For nearly three decades, the William Baker Festival Singers have built a reputation as one of Kansas City’s most versatile and accomplished choral ensembles. As the choir prepares for its 29th season, founder and artistic director William Baker says the ensemble’s greatest strength may not simply be its musical excellence, but the sense of community that lies behind every performance.
“The Festival Singers is more than an elite choir,” Baker said. “The Festival Singers is truly a family.”
That spirit will animate a 2026-27 season built around the theme of Revelation, a broad concept that explores spiritual awakening, personal transformation and human relationships through music spanning more than five centuries.
Baker believes the ensemble’s distinctive identity emerges from a combination of musical discipline and personal connection.
“We live with the music and we live with each other,” he said. “That enables an expressiveness, which enables a diversity of repertoire and sound and color that I think is unique.”
The season arrives as Baker approaches a significant personal milestone. Next year will mark 50 years since he began working with choirs.
“And I’ve never worked with a better collection of human beings,” he said. “A more talented, a more dedicated, a more hard-working, a more invested spiritually and emotionally and artistically than the William Baker Festival Singers of ‘26-’27.”
The season-opening concert, scheduled for 3:00 p.m. Nov. 1 at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in downtown Kansas City, showcases the remarkable stylistic breadth that has become a hallmark of the ensemble. Music ranges from Renaissance composer Antoine Brumel to contemporary gospel traditions associated with the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir.
“There are groups in this city that can sing Antoine Brumel extremely well, and there are a few groups that can do Brooklyn Tabernacle extremely well,” Baker said. “I don’t know a lot of groups that can do Antoine Brumel from the 1400s and Brooklyn Tabernacle in one concert.”
Among the featured works is Gregorio Allegri’s famous Miserere mei, paired with a modern Kansas City connection: John Leavitt’s Kyrie Eleison. The concert also includes Gabriel Fauré’s Cantique de Jean Racine and Ed Frazier Davis’s At Our Last Awakening.
Baker admitted that Renaissance polyphony was not always his strongest musical language.
“Renaissance conducting is something that I have had to grow into,” he said. “For a number of years, I knew that almost everybody on the planet was better at doing it than me, and I shied away from it.”
His perspective changed over time, aided by colleagues and early music specialists within the Festival Singers.
“The voices are allowed to be free and open and rich and colorful,” Baker said. “It opens a character and a power in the sound.”
The choir’s commitment to musical excellence is matched by an equally strong commitment to community service. On Nov. 20 at 7:30 PM at the Wesley Chapel at the Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, the Festival Singers will present their annual Thanksgiving Concert for Human Need at Wesley Chapel at Church of the Resurrection.
The tradition dates to the ensemble’s founding year in 1998. After participating in a fundraising performance shortly before Thanksgiving, Baker and the singers recognized the profound impact music could have in helping people in need.
“The joy of doing something at Thanksgiving to give back and to help people who are hurting, especially during that time of the year when there’s so much vulnerability, was so appealing and so wonderful,” Baker said.
Over the years, the concerts have generated tens of thousands of dollars for charitable organizations. This season’s beneficiary will be reStart Family Lodge, which helps families move from homelessness toward stable housing and employment.
“We don’t affirm homelessness,” Baker said. “We’re trying to get people out of homelessness and into homes, and into jobs.”
December brings one of Kansas City’s most beloved holiday traditions, Candlelight Carols & Cathedral, presented at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 18 at Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral and 3 p.m. Dec. 20 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.
Baker makes no apologies for embracing a traditional Christmas aesthetic.
“At Christmas time, I want the tree, and the lights, and the snow, and my fireplace, and my dog, and my chair, and my glass of Bordeaux,” he said. “And I want to celebrate the greatest story ever told.”
The concerts feature classic carols, traditional choral repertoire, children’s voices and the formidable organ artistry of John Schaefer.
Baker once described the program as “the alternative to alternative Christmas programs.”
“So if you want your heart warmed, if you want beauty and wonder, we’ve got it for you,” he said.
The centerpiece of the season arrives at 3:00 p.m. March 14 with a performance of Bach’s Passion According to St. John at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church. Although Baker has conducted the work elsewhere, this marks his first Kansas City performance of the masterpiece.
The Festival Singers have previously presented Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and Mass in B Minor, making the St. John Passion a natural addition to the ensemble’s masterworks tradition.
“I love the St. John,” Baker said. “It’s almost in some ways like you took the Matthew of three hours and you compacted it into an hour and 45 minutes, but kept all its power.”
First performed in Leipzig on Good Friday in 1724, Bach’s St. John Passion is the earliest of his surviving Passion settings and one of the composer’s most compelling sacred works. The score combines profound spirituality with a striking sense of drama. Revised several times by Bach during his lifetime, the work remained close to the composer’s heart
The Festival Singers’ performance will feature composer, conductor and baritone Ed Frazier Davis in the role of Jesus.
Baker, meanwhile, continues to expand both the Festival Singers and the broader work of The Choral Foundation. The organization now includes numerous ensembles and educational initiatives across multiple states.
“We’ve been so blessed,” Baker said. “The best faculty and staff anywhere.”
And with the organization’s growth, Baker remains grounded in gratitude.
“We’re receivers, not achievers,” he said. “But everything right now is coming up roses.”
The season concludes with a benefit concert for Hillcrest Transitional Housing on 7:30 PM April 27 St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Lee's Summit,and a May 2 finale at 3:00 PM St. Mary's Episcopal Church featuring audience favorites and Baker’s own favorite selections from throughout the year.
For Baker, however, the season is ultimately about more than concerts. It is about service, community and the transformative power of singing together.
“The resources of this organization are here for you,” he said. “Let us serve you.”
