Masterworks Chorale joins music lovers throughout New England in mourning the loss of Allen Lannom, our conductor and artistic director for 53 years, who died March 20 after a short illness.

Richard Dyer's tribute to Allen Lannom in the Boston Globe.

A Tribute to Allen Lannom
by Harriet Chmela

Howard Thurman wrote, "How good it is to center down! To sit quietly and see one's self pass by!... Our spirits are refreshed, and we move back into the traffic of our daily round with the peace of the Eternal in our step." This was one's experience when making music with Allen. He brought ALL of himself into each creative encounter. Notes, tempos, texts, challenging repertoire from all styles and centuries of music, professional orchestras - these were the vehicles which Allen used to center down and inspire the musician for the creative encounter.

In 1973 while preparing the music for a tour of Rumania, then ruled by a despotic communist regime, Allen was instructed not to program "deeply spiritual" (sacred) music. Folk and popular music and secular songs were recommended. Allen responded by including in the repertoire African-American folk songs - those "deeply spiritual" songs which speak to the deepest hunger of a people longing for inspiration and to know the world beyond their prison in an oppressed country.

One of my most cherished memories while singing with Allen took place on that tour. We were crowded into the small inner sanctuary of a Rumanian monastery - a "museum" - keeping God under wraps. In that holiest of places, surrounded by shepherds from the Transylvanian countryside we sang Ave Maria by Mouton. A shepherd touched my arm and wept. We all wept.

During that tour it was next to impossible to arrange concerts but Allen would not let the Rumanians be cheated. He insisted, "We were invited to come to sing and we will give concerts!" One impromptu event took place in a village park. The podium was creaky and the ancient wire music stand unstable. There was no piano so a small keyboard was supplied by one of the townspeople. Featured on the program were choruses from Carmina Burana, accompanied by Elissa Putukian, who transformed the three electronic octaves into a concert grand!

Allen's integrity was always at the center of his creative spirit, whether responding to a Rumanian's need to be heard or to the fun, silliness and yearly roasting of him at annual meetings. He sang solos in terrible parodies of great choral masterpieces. He wore beards and rode in toy wagons. He once was the target of wet sponges at a fund raising carnival. He competed in limerick contests - often the butt of those corny rhymes. Through it all he kept his dignity and composure. He told jokes and stories with pizzazz. His stories and wit taught us to find the spirit within life's songs.

Allen cared for each of us, sharing our troubles, and praising our accomplishments, calling when we were sick and encouraging us when we struggled. One did not preface an absence from a rehearsal with, "I know you won't miss me, but..." "BUT you will be missed, you are an important part of the chorus, and chosen because your voice is an integral part of the sound of the chorus."

Allen Lannom has enriched my life. I began singing with him in the choir at Boston University Marsh Chapel in 1955 and in Masterworks Chorale in 1956. I cherish my years of making glorious music with him. He filled my life with so much that is beautiful and meaningful. I am so very proud to have known this remarkable, thoughtful, generous man. He was a dear friend.

 

Allen Lannom was born in Illinois but spent most of his developing years in California. He graduated from Occidental College as a speech major with a minor in music. As a graduate student at his alma mater, he taught speech, coached the debate team and directed the Chapel Choir. During this time he also begin directing church choirs, developing the North Glendale Methodist Church choir into one of the finest in the state.

After graduate school, Lannom taught in the public schools, opting for a music position rather than one in speech or English. Wishing to expand his musical training, he took a leave of absence from his activities and headed to New York to study at the Juilliard School with Robert Shaw. During that year, he became Shaw’s assistant director and met Julius Herford, a renowned music teacher who was to become the country’s most influential teacher of choral conductors. Lannom was largely responsible for spreading Herford’s influence through West Coast work-shops with conductors and pianists.

When Lannom returned to California, he assumed leadership of the City of Los Angeles adult choral program. In this capacity, he supervised 15 community choruses and conducted the com-bined choruses in joint concerts, many of which were broadcast on national networks. He also inaugurated a series of church choral concerts that incorporated professional orchestras.

In 1951, Lannom was offered a position on the faculty of the School of Music at Boston Univer-sity. For three decades, he conducted choral organizations and taught voice and conducting. His former students occupy prestigious positions in colleges, public schools, and churches all over the United States. After his retirement from Boston University in 1982, he became Director of Choral Activities at the Boston Conservatory, a position he held for nearly 20 years.

Lannom is best known for his work with the highly-regarded Masterworks Chorale. He assumed leadership of the group — then known as the Lexington Choral Society — in 1952. This community-based organization developed over the years into a chorus of singers from more that 40 cities and towns in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. The group has performed most of the major choral repertoire in concerts both locally and on international tours.

In 1998, Lannom received two accolades: the Lifelong Service Award from the Massachusetts Chapter of the American Choral Directors Association and the Lifetime Achievement Award from Choral Arts New England. A respected speaker and writer, he made presentations at major musical, educational and religious conventions, wrote articles that have been published in two books and several magazines, and he published two books of poetry.