Terri Erwin Foster After 30 years coaching and conducting young singers, Terri Erwin Foster is retiring from the Louisville Youth Choir at the end of their upcoming season.Foster began conducting in 1993, and joined the Louisville Youth Choir (LYC) in 1999 leading the Aria Choir, a high school-aged soprano and alto ensemble. She was named artistic and executive director in 2007, succeeding Don Scott Carpenter.During Foster’s tenure, the youth choir has performed with Kentucky Opera, Kentucky Shakespeare and the Louisville Orchestra, and sang “My Old Kentucky Home” for then Prince Charles and his wife Camilla’s 2015 visit to the commonwealth. The organization offers singing opportunities for children in kindergarten through 12th grade. The “No Song Unsung” initiative, developed during Foster’s time as executive director, helps provide financial assistance to those who want to join the group but can’t afford to.Foster reflects on her tenure, memorable performances and the more routine moments outside of the concert hall with LPM's Daniel Gilliam.Founded in 1967, LYC is entering its 60th season with a concert on Sunday, Oct. 18 at Saint Michael Catholic Church in Louisville, in collaboration with the Louisville Youth Orchestra and Louisville Chorus. A note of transparency, Louisville Chorus provides financial support to Louisville Public Media.This transcript has been edited for brevity and clarity. Daniel Gilliam: Terri Erwin Foster has been with the Louisville Youth Choir for 30 years, conducting, and leading for some of the time as the executive director. And Terri, you're going to hang up the baton. I don't know if that's even a thing, but congratulations on 30 years with LYC. You're retiring at the end of this season. Thanks for being here to talk about it.Terri Foster: Thanks so much for having me. We're excited about the 60th anniversary coming up, and you're right, 30 years is a long time to be with one organization. So I think most people would say I'm pretty invested in the mission of what the community choir does here in our region.DG: So LYC – Louisville Youth Choir – is celebrating 60 years, and you've been there for half of its existence.TF: That's right. I started when I was four. (Laughs)DG: I thought so. A child prodigy. So tell me about your starting at LYC. First off, how did you discover your passion for conducting young people?TF: Well, I would have to say that is something that went back to when I was a young person myself. I was very involved in music growing up, and took piano, and was very involved in my school music program. And then my senior year of high school, I decided to take on some beginning piano students just to see what I thought about teaching and working with young people in that capacity. And that just sort of launched a career of working with young people. And in that span of time, I have worked with kindergarten through secondary education and post-secondary education at the University of Louisville and choral music specifically. And I was able to take a talent and a blessing and a gift that I had, and encourage other people to find that with themselves and then to share it.DG: What are some of the challenges that most people don't think of when you're dealing with young voices or conducting a young choir? Over the years you've probably seen it all. What are some of the challenges that maybe people don't realize about the job?TF: I have seen it all, and I've worked with groups that are non-auditioned, all the way to top honor choir groups. So there is a wide gamut of what you're exposed to in that. I think management is a really important thing when you think about working with young people and expectations, setting expectations, and then holding young people to those expectations. They never, ever in my time of working with them, have fallen short. I think when you give a challenge to young people and they can see your drive and passion for them reaching the goal, then they work twice as hard. And so some of those things may be where people would say, "Oh, I would be afraid of managing that many kids." I've heard people say, "Oh, you herd cats for a living," and there is a little bit of that just because of their energy and their exuberance.But even then, I have loved walking away from performances with professional organizations like the Louisville Orchestra, and them saying it's just like working with young professionals. They were not anticipating the discipline level that they brought, and the attention that they brought to their craft and to their work. So I think it's a little bit of a pleasant surprise for people when you hear kids and you think, how is this going to go down? You know, when you think about that cat herding kind of concept.DG: Yeah, there's that. And then I think of the voice itself and how you're working with that voice through its development, and it changes. Regardless of your gender or your gender identity, that voice is going to change during the time that they're with LYC, right?TF: Sure, you're going to have that natural physical hormonal development and growth of the voice that just happens because of them maturing. But then you're also going to get to see where they started, maybe at that beginner level and moving into that intermediate and more advanced singer, where they can truly control the instrument, they can control their breath, they can control the sounds that they are producing.So, yes, there are those stages. I think everybody thinks about the changing voice and the proverbial voice crack that happens with singers when their voices are changing. But our philosophy at LYC has always been “sing through the change.” We meet the voice where it is when they are experiencing the vocal change. And right now, I have some male-identifying voices that are moving from that treble voice, soprano, or alto voice into their tenor, maybe higher baritone range, and as long as they've got the treble and it's not uncomfortable, we allow them to sing in two different ensembles so that they can be using both parts of their voice while they have it.DG: That's great. That's an interesting aspect I hadn't thought of. You've done a lot over your career. Is there one, or a group of experiences that really stand out that you know you'll never forget?TF: I know people probably expect me to say some big performance that we did, or some major audience that we were privileged to sing for, but for me the outstanding times are the weekly regular times at LYC. The students coming, looking forward to being at the Louisville Youth Choir every week, and going through the process of rehearsing, making music together--those moments that audiences really don't get to see--that I feel like are mine and the choir's because we see those together on that weekly basis. So there's not really a highlight moment. It's just being with the youth every week in those rehearsals.DG: Well, 90% of the conductor's job is in rehearsal. The audience sees just a fraction of the actual work.TF: Absolutely.DG: So yeah, that makes sense. So your last concert, I assume, is going to be at the end of this season coming up.TF: That's correct. It's going to be May of 2027.DG: May of '27. And