April 30, 2022

The Summer Singers of Lee’s Summit, a summer-only community chorus active in June and July of each year, welcomes a new music director to the podium.

The chorus is presently registering singers of all experience levels for the choral group that averages 75-80 singers each year. The chorus will rehearse Thursday evenings, beginning June 2, for a performance on July 31 of Gabriel Faure’s REQUIEM and CANTIQUE DE JEAN RACINE with members of the Kansas City Symphony and distinguished professional soloists.

There is no audition for membership. All adults and mature youth (16 and older) are invited to participate in the community choir that includes novice singers and members with advanced degrees in music. Youth younger than 16 may participate if a parent is also a registered, participating singer. Music reading ability is a must, and a modest tuition is required.

Created in 2014, the program has attracted participants from as far as Nevada, Missouri and Lawrence, Kansas in its first 7 seasons. Almost every performance of the Summer Singers has attracted standing-room-only audiences.

Rehearsals and performances of the Summer Singers of Lee’s Summit are held in the nave of the St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 416 SE Grand Avenue in downtown Lee’s Summit.

Founder William Baker, who now serves as music director of the St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, lauds the start of Jennifer Lahasky’s work as conductor of the Summer Singers: “Jennifer Lahasky is one of the finest young music leaders I have known in nearly 50 years in choral music. Her enthusiasm is contagious. Her energy is unbounded. Her scholarship and knowledge of great repertoire and the workings of the human voice is extensive. Attending a rehearsal she leads is like getting a voice lesson as a bonus. She will bring a fresh new sound to the already rich musical life of Lee’s Summit.”

Jennifer Lahasky holds the Bachelor of Music Education from Washburn University in Topeka, and the Master of Music Education in Choral Pedagogy from the University of Kansas. She was appointed Student Intern for the Choral Foundation for the 2015-2016 season and was appointed a Fellow of the Institute for Healthy Singing in 2016. She has been the choral director at Leawood Middle School for five years, and has served as associate music director of the Summer Singers of Lee’s Summit since 2017. She is a member of the semi-professional William Baker Festival Singers, appearing as soloist on their Amber Waves recording of Buxtehude’s “Membra Jesu Nostri,” receiving a gracious mention in a review of the album in The American Record Guide.

Registration for the Summer Singers of Lee’s Summit is available at FestivalSingers.org/registernow.

For additional information, email [email protected] or call 913.488.7524.