- September 17, 2024
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The 2023-24 season was a big year for milestones among Sarasota's cultural institutions. Both Florida Studio Theatre and Marie Selby Botanical Gardens celebrated their silver anniversaries, marking 50 years since their inception.
The institution now known as Sarasota Orchestra turned 75 years old while the Sarasota Music Festival marked its 60th birthday.
As the 2024-25 season approaches, other notable anniversaries are in the wings. The group founded as The Sarasota Players, which recently reverted back to that monicker, is kicking off its 95th season, while Key Chorale is raising the curtain on its 40th season, its ruby anniversary.
As befitting a cultural institution known for its collaboration with other artistic groups, Key Chorale will kick off its 2024-25 season with a program called “On Our Way” featuring the jazz/gospel quartet The Stephen Lynerd Group.
"This music speaks to the struggles and triumphs of the entire human condition," says Joseph Caulkins about the gospel/jazz program. "It lifts us all as we strive toward a greater place. While much of the music is Christian based, no matter who, or how you worship, you’ll find this music will resonate and fill your soul.”
Caulkins, who is starting his 18th season at Key Chorale, is only the second artistic director in the group's history. He took the baton in 2007 from Daniel Moe, who served for 21 years. Before joining Key Chorale, Moe was was the conductor of the Oberlin College Choir in Ohio and was dubbed the "dean of choral conductors" by The New Yorker magazine.
Moe's wife, Ann Stephenson-Moe, organist and choirmaster of the Church of the Redeemer, and Don B. Ryno, minister of music at St. Boniface Church, founded Key Chorale in 1985.
Moe announced his retirement in October 2005, giving the organization plenty of time to find his successor. Caulkins was chosen to lead Key Chorale after a nationwide search. He came to Florida from Illinois, where he was artistic director and conductor of the Bach Chamber Choir in Rockford and directed the St. Procopius Chamber Orchestra and Choirs at Benedictine University in Lisle.
Despite the towering legacy of his predecessor, Caulkins has put his unmistakable stamp on Key Chorale, forging creative collaborations with such local arts groups as the Sarasota Ballet, the Circus Arts Conservatory and Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe.
With the help of Key Chorale's board and members, Caulkins has enriched the community by supporting youth education and bringing music to elderly and disabled music fans who may not easily attend live concerts or perform themselves.
Other feathers in Caulkins' cap (the avid alpinist has more than one) are Key Chorale appearances in Washington, D.C. and Europe as well as innovative programs such as last year's Bachtoberfest, bringing together the joys of Bach and beer, and Misatango, which combined Argentinian tango with a Latin Mass.
No one would accuse the gregarious, fun-loving Caulkins of hiding his light under a bushel, but in the interest of modesty, we've tapped longtime Key Chorale member Lorraine Murphy to crow about the group's achievements during its 40-year history.
Murphy moved to Sarasota in 1987, after enjoying singing success in the Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, area. She joined Key Chorale, which was then called Gloria Musica, after auditioning. Today, Murphy is the soprano section leader of Key Chorale, which counts 35 sopranos among its ranks.
In addition to fielding questions and taking attendance at rehearsals, Murphy keeps her section updated on personal news such as births, marriages, travel and deaths. She also compares notes with her counterparts — the alto, tenor and bass section leaders.
During Murphy's long tenure with Key Chorale, the number of singers has remained relatively constant, she says. What has changed is the number of performances, which has risen to 17 this season. "When I first started under Daniel and Ann, there will only about two or three classical masterworks a year," she said in a telephone interview.
In addition to Caulkins' penchant for artistic collaboration, Murphy gives him kudos for forming a smaller chamber singer group of about 25 members, who won their positions through auditions. "This allows us to come up with concert-ready material more quickly," she says. "The chamber singers can also perform on their own."
What has really been a game changer, Murphy says, is Caulkins' willingness to embrace technology to help Key Chorale members prepare for performances. "Joe has upped the communications game with online tools and online videos of the chamber singers doing the music in the summer," she says. "All of our rehearsals are on video. If someone is out of town, they can catch up."
