WILLIAM BAKER CHORAL FOUNDATION

Description

The William Baker Choral Foundation traces its history to 1985 with the creation of the first Festival Singers chorus in suburban Atlanta. Additional ensembles were added beginning in 1990. The headquarters of the growing organization was relocated to suburban Kansas City in 1998, but activities continued to grow in Atlanta. The organization now supports two semi-professional choral ensembles, a year-round chorus specializing in music of the Jewish tradition and Jewish composers, four summer choruses, a community handbell group, one of the largest repositories of choral sheet music in the Midwest, the Institute for Healthy Singing, an ambitious continuing education program of Choral Scholars and Student Interns empowering emerging vocational musicians, and a small publishing and recording company, in addition to a monthly radio show podcast.

Ensembles of the Choral Foundation have produced numerous nationally released recordings, have been featured on local television programs in several cities, and in national radio programs, including the prestigious "Performance Today" show on National Public Radio. Our ensembles have performed to large audiences in some of the most prestigious events and venues in the United States and Great Britain, including Helzberg Hall in Kansas City, Spivey Hall in Atlanta, Canterbury Cathedral in England, Trinity Wall Street Church in New York City, the National Cathedral in Washington, the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC, and the Bristol Festival in Wales.