The Composer Residency Project
​The Project:
COVID certainly left its mark on education and the arts. Performing groups today are smaller than they were, as many people, for various reasons, have chosen not to return to their previous involvement.
Our schools have seen a decrease in the number of students participating in the performing arts and post-graduation participation is lukewarm. Rural communities have witnessed this phenomenon to a greater extent than urban areas. What can be done to turn things around?
That is the question Ron Sayer started asking in 2021. More specifically, what can the Marshall Community Chorus do, and what impact can it have on a needed change?
Thanks to a generous gift from the Charles M. Buckner Foundation, we hope to make an impact with the creation of the Marshall Community Chorus Composer Residency Project.
Goals of the Project:
The goals of the project include:
- Bringing noted American choral composers to
Missouri for a mini-residency.
- Performance of several of the composer's choral works on concerts of the Marshall Community Chorus.
- Have the composer rehearse the chorus prior to the concert, sharing insight into the compositions and bringing to life the composer's "vision" of the performance
- Be present at the concert and participate in a
"Meet the Composer" Q&A opportunity with the
audience prior to the performance.
- Visit area high school and middle school students in rural west-central Missouri to interact with and encourage them to consider their musical pursuits and provide an insight into the art of composition.
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The goals of this project tie in beautifully with the mission of the Marshall Community Chorus: performance, audience cultivation, education, and development of musical skills
in our youth.
In the 2025-2026 Season:
Our next concert in the Composer Residency Project will feature not one, but two American Choral composers! They will combine their talents in helping us celebrate American Women Choral Composers in a concert titled Music She
Wrote. To add to the fun, both of our composers are native Missourians!
Susan LaBarr Mary Lynn Lightfoot
The 2024-2025 Season:
The inaugural season of the project featured two outstanding American choral composers, Joseph Martin and Mark Hayes. Both concerts were enthusiastically received by our audience, and the school visits of both composers were eagerly awaited by students and teachers alike. Between the two residencies, we were able to bring these composers to over 400 students representing middle school through college levels.
