The Lakewood Area Choral Society, under the direction of founding artistic director and
conductor, Robert C. Oster, will begin its 39th season on Monday, April 8, with a 7:00-9:00 p.m.
rehearsal in the choir room at Lakewood High School, 7223 Velte, Rd, Lake Odessa. Ethan
Holmes serves as choir accompanist.

Yearly, the choral society presents a variety of sacred and secular concerts throughout
the state. They have performed at the Welsh Auditorium and DeVos Hall in Grand
Rapids, Miller Auditorium in Kalamazoo, the Opera House in Grand Ledge, and the
Renaissance Center in Detroit. The choral society has appeared twice at the annual
Grand Rapids Arts Festival, at Art in the Park in Lake Odessa, and has held many
concerts at various fairs, schools, and churches. The choir has sung the National
Anthem for the West Michigan Whitecaps, the Lansing Lugnuts, and the Detroit Tigers
as well as for high school basketball games in the Lakewood area.

To commemorate the choir’s 25th anniversary in 2010 Michigan composer, Frank
DeWald, was commissioned to write an original composition for the choir. Sea and
Shore, a stunning eight-part setting of the text by poet Henry VanDyke, was world-premiered on
October 23, 2010 at the choral society’s 25th anniversary concert in the Performing Arts Center
in Charlotte, MI. Similarly, to celebrate the choir’s 35th anniversary, nationally recognized
composer, Jill Gallina, was commissioned. His Masterpiece, her original composition with both
words and music, was world-premiered on September 24, 2022 in the Hastings Performing Arts
Center, Hastings MI, two years late due to the Covid pandemic. In both performances the
composers and their spouses were in attendance.

The 2024 season will open with a 3:00 p.m. sacred music concert at Emmanuel Episcopal
Church in Hastings on Sunday, June 9. The choir will join the Hastings City Band for the July 3
Tribute to America Concert at Thornapple Plaza. Another 3:00 p.m. sacred concert is scheduled
for Sunday, September 22, for Pleasant Valley United Brethren Church, Lake Odessa, and the
choral society’s season will conclude with their Christmas concert at Central United Methodist
Church in downtown Lansing on Sunday, December 15. Full rehearsals are held at Lakewood
High School and the sectional rehearsals take place at Grace Lutheran Church, Hastings.

The choir maintains an active roster of over 80 singers from mid and western Michigan.
Members come from as far away as Holt, Eaton Rapids, Portage, Grand Rapids, as well as the
surrounding communities of Lake Odessa, including Ionia, Saranac, Grand Ledge, and Hastings.
New members may join at any time throughout the season; however, prospective new members
are encouraged to join early in the season and are asked to go to the choral society’s website
lacsmusic.org to register. Previous choral experience is required. Positions are open in all voice
parts, especially for tenors and basses.