Carrying The Flame

Concert Featuring Multiple Groups Will Honor A Musical Legacy

Area musicians will come together on Nov. 9 for a concert, “Carry the Flame,” to celebrate the significance of enduring musical relationships.

Guest conductors will be two internationally renowned musicians, leading local groups, including the Rockbridge Youth Chorale, Washington and Lee choral singers, Southern Virginia University choral singers, the Grace Episcopal choir, and area instrumentalists.

The event honors the late Lexington resident Dr. Robert B. Glidden, whose strong professional relationships with guest conductors Dr. Andre J. Thomas and Dr. Brandon Boyd were among the many ways he contributed to the world of music and to the communities where he lived and worked.

The concert at Grace Episcopal Church, where Glidden served on the vestry and gave his time and energy in support of the church’s musical life, starts at 7 p.m. on Nov. 9. A freewill donation is requested.

At the podium, Thomas and Boyd will be conducting choral works including Thomas’s Mass: A Celebration of Love and Joy; the South African freedom anthem “Tshotsholoza,” arranged by Jeffery Ames; and works of other modern American composers such as Rene Clausen, William Bradley Roberts and Bobby McFerrin.

The concert, says Grace Episcopal director of music Martha Burford, “is a beautiful narrative of musical legacies and bridges.” She notes how, with Glidden – who in retirement in Lexington continued a life of commitment, serving organizations including the Lexington Community Foundation and the United Way – a musical legacy began that now extends to include the Rockbridge Youth Chorale and two groups of college-age singers, with their guest conductors and the Grace choir serving as the bridge across generations.

“For our young people,” she says, “it builds on the already strong musical traditions we are blessed with here in Lexington and Rockbridge County.”

Conductor Andre Thomas is currently an associate artist with the London Symphony Orchestra, where during a three-year engagement, he has conducted Gospel choral music and orchestral music featuring works by African American artists including Wynton Marsalis and Adolphus Hailstock. Audiences can expect a taste of the genre for which he is celebrated; as Thomas has described it, “Gospel music does not apologize. It comes straight out, fiery and quick. It’s like lighting a firecracker.”

Thomas has served as president of the American Choral Directors Association and as Visiting Professor of Choral Conducting and Conductor of Camerata at Yale University, but his longest-term position – 35 years as the Florida State University Owen F. Sellers Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities – came about because of Bob Glidden.

Among the many other professional hats he donned, Glidden was dean of FSU’s School of Music in 1984, when a young but already accomplished composer and conductor named Thomas – then on the faculty of the University of Texas/Austin – applied for a post.

The Florida State School of Music that developed under Glidden and continued under Thomas was also of critical importance to Brandon Boyd: He earned his M.A. in 2014 and his doctorate in 2017 at what had become the FSU College of Music. Boyd holds an endowed chair in the University of Missouri College of Arts and Science School of Music, where he is also director of Choral Activities, Graduate Choral Conducting Program, and associate professor of music. He conducts the MU University Singers, Sankofa Chorale, and Choral Union Symphonic Chorus, and teaches graduate courses in choral conducting, choral literature, and choral arranging.

Lacey Lynch, director of the Youth Chorale, remembers Bob Glidden well. He spent his career, she says, “focused on supporting music and education at the collegiate level, in our churches and in our communities. This multigenerational concert is a reflection of his legacy, and the Rockbridge Youth Chorale is honored to sing alongside other choirs, as well as work with Dr. Thomas and Dr. Boyd. May we all be inspired by Bob to carry on the flame for future generations.”

Reflecting on the voices that will be heard in concert, Burford recalls noted composer and conductor Alice Parker’s view of choral music: “She talked about the power of voices, of how this music gets people to listen to it ‘in the air,’ instead of seeing it ‘imprisoned’ on the page. She spoke of how we hear it, and how you don’t have to be classically trained to get it. It’s in the air around us; it’s a gift that people share across space and time.”

For the young singers, Burford adds, the opportunity to meet and sing with conductors Thomas and Boyd is unparalleled. Both men have built their lives around working with young people. Thomas has worked with youth chorales worldwide, including England, Germany, the Czech Republic and China. He is the recipient of the ACDA’s highest honor, the Robert Shaw Award, and has been recognized by the African Diaspora Sacred Music and Musicians program as a Living Legend. At FSU, a stained-glass window honors him. Both Glidden and Thomas are Hall of Fame Laureates in the Florida Music Education Association.

Boyd, besides his multiple musical duties at UM, is an active composer and arranger, and works to build community through choral singing. He has studied and worked to organize choirs for the homeless, identify the social and physical effects of choral singing on senior citizens, and create authentic field experiences for music-therapy and choral music-education students – including a collaboration between students and a choral group in a women’s correctional facility. He received the 2024 Joan Craig Trailblazer Award.

As “Carry the Flame” unfolds, both Thomas and Boyd will be remembering the man who made so much possible for them both. But perhaps actions speak louder than words: That Boyd and Thomas are both arriving back in the States from London on Nov. 4, barely touching base at home, and heading directly to Lexington for the concert, is testament to the importance Glidden holds in both their lives.

For those attending the event, as well as the musicians performing, Thomas’s website sums up how the art of sound resounds in the community. “Music,” he says, “has always been my tool to reach people.”

For more information about the concert, call Martha Burford at (540) 4634981 or email [email protected].