New choirs, a Kenya trip, an upcoming concert: KC’s William Baker singers are humming

William Baker’s Choral Foundation is humming with activity.

In recent months, it has added two new choirs to its family of choral ensembles. In March, it will send three members of the Choral Foundation’s Institute for Healthy Singing to Kenya to help a school develop a music program. And the Foundation’s Jane Sullivan Choral Resource Library was recently the recipient of a huge donation of choral sheet music.

And, to top it all off, the William Baker Festival Singers will present a concert, “Anchored in the Lord,” on Nov. 6 at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church.

Baker says his organization is always trying to fill unmet needs. For example:

“We have had a dream of creating a Spanish language choral group for 10 years,” Baker said. ‘The name of the group is Voces Festivas. It means festive voices, which ties to the Festival Singers idea.”

The 15-member choir is led by Los Angeles native Leilani Velasco Vaughn. Vaughn has extensive choral experience, having sung in her family’s choir, Coro Santa Cecilia, since she was 12. She is currently a music educator in the Shawnee Mission school district.

Voces Festivas gave its first performance in June. Its next concert is Dec. 9 at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church on Gillham Road.

The Choral Foundation, which also has choirs in Atlanta, is now expanding into the Chicago market. Ed Frazier Davis, a former composer-in-residence for the William Baker Festival Singers and director of the Choral Foundation’s Institute for Choral Creativity, recently relocated to Chicago after several years of living in Kansas City.

“Ed was giving me the speech about how great it was to be a part of the Choral Foundation family and all of that, and I said, ‘Why does it have to come to an end? Let’s just open a branch in Chicago.’”

The new 30-member group, which gave its first concert on Oct. 8, is called Vox Venti.

“It means ‘voice of the wind,’ and Chicago’s the Windy City, so I think that’s very appropriate,” Baker said. “Ed has a passion for new music and music by underrepresented populations, people who have not had an opportunity to have their music performed and celebrated. So every concert that Vox Venti does has a newly commissioned piece on it.”

The Choral Foundation’s Jane Sullivan Choral Resource Library is positioning itself as one of the most comprehensive choral music libraries in the nation. The library got a major boost recently when it received a windfall of choral music.

“New Amsterdam Singers Choral Rental Library in New York City was one of the larger choral rental libraries and one of the best for decades,” Baker said. “They decided to get out of the choral library business, and we had a connection through a former board member, so one thing led to another, and these two huge pods filled with music showed up at our building. And it’s great stuff and a lot of stuff that we didn’t have.”

People can make an appointment with the Choral Foundation for more information about the Jane Sullivan library: 913-488-7524.

Another important component of the Choral Foundation is the Institute for Healthy Singing. Devoted to teaching vocal techniques that will ensure healthy singing for all ages, the institute is taking its considerable know-how to Kenya.

“One of our board of advisers members has a strong connection with Kenya, and has been supportive of a school in a rural area outside of Nairobi,” Baker said. “This school is developing a music program with a choir and instrumental program. They have asked for instruction in developing the school and giving vocal training, so in March, Jamea Sale, Niccole Williams and Christine Freeman from our Institute for Healthy Singing staff are going to Kenya to spend two and a half weeks working with the young women at the school.”

In the midst of this hive of activity, Baker still finds time to conduct the William Baker Festival Singers. The November program will include works by the choir’s current composer-in-residence, Sean Sweeden, as well as music by Mendelssohn and Grechaninov.

“I say this in all sincerity, we have been the recipients of showers of blessings,” Baker said. “There’s an old hymn that says, ‘Blessings abound where’er I turn my eye.’ And that is the story of the Choral Foundation right now. And everywhere we turn, we’re going to try to extend that blessing.”

3 p.m. Nov. 6. St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, 1307 Holmes St. $20-$25. williambakerfestivalsingers.org.

Lyric Opera of Kansas City — ‘La Traviata’

“La Traviata” has everything you could want in an opera: a love story, death and one great tune after another. No wonder, according to Operabase, “La Traviata” is the most-performed opera in the world. The Lyric Opera of Kansas City will present the perennial favorite for three performances beginning Nov. 5.

Based on Alexander Dumas’ play “The Lady of the Camellias,” Verdi’s opera tells the tragic story of Violetta, a courtesan with a heart of gold. The first performance in 1853 at La Fenice in Venice was rather rocky, with the audience jeering some of the singers. Verdi wrote, “’La Traviata’ last night a failure. Was the fault mine or the singers’? Time will tell.”

After a few tweaks and revisions, “La Traviata” was performed again in Venice in 1854, and this time, the opera was an unqualified success and soon became a hit across Europe and the United States. There were occasional objections to the morality of the plot, but as a critic for New York’s Evening Post put it in 1856, “Those who have quietly sat through the glaring improprieties of ‘Don Giovanni’ will hardly blush or frown at anything in ‘La Traviata.’”

7:30 p.m. Nov. 5 and 11 and 2 p.m. Nov. 13. Muriel Kauffman Theatre, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. $33.50-$188.50. kcopera.org.

Cellists Meredith McCook and Susie Yang

Hats off to the Mid-America Performing Arts Alliance. This organization is doing fantastic work sponsoring educational initiatives and free concerts featuring some of the area’s finest musicians.

On Nov. 4 at Pine Ridge Presbyterian Church, the alliance will present cellists Meredith McCook and Susie Yang. McCook has been a cellist with the Kansas City Symphony since 2015, and Yang has been the symphony’s associate principal cello since 2010. For those who love the rich, warm sound of the cello, this is a concert not to be missed.

7 p.m. Nov. 4. Pine Ridge Presbyterian Church, 7600 Northwest Barry Road. Free. mapaa.org

You can reach Patrick Neas at patrickneas@kcartsbeat.com and follow his Facebook page, KC Arts Beat, at www.facebook.com/kcartsbeat.