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Allen Lannom
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Allen Lannom - Biography
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 still holds.
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 has made presentations at major musical, educational and religious conventions, written articles that have been published in two books and several magazines, and he published a book of poetry.
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