Milestones
1940 Lexington Choral Society founded with 50 members and George Faulkner, director. First of annual concerts held in Cary Hall, Lexington.
1944 Performance of Handel’s Messiah at Cary Hall with orchestra composed of 20 members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. “One of the few choral groups … to carry on during difficult war years,” Lexington Minuteman reports.
1945 Music Scholarship Fund for a Lexington High School student established. First sponsorship drive launched for individual contributions.
1946 Wilmer Bartholomew appointed first permanent Director.
1947 Lukas Foss guest conducts the Boston premiere of his composition The Prairie with soloists Adele Addison and Eunice Alberts.
1948 George W. Grant appointed Director.
1950 Tenth Anniversary season celebrated with two concerts, one a Pops concert in Cary Hall with orchestra players from the BSO.
1952 Allen Lannom appointed Director.
1954 First radio broadcast of a concert — Bach’s Christmas Oratorio — on WCRB by tape. Membership grows to 100.
1957 First choral workshop in connection with performance of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis. Concert performed with professional soloists and orchestra. Membership at 150.
1958 Music Performance Trust Fund partially funds a 50-piece orchestra for performance of the Verdi Requiem. The Fund will be used for orchestra costs through 1981.
1960 Society invited to perform at the Boston Arts Festival and with the Rhode Island Philharmonic.
1962 First Messiah Sing in Cary Hall. Members sing in Sarah Caldwell’s Opera Company performance of Die Meistersinger.
1963 Lorna Cooke deVaron guest conductor during Allen Lannom’s sabbatical.
1964 First performance in Symphony Hall: Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis — performed with the Rhode Island Philharmonic.
1965 To commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary, the Society commissions a choral work by Robert Ward: Sweet Freedom’s Song.
1967 Operation Exodus outreach program performs first concert in Roxbury.
1969 Name changed to Masterworks Chorale to better reflect the geographical diversity of the membership and emphasize the challenging nature and range of the repertoire.
First Summer Sings, six programs in July and August.
1971 First performance in Sanders Theatre.
1973 New England premiere of Rossini’s Petite Messe Solenelle. Performance of Orff’s Carmina Burana with Boston Ballet.
1974 New England premiere of Mahler’s Das Klagende Lied with Newton Symphony Orchestra.
1979 Award for performing excellence from the Association for Performing Arts. Performance at Boston’s First Night.
1982 Introduced first subscription season at Sanders Theatre.
1983 Performed Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall and in Lawrence for Leonard Bernstein’s 65th birthday celebration.
1986 Formed the Great Woods Festival Chorus.
1989 Toured to Mexico.
1994 Toured to Spain.
1996 Student chorus program began with a program featuring student musicians from three high schools — Lexington and Belmont High Schools and the Concord Academy — and a performance of Mozart’s Requiem.
1997 Chorale performed the National Anthem at Fenway Park on Allen Lannom’s 80th birthday.
1998 Allen Lannom was presented with Lifetime Achievement Award from Choral Arts New England and Lifelong Service Award from the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Choral Directors Association.
2001-02 Masterworks celebrated Allen Lannom’s 50th season as Artistic Director, the longest tenure of an Artistic Director in the country.
2004 Allen Lannom gave keynote address at American Choral Directors Conference, and the Chorale performed Carmina Burana for the conference.
2004 Allen Lannom retired as Artistic Director, becoming Conductor Laureate.
2006 Steven Karidoyanes appointed as Music Director.