Lexington Choral Society welcomes 50th Anniversary Dec. 3
With a festive theme of Welcome to December, the Lexington Choral Society will celebrate its 50th season with traditional carols and a few new additions. "People can expect the usual quality of music that the choral society does," said business manager Melonie Rector. The former assistant conductor noted that a mix of approximately 40 former and current members perform on Saturday, Dec. 3 at 5 p.m. The runtime for the show is approximately 1 hour 15 minutes. "We are glad to be back after COVID. We sang last year but we sang in masks. We’ve got a big group of people who have sung in the past who haven’t been singing for a couple of years."
History provided by the Lexington Choral Society:
In 1971, Jo Ann Poston and Bea McCrary started a conversation that turned into a discussion about the wealth of talented women in the area. They agreed that an organization of female singers should be formed and set out to do so. They had no idea or aspiration for going beyond an initial season with such a group, much less forty-plus years.
Beginning with three directors, Jo Ann Poston, Florence Green and Georgeanna Jordan, and accompanists Marge Team and Sandra Shoaf, the newly formed Lexington Women’s Choral Society performed for the first time in 1972 at the North Carolina Federation of Music Clubs district meeting.
Later that same year, the group performed at the Annual Community Candlelight Service sponsored by the Lexington Music Study Club. Many performances followed over the years at numerous venues in the area.
Annual formal concerts began in 1981 with the presentation of Spring Sing followed by the first Welcome to December! concert. In January of 1984, a small group of men was recruited by Jo Ann to form a “brother” organization, first joining the women as ensemble guests at concerts and later merging with the women’s group to form the Lexington Choral Society known and loved today.
After 35 years of huge musical successes under her leadership, Poston retired in the spring of 2007. Phil Rector, conductor, and Melonie Rector, assistant conductor, took over the leadership of LCS and its extremely impressive repertory of choral music, conducting their first Welcome to December! concert that same year. Their continuing goal was to lead the group to even greater heights of choral achievement and enjoyment over the 10 years the group was under their direction. In the fall of 2017, Ellen Peterson was welcomed to the podium to continue the tradition of excellence as this outstanding choral group moves closer to its 50th anniversary. Since 1980, LCS has been supported financially by Arts United for Davidson County as well as through the North Carolina Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. Primary funding, however, has always come from Davidson County residents whose generous gifts help the society showcase choral music of the highest quality.
One of LCS’s key sources of success has been the diversity of the dedicated musicians who have given their time and talents to this organization. From an ensemble of fourteen at the beginning to between forty to sixty singers in any given season, the Lexington Choral Society is truly a diverse representation of the community it serves, and the support of the Lexington community is greatly appreciated by its members.
