A NEW PARTNERSHIP ACROSS THE PRAIRIE The WILLIAM BAKER FESTIVAL SINGERS and THE LAWRENCE CIVIC CHOIR will exchange concerts over the same weekend: the Festival Singers will appear as guests of the Lawrence Civic Choir in Topeka First United Methodist Church on May 2, and the Lawrence ensemble will return the favor at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in KCMO on May 3.

The event on May 2nd will be FREE with donations gratefully accepted.

At the end of the concert after both ensembles have performed solo, the choirs will unite for three final works. Steven Eubank, Artistic Director of the Lawrence Civic Choir, will conduct two of them, including William Mathias’s jubilant Let All the People Praise Thee, famously performed at the wedding of Charles and Diana.

They will also present Every Heart in Harmony, written by Kansas City composer and organist Dr. Geoffrey Wilcken in honor of the Lawrence Civic Choir’s 50th anniversary.

The finale will be Robert Ray’s gospel classic He Never Failed Me Yet, conducted by Baker—a piece the Festival Singers have recorded “four or five times” and one that never fails to ignite an audience.