Salt Lake Children's Choir

When Ralph B. Woodward formed the Salt Lake Children's Choir, he never thought it would last, or that he would still be directing it 25 years later.

"I was taking it a half year at a time then," he said. That was in October 1979. And now, much to his surprise, Woodward and the choir are getting ready to celebrate their silver anniversary. "That's startling when I think about it," he said. "I never expected it would last this long."

Special anniversary concerts will mark the occasion. The first takes place Saturday in Libby Gardner Concert Hall. The other will be on May 14 in Abravanel Hall. The programs will be different for each concert but will feature the choir along with guest performers. Each will have a different focus, Woodward said.

Common to both concerts will be the range of music. It will include early music, art songs and folk music. "I like some representation of art songs on the programs," Woodward said. "I've always felt that the beauty of this music is best brought out by children."

Woodward's love for early music, and specifically that from the Renaissance, is due to his father's influence. Ralph Woodward Sr. devoted his life to choral music, directing the Brigham Young University A Cappella Choir, the BYU Men's Chorus and his own Ralph Woodward Chorale for many years. "I got it from my dad, I think. Early music was important to him, and if I don't program it, I feel like I'm cheating everyone."

The programs for the two concerts will feature music from Purcell to Brahms, Schubert and Kodaly. There will also be spirituals and a number of works that Woodward has written over the years, some of which he's collected under the title "Postcards from Paradise." The children will also sing several folk songs from around the world. "I like to have a program that includes music from the far reaches of the world," Woodward said. "It makes it interesting."

A string trio and a string quartet consisting of former choir members will accompany the choir on some of the songs. And several other former members, as well as a current chorister, will provide instrumental interludes during the Gardner Hall concert Saturday. Among them will be harpist Elizabeth White and flutist Andrew Stamp. "Andrew has played in the Chicago Lyric Opera orchestra and in the Chicago Civic Orchestra," Woodward said. Cellist Michael van Dam and violinist Kelly Parkinson will also play. Current choir member and pianist Andrew Cheng will solo in a piece by Villa Lobos.

Woodward, who played French horn professionally in Germany before founding the Salt Lake Children's Choir, will perform a movement from a sonata for horn and piano by Glazunov.