FARMINGTON — The University of Maine at Farmington Community Chorus spring concert on Sunday is offered in memory of Joel Hayden, the founder of the chorus and longtime UMF professor who recently passed away at the age of 92.

The concert begins at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 4, in Nordica Auditorium in UMF’s Merrill Hall.

The concert will be conducted by Bruce McInnes. Patricia Hayden, Joel’s widow and longtime musical partner, will be the accompanist.

Included in the program will be selections from Mendelssohn’s “Elijah,” Joel’s favorite choral work, edited by Bruce McInnes; two movements from Brahms’ “A German Requeim” and the final chorus from Beethoven’s “Mount of Olives.”

Hayden was particularly noted for founding and conducting community choruses, which he did in Middlebury, Vermont; Peterborough, New Hampshire; Springvale, Maine; Portland, Maine; and the UMF Community Chorus, which he conducted from 1985 until 1993.

He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1922. He received his bachelor’s degree in music from Oberlin College. He spent many summers at Middlebury College’s Russian studies seminars doing graduate work in Russian language studies. He received his Ph.D. in history, with Russia as his area of specialization, from Harvard University in 1958.

He received a master of music degree in choral conducting from the Westminster Choir College in 1979 and began his teaching career at the St. Louis Country Day School. In 1954, he taught history and Russian at Antioch College. He was co-founder of The Meeting School, a secondary level Quaker boarding school in Rindge, New Hampshire, in 1957, remaining as a faculty member until 1973. 

From 1973 to 1976 he was director of counseling and career planning at Nasson College. He became professor of music at the University of Maine at Farmington in 1981, where he taught both music and Russian until his retirement in 1993.

Admission for the concert is $8 for adults, $6 for senior citizens and free for UMF students with ID.

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