Drummonds acknowledges debt to LSU School of Music with benefit event
Lamar Drummonds had no connection to Baton Rouge, had never been to the city — had never stepped foot on the LSU campus.
But he knew about the LSU School of Music. Its reputation reached as far as Knoxville, Tenn.
Well, even further than that, but Drummonds was living and working in his hometown of Knoxville when he made the decision to accept the job as the First United Methodist Church’s director of worship and music.
Sara Lynn Baird was directing music at the church, but she’d been named the School of Music’s associate dean. This meant her full-time focus had to shift to LSU.
So, the church decided to make the director of worship and music a full-time position.
“They offered me the job, and I didn’t know anything about Baton Rouge,” Drummonds said. “But I did know about the wonderful LSU School of Music through some of their concerts I’d seen. And it was because of the LSU School of Music that I decided to come to Baton Rouge.”
The School of Music is seeking out ways to raise money to replaced scholarship funds lost in state budget cuts. First United Methodist Church often hosts benefit concerts for nonprofit organizations.
They’re free, and an offering plate is passed through the audience for voluntary donations.
Drummonds thought it more than appropriate to make the same School of Music that inspired him 13 years ago the beneficiary of funds raised through this year’s concert.
The program will begin at 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 23, and will feature an orchestra made up of LSU faculty, students and graduates performing Felix Mendelssohn’s “Symphony No. 5 in D Major,” followed by Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “Five Mystical Songs,” featuring baritone Dennis Jesse.
Jesse will be joined by the First United Methodist Church Chancel Choir and the LSU A Cappella Choir on this piece.
The program will end with Camille Saint-Saens’ “Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor,” featuring Willis Delony on piano.
Delony is the associate dean of the College of Music and Dramatic Arts and interim director of the School of Music. He also is a member of First United Methodist Church.
“Lamar and I talked about it, and we thought it was appropriate to support the LSU School of Music with this year’s concert,” Delony said. “So many of us in the LSU School of Music participate in many music at the church — we have a symbiotic relationship.”
So, Drummonds went to work.
“I began contacting people,” Drummonds said. “Several generous patrons quickly underwrote the concert, which means that all the money donated at the concert will go directly into the School of Music’s scholarship fund.”