Conductor, Lori Hetzel

Bio: The University of Kentucky Women’s Choir (UKWC) is the university’s largest choral ensemble composed of a diverse and gifted cross-section of our reflective UK community. These singers, ranging from freshmen to graduate students, represents a variety of musical backgrounds and academic disciplines. The choir’s challenging and diverse repertoire includes literature spanning from Gregorian chant to eight-part music of the 21st Century, with an emphasis on women composers and poets. The UKWC represents the unleashing of the power and beauty of the treble voice and the positive energy found in a diverse community.

Ensemble Statement: The University of Kentucky Women’s Choir (UKWC) is comprised of singers who represent a variety of musical backgrounds and academic disciplines. Ranging from freshmen to graduate students, these singers share a love of music that challenges and emboldens them. The choir’s inspiring and diverse repertoire emphasizes music by female artists. The ensemble stives to perform works which uplift and offer a voice to under-represented composers and poets. The UKWC represents the unleashing of the power and beauty of the treble voice and the positive energy found in a diverse community of strong singers by supporting one another and performing works that reflect their inner strength. The repertoire selected reflects the social issues pertaining to today’s society and offers sparks of beauty and hope. Each semester, in addition to presenting concerts on campus, the UKWC provides musical services to the community, regularly singing for local hospitals, retirement communities, and local school groups. Under Dr. Hetzel’s leadership of the past 25+ years, the UKWC has grown from a 30-member, typical treble choir, to a 100+ group of diverse, passionate singers, with a heart for social change crafted through music. Throughout the pandemic, the UKWC has focused on “Silenced Communities” – poets, composers, and stories of marginalized persons. The UKWC photo shows the ensemble posed in front of “Stand,” a statue which features five suffragists, sculpted in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment. Through interviews with composers, individual projects on under-represented poets and activists, and deep conversations about the change they want to see in the world, the members of the UKWC are transformed throughout their time in the ensemble. Though the music is an important aspect of the group, it is the sense of community that creates the intrinsic fibers of this community of singers.