About Us
The Lakeland Choral Society, is a large auditioned chorus with a history of singing classics (and classical), show tunes, spirituals, hymns and anthems, from Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert to Lauridsen, Walton, Copland, Rutter and many others. The Choral Society hosts two concerts in the Fall and Spring, participates in numerous community events and is often invited to perform with the Imperial Symphony Orchestra and the Lakeland Community Band.
The Lakeland Choral Society is also the parent organization for the Florida Southern Children's Chorus and the Florida Southern Girls' Chorus. We are also recruiting for a Young Men's Chorus, a project supported by the George W. Jenkins Fund provided through the Give Well Foundation. Learn more about youth programs by following the Youth tab on this site.
Scholarships: The Choral Society raises money for and awards scholarships for promising music students as our contribution to the art of singing. We offer two scholarships, one available to graduating High School Students and one available for College Students.
Board of Directors
President
History
The Lakeland Choral Society's founder and director for fourteen years, Robert Boulware, organized the Society during the Fall of 1967 for the purpose of singing Antonio Vivaldi's Gloria with the Lakeland Symphony Orchestra (now the Imperial Symphony Orchestra). The symphony's concert, featuring the fifty-two voice Choral Society, was presented on December 12, 1967 in Branscomb Auditorium at Florida Southern College. For several years, beginning in 1968, the Choral Society sang twice each year as a part of the orchestra's concert series, singing once with the orchestra and once presenting a full choral concert.
LCS has, through the years, performed a wide variety of choral music, both sacred and secular, and presented concerts in various locations in Lakeland and the surrounding communities. In addition to local performances, the LCS sang John Rutter's Requiem at Carnegie Hall as part of a ~200 member concert choir, and participated in the Alta Pusteria Choir Festival in northern Italy, along with 98 other choral groups from around the world in 2007. At our Fall 2008 concert, LCS commissioned and performed the premier of Sing to the Lord by Paul Basler, one of the most well-respected and performed composers of our era. Select LCS members presented concerts in Ireland in the summer of 2010. Our most recent international tour was in the summer of 2014.
Extended works performed by the LCS include both the Vivaldi and Poulenc settings of Gloria, Mendelssohn's Hymn of Praise, Faure's Requiem, Rutter's Magnificat, Haydn's Heiligmesse, Mozart's Te Deum and Vespers, Britten's Rejoice in the Lamb, Brahm's Psalm 150, Schubert's Mass in G, Morten Lauridsen's Lux Aeterna, and Randall Thompson's Frostiana.
In the 47 years of providing outstanding choral music performances in the Lakeland area, the Choral Society has had six other extremely fine directors, Ada Gribble, Bennett Penn, Moody Chisholm, Dr. Larry Sledge, Mr. Kris Ridgley, and Beth Cummings, who has directed the group since 2017. Tyler Campbell accompanies the Lakeland Choral Society and he is instrumental in weekly rehearsals and concerts.
The Lakeland Choral Society, is a large auditioned chorus with a history of singing classics (and classical), show tunes, spirituals, hymns and anthems, from Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert to Lauridsen, Walton, Copland, Rutter and many others. The Choral Society hosts two concerts in the Fall and Spring, participates in numerous community events and is often invited to perform with the Imperial Symphony Orchestra and the Lakeland Community Band.
The Lakeland Choral Society is also the parent organization for the Florida Southern Children's Chorus and the Florida Southern Girls' Chorus. We are also recruiting for a Young Men's Chorus, a project supported by the George W. Jenkins Fund provided through the Give Well Foundation. Learn more about youth programs by following the Youth tab on this site.
Scholarships: The Choral Society raises money for and awards scholarships for promising music students as our contribution to the art of singing. We offer two scholarships, one available to graduating High School Students and one available for College Students.
Board of Directors
President
History
The Lakeland Choral Society's founder and director for fourteen years, Robert Boulware, organized the Society during the Fall of 1967 for the purpose of singing Antonio Vivaldi's Gloria with the Lakeland Symphony Orchestra (now the Imperial Symphony Orchestra). The symphony's concert, featuring the fifty-two voice Choral Society, was presented on December 12, 1967 in Branscomb Auditorium at Florida Southern College. For several years, beginning in 1968, the Choral Society sang twice each year as a part of the orchestra's concert series, singing once with the orchestra and once presenting a full choral concert.
LCS has, through the years, performed a wide variety of choral music, both sacred and secular, and presented concerts in various locations in Lakeland and the surrounding communities. In addition to local performances, the LCS sang John Rutter's Requiem at Carnegie Hall as part of a ~200 member concert choir, and participated in the Alta Pusteria Choir Festival in northern Italy, along with 98 other choral groups from around the world in 2007. At our Fall 2008 concert, LCS commissioned and performed the premier of Sing to the Lord by Paul Basler, one of the most well-respected and performed composers of our era. Select LCS members presented concerts in Ireland in the summer of 2010. Our most recent international tour was in the summer of 2014.
Extended works performed by the LCS include both the Vivaldi and Poulenc settings of Gloria, Mendelssohn's Hymn of Praise, Faure's Requiem, Rutter's Magnificat, Haydn's Heiligmesse, Mozart's Te Deum and Vespers, Britten's Rejoice in the Lamb, Brahm's Psalm 150, Schubert's Mass in G, Morten Lauridsen's Lux Aeterna, and Randall Thompson's Frostiana.
In the 47 years of providing outstanding choral music performances in the Lakeland area, the Choral Society has had six other extremely fine directors, Ada Gribble, Bennett Penn, Moody Chisholm, Dr. Larry Sledge, Mr. Kris Ridgley, and Beth Cummings, who has directed the group since 2017. Tyler Campbell accompanies the Lakeland Choral Society and he is instrumental in weekly rehearsals and concerts.