No title, no problem. Lexington Singers to perform under-construction piece

OK, no pressure here.

For its performance this weekend at the Singletary Center for the Arts, the Lexington Singers will premiere a choral piece that doesn’t have a title, will likely be revised during rehearsals and then performed with the composer in attendance.

And then they go to France.

But one thing at a time. Sunday’s concert by the Lexington Singers, along with its children’s choir, will center on the world premiere of a new work by Elaine Hagenberg, an American-born composer and pianist whose composition “Illuminare” was performed more than 150 times in 2024. One of them was at a concert the Lexington Singers gave a year ago this weekend. A recording of it came to the attention of Hagenberg, who then selected the ensemble to premiere a new piece this weekend.

“She loved how (Dr. Jefferson Johnson, artistic director and conductor for the Lexington Singers) treated her music,” said Lexington Singers President Lori Wallace. “She wanted him and our choir to be the ones to develop and workshop her piece that we are going to take over to Europe.”

What’s the piece about? Wallace can’t say. What’s the title? There isn’t one, at least not yet. What recordings can the Singers reference in preparing the piece? There aren’t any, as this is a world premiere.

What will happen is that Hagenberg will arrive in Lexington on Halloween to sit in with rehearsals and make revisions of her new work before it is presented onstage on Sunday.

“She has been sending us pages to us digitally which a lot of us view on iPads. We’re constantly editing pages and revising pages. We have the music, but we have been on lockdown about everything. We can’t post anything and can record for study purposes only. This is under lock and key. The music has not been published at all yet.

“She will be editing things on the spot. This is the part that’s exciting, yet scary, where we get new pages of her music that gets changed a bit here and there. She’s going to be on the clock, working and editing. Then we’re going to sing this whole piece brand new for her, so Lexington will get the absolute first concert of this. The hard thing is, since there is no recording of this because it’s never been performed before, we’re all kind of workshopping this.

Once the piece premieres at this weekend’s “The Music of Elaine Hagenberg” concert at the Singletary, preparations will begin for the music to take a huge leap — as in, across the Atlantic. The piece will have its European premiere in Paris when the Singers perform it at the Performance International Festival in June 2026.

“The entire festival in France is already sold out,” Wallace said. “Many U.S. choirs are coming over, but then there also going to be a lot of European choirs, so it’s going to be an international group. It’s a real honor. We’re all thrilled and looking forward to it.”

Paris won’t be the only overseas performance stop for the Singers next summer. Following the festival, the choir will perform in Newmarket, England, one of Lexington’s sister cities, in collaboration with the Newmarket Community Choir.

For now, though, the Singers and the new Hagenberg piece are situated in Lexington with great excitement and anticipation, but, alas, no title to dress the music with.

“That is one of the things that’s really got us champing at the bit, because we’re trying to decorate for the reception after the concert. We’re going with a fall theme for right now, but we have not been given us a title at all. There’s a song order for all of the music we’re going to do at the concert for her new piece, which is for choir and orchestra. But we don’t even have a working title, which is making me nervous.

“But’s a unique, one-of-a-kind thing. We’re all looking forward to it, but we’re also kind of on the edge of our seats. The composer is coming, and we want to do a really good job.”

The Lexington Singers and Lexington Singers Children’s Choir: ‘The Music of Elaine Hagenberg’

When: 3 p.m. Nov. 2

Where: Singletary Center for the Arts Concert Hall, 405 Rose St.

Tickets: $39 public, $12 students

Online: finearts.uky.edu/singletary-center/events

This story was originally published October 28, 2025 at 5:00 AM.