Citing age and a desire to spend more time composing music, Jay Welch, founder and director of the 120-member Jay Welch Chorale, has announced that he will retire from conducting and dissolve the chorale as of July 28 - a date that also marks the group's 20th anniversary.
"My retirement from conducting to devote time to composition is timed with the 20th anniversary of the chorale, and it's as good a time as any to arbitrarily say, `That's enough,' " the 72-year-old Welch explained."I don't know the future," he added, "I don't know how long I will live to be able to do what I still want to do." And composing, according to Welch, requires a daily concentration that's not easily achieved while attending to the duties and demands required of a conductor.
The members of the chorale, some of whom have been singing with the group since its founding two decades ago, were saddened by Welch's impending retirement from conducting. He announced his intentions at their weekly rehearsal on April 28, according to Megan Hayes, president of the chorale's sponsoring corporation, The Jay Welch Chorale Inc.
"They were very sad, yet they empathize and understand," Hayes said. "Many of the singers want to be kept abreast as to what he is doing, and they hope they'll be able to perform some of his new pieces" in the future.
There is also strong support for Welch's decision within the corporation, Hayes acknowledged, adding, "We support him, and we support his concept (to channel his energies toward writing music)."
The singers' future, however, looks promising, according to Willis Waite, president of the chorale. "We polled the singers, and 95 percent of them want to continue" performing together.
As a result of this poll, a pro tem committee was formed, with Waite continuing as president of the chorale until an official organization could be set up to finalize and shape the new choral ensemble.
And the pro tem committee recently held a meeting to get things rolling, to send out "feelers" to various universities and colleges to find a doctor of choral music to lead the new ensemble. It will be forced to perform under a new name, of course, since "the Jay Welch Chorale comes officially to an end on July 28, and we can no longer use that name," Waite said.
Welch says he would always feel responsibility for the chorale if it continued to perform under his name. And he has distanced himself from being involved in the chorale's plans, refusing to comment on its future.
But before the final curtain comes down on the Jay Welch Chorale, Salt Lake audiences will be able to enjoy one final concert under Welch's direction in the Assembly Hall on July 24.
"This last concert will be a wonderful tribute to Jay," Waite says. Among the works to be performed are excerpts from Welch's monumental "The Marshes of Glynn," written in 1959. "It's my most ambitious work ever," Welch admits.
Scored for baritone solo, chorus and orchestra, the work is based on a poem by the 19th century Southern author Sydney Lanier. "It was written for my doctoral thesis under Leroy J. Robertson (at the University of Utah), who was one of my most important composition teachers, along with Darius Mil-haud."
"The Marshes of Glynn" will also be performed and recorded in a concert by the U. Philharmonia and Chorus on June 6 in Abravanel Hall. The program is part of Brigham Young University's Heritage Series, an endowment fund that promotes the music of LDS composers.
Welch and the chorale have also been busy in the recording studio during their 20-year collaboration. Their most recent album, "In the Still of the Night," was released in November and contains folk and Broadway tunes arranged by Welch.
For the past 40 years Welch has had a tremendous impact on the community as teacher, composer and conductor. He founded and led the Mormon Youth Symphony and Chorus and the Salt Lake Repertory Orchestra, now known as the Salt Lake Symphony, before organizing the Jay Welch Chorale.
Welch, who has been conducting choirs since he was 17 years old, has had a long and illustrious career as a choral conductor - including 17 years as assistant conductor for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
Welch's legacy is probably best summed up in the words of Waite, who, besides his position with the chorale, is also a longtime friend and former LDS missionary companion of Welch's: "He has touched so many lives, both spiritually and musically. I can't begin to express the joy and privilege it's been to work under him. It's almost as if we've been part of history in the making."