Oct. 10 Small Choral Ensembles Concert to feature debut of new Lads director Jennifer Anderson ’05

Sept. 27, 2023

Photo of new Lads director Dr. Jennifer Olander Anderson '05
Jennifer Olander Anderson ’05

Certain Scots singing for one of Maryville College’s unique choral programs are now being led by one of their own: Dr. Jennifer Olander Anderson ’05 has been named the new director of The Lads.

As the low-voice ensemble for tenor and bass, The Lads were formed in 2011 along with their soprano-alto counterparts in The Lassies. Over the past decade, they’ve become breakout groups for Off Kilter, itself a larger ensemble that often works in tandem with and separately from the Maryville College Concert Choir, which has been in existence at MC for more than a century.

The Lads will next take the stage Oct. 10 at the Clayton Center for the Arts on the MC campus as part of the fall Small Choral Ensembles Concert. Anderson, who went on from Maryville College to earn her master’s from the University of Tennessee and her Ph.D. from the University of Memphis and previously served as a visiting instructor of music at MC, will not only lead The Lads during that performance; she’ll also serve as collaborative pianist for The Lassies.

Collaborative piano, in fact, is her specialty, and she actively performs in chamber recitals around the region. She’s also the assistant director of music at First United Methodist Church of Maryville, where she directs the adult and youth handbell choirs, two children’s choirs and plays for the early service each week.

She recently served as assistant professor of music at LeMoyne-Owen College in Memphis, where she taught piano, music theory and conducted the concert choir. While completing her doctorate work, she served as an adjunct professor at the University of Memphis.

“I am so grateful for the opportunity to work with the Lads,” she said. “I have always had a special fondness for the sound of a low-voice ensemble, and I am very excited for the chance to engage with these students, teach them and help shape their sound.

“The Lads and Lassies were just being formed when I taught at MC many years ago, and it is so wonderful to see how they have excelled over the years. I hope to continue the outstanding work of (former director) Alan Eleazer, and I will aim to preserve the tradition of choral excellence at Maryville College.”

The Small Choral Ensembles Concert, which includes performances by The Lads, The Lassies and Off Kilter, will take place at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 10, in the Harold and Jean Lambert Recital Hall of the Clayton Center. Admission is $10 for adults, seniors and area students, and free for MC faculty, staff and students.

For more information, call the Clayton Center box office at 865-981-8590. 

Maryville College is a nationally-ranked institution of higher learning and one of America’s oldest colleges. For more than 200 years we’ve educated students to be giving citizens and gifted leaders, to study everything, so that they are prepared for anything — to address any problem, engage with any audience and launch successful careers right away. Located in Maryville, Tennessee, between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the city of Knoxville, Maryville College offers nearly 1,200  students from around the world both the beauty of a rural setting and the advantages of an urban center, as well as more than 60 majors, seven pre-professional programs and career preparation from their first day on campus to their last. Today, our 10,000 alumni are living life strong of mind and brave of heart and are prepared, in the words of our Presbyterian founder, to “do good on the largest possible scale.”