 1961 was highly successful, the keynote work being Brahms' Liebeslieder Waltzes. The other concert that season was on December 12, 1960, when the Singers performed Bach's Christmas Oratorio. The annual Christmas holiday concerts had begun. Again, there was critical praise, and community interest grew.
When Ms. Jenness returned from her European studies to take up the baton again, there were more auditions than ever before, and the third season saw the group's size increase to 48. There was an even more audacious schedule, with concerts in December, January, March, and May. Local reviewers heaped praise on the Singers, declaring that they "sang like angels." The Singers expanded their regional reach with their first radio broadcast on May 6, 1962. And that same season, the group decided to program a spring concert of "light and popular music." The show was called "Europe on a Song," and featured such songs as I Love Paris, Arrivederci, Roma , and Vienna, My City of Dreams. It was the first Lexington Singers Pops Concert, an annual tradition that continues to this day.
By the end of the 5th season, many of the major Lexington Singers hallmarks were already in place. The chorus had a visionary and talented Music Director, and an equally talented and dedicated accompanist. There was successful concert structure which included challenging classical works, a Christmas holiday concert, and a spring Pops show. Collaboration with the newly formed Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra had already begun. Most importantly, after nearly two dozen concerts, the group had achieved broad community support and critical acclaim. Over the next decade the Lexington Singers would parley these assets into successes far greater than that small formative group could ever have dreamed possible.
Next: A Decade of Premier Performances and International Travels