It's no secret that awards are prized by many in the arts. Hollywood has the Oscars, Broadway has the Tonys, TV has the Emmys and the music industry has the Grammys.
Community music and choral groups like bringing home their version of Olympic gold, silver and bronze. The Suncoast Concert Band, which celebrated its 90th anniversary in 2023, is quite proud of its Sudler Silver Scroll, awarded in 1993 by the John Philip Sousa Foundation.
At Key Chorale, the trophy case includes the 2020 Chorus America Award for Education and Community Engagement, which was given in honor of the group's extensive education programs reaching more than 400 students each year, and its commitment to community outreach.
The first chair of educational committee, Murphy helped develop Key Chorale's student scholar leadership program, now in its seventh year. Through this program, 12 to 15 scholars have the privilege of singing with Key Chorale after auditioning. They also receive complimentary voice lessons, free concert tickets and can earn scholarship money by performing such duties as running a rehearsal.
At the end of the season, the scholars perform a "soiree," which Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe Artistic Director Nate Jacobs has allowed to take place in recent years on the WBTT stage at the Donelly Theatre.
For their efforts, Murphy and her husband Holden received Key Chorale's Standing Ovation Award for Leadership in 2021, which she said was a real surprise. Holden has held several administrative positions within the symphonic chorus including board president, board member and director of donor engagement. He is retiring from the latter position to become Key Chorale's ambassador at large.
In addition to playing up Caulkins' achievements, Murphy is a cheerleader for her husband's involvement in Key Chorale. "He was the first non-musician to become board president," she notes.
"It was a little rocky at first," she adds, but the organizational skills Holden honed during a career in the automotive industry paid off for Key Chorale.
Without Caulkins' ability to forge partnerships, Murphy says, Key Chorale would never have gone to the Smithsonian Folklife Festival in 2017, which celebrated circus arts. Along with Circus Arts Conservatory President and CEO Pedro Reis, Caulkins created the Cirque des Voix in 2011. The marriage of voice, music and thrilling aerial performances has become one of the most popular events of season in Sarasota.
Caulkins has extended Key Chorale's international reach with foreign tours, a tradition that began under Moe, who took the chorus to Prague, Vienna and Budapest in 2001.
Key Chorale returned to Europe in 2009, when they presented concerts in France and Italy, including one in Asolo, Sarasota’s sister city, and performed at a Mass at the historic San Marco Basilica in Venice. Three years later, Key Chorale toured Ireland and Scotland, including performing in Saint Giles’ Cathedral.
Caulkins was recognized for his tireless artistic efforts in 2019 when he won the Arts Leadership Award for Artistic Achievement from the Arts and Cultural Alliance of Sarasota County.
Newcomers to Sarasota like myself have to depend on longtimers like Murphy and Holden to put Key Chorale in perspective. It would seem difficult to top last season's schedule, but Caulkins is pulling out the stops for the Ruby Anniversary.
Instead of Bachtoberfest, this year's hops-infused celebration will be a Baroquetoberfest, a three-day four-concert festival that will run from Oct. 18-20.
In true trailblazing fashion, Caulkins has brought Key Chorale on board for the city's first Living Arts Festival, Sarasota Rising, with a youth celebration on Nov. 17. The festival is the creative "baby" of Jeffery Kin, former artistic director of The Players.
Key Chorale's holiday lineup will include its traditional collaboration with the Sarasota Ballet's studio company on Dec. 1, a performance called "Winter's Glow," as well as a team effort with the Venice Symphony from Dec. 20-22 called "Home for the Holidays."
South Florida triplets The Lubben Brothers have decamped to Nashville to pursue their music career there, but the band will be back in Sarasota to perform with Key Chorale in a program called "American Roots: Storytellers" from Jan. 18-19.
It wouldn't be season for circus arts fans without the annual Cirque des Voix, Key Chorale's evolving partnership with the Circus Arts Conservatory. Mark your calendars for March 21-22. Don't be surprised if you see some familiar faces in the orchestra accompanying Key Chorale and the aerialists. It's a circus day for some members of the Sarasota Orchestra.
Step right up, folks, for Key Chorale's 40th season. It promises to be a real gem — a ruby, in fact.
