Welch's musical legacy shines

The contributions of Jay Welch provide evidence that one man can do a lot of good in his lifetime.

Among other accomplishments, the 80-year-old Welch has left a legacy of music with the Mormon Youth Symphony and Chorus, the Salt Lake Repertory Orchestra (now the Salt Lake Symphony), and his years of teaching at the University of Utah.

To some, Welch is best known for the Jay Welch Chorale — a musical entity that has changed conductors and names but is today known as the Utah Choral Artists.

On Saturday, under the direction of Brady Allred, the Utah Choral Artists will celebrate Jay Welch's life in a concert titled "Do You Hear What I Hear: A Tribute to Jay Welch." Former members of the Jay Welch Chorale, along with members of the Murray Symphony Orchestra, will join the choir in performing Christmas music and traditional favorites.

Welch's daughter, Megan Hayes, said that, as a young boy growing up in California, Welch wasn't much interested in music lessons. "His mother tried to teach him to play the piano, but it only lasted about three weeks. He was more interested in bugs, so she gave up."

When Welch was about 10, his mother couldn't attend an organ lesson and sent young Jay in her stead. "She never went back. He got to keep the organ lessons," said Hayes. "So that's how he started."

The boy showed early promise. Just two years after he started the organ lessons, he was invited to play for the governor of California, and just two years after that, he was accompanying performances of the Southern California Regional Ballet.

Following high school graduation, after World War II had broken out, he signed up for the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps. As a young officer-in-training, Welch spent his time studying at UCLA, eventually graduating with a B.A. in mathematics.

Welch told the Deseret Morning News that he was chosen as valedictorian, but rather than making a speech, he played his own composition — a one-movement piano concerto, with the orchestra part played by the organist.

He received his military commission and served in the Navy until World War II was over. Then he was called on an LDS Church mission to France. "At the time he went on his mission," said Hayes, "it was close enough after World War II that they had to have a student's visa. He had to take a kind of lesson, and that's when he started studying over there."