For the love of music: Longtime JoCo educator new director of this Lee’s Summit group

The idea of joining a summer chorus almost a decade ago has led Jennifer Lahasky onto a much bigger musical experience.

Lahasky will be taking the podium in concert this month as the music director of the Summer Singers of Lee’s Summit. The group is one of the many ensembles of the William Baker Choral Foundation. Lahasky got her start with the Choral Foundation by joining Summer Singers of Kansas City in the summer of 2013.

After that, Lahasky auditioned and was appointed to the organization’s semi-professional Festival Singers of Kansas City. It was then that the foundation’s founder and music director, William Baker, saw her talent and leadership skills.

Lahasky served two years as choral intern for the organization before being appointed associate director and then music director of the Summer Singers of Lee’s Summit.

“Her contagious enthusiasm, her love for music and for the people who make music, her amazing instincts and insight for expressive performance, and her exemplary professionalism has already made her one of the most exciting young music leaders in the Kansas City region,” Baker said. “The Summer Singers of Lee’s Summit is going to score many triumphs under its new music director.”

Lahasky began considering a career in music education during her senior year of high school when her choir director allowed her to help with the middle school choir.

“The experience of working with young singers helped me realize I had a future in teaching music,” Lahasky said. “It was something that I was good at, and enjoyed.”

She earned a bachelor’s degree in music education from Washburn University in Topeka and a master’s degree in music education with a focus on choral pedagogy from the University of Kansas.

Lahasky is director of choirs at Leawood Middle School. This coming school year will be Lahasky’s 11th year as a music educator, and her sixth at Leawood.

There are challenges to a community group such as the Summer Singers.

“I believe one challenge is convincing the amateur singer that they are capable of taking on larger, more challenging works,” Lahasky said. “During the pandemic, enrollment in community choirs fell, across the board. When singers returned, many doubted their ability to pull off something like Fauré’s “Requiem,” but they can do it.”

Lahasky said an important element is the group’s collaborating with the Institute for Healthy Singing, a division of the Choral Foundation.

“Our staff is trained in the anatomy of the voice and we work to build up our members’ chops in the healthiest way possible,” Lahasky said. “All vocal levels and music reading skills are welcome and encouraged in the Summer Singers.”

The singers get more than good chops.

“There are many wonderful friendships that come out of being a part of Summer Singers and I always enjoy meeting new friends each season,” Lahasky said.

The singers’ drive and work ethic amazes her.

“We have only eight or nine rehearsals to put together a full concert program, and these singers rise to the challenge year after year. They perform with authenticity and heart.”

Lahasky said the community choir is joined with members of the Kansas City Symphony and professional vocal soloists from Kansas City.

“It is a wonderful collaboration and celebration of music performed at all levels,” she said.

The concert will feature French composer Gabriel Fauré’s “Requiem.”

“While many requiems, which are mass settings for the dead, can seem dark and dramatic to the listener, Fauré’s melodies are lighter and bring a sense of hope, which is how Fauré personally chose to view death,” Lahasky said.

Choral intern Emily Fish will conduct Fauré’s “Cantique de Jean Racine.”

“Procession of the Anointed,” an instrumental chamber piece composed by the group’s accompanist Geoffrey Wilken, also is included in the program.

The July 31 concert will be performed at 4 p.m. at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 315 SE Grand Ave. For ticket information, go to www.festivalsingers.org/summer-singers-lees-summit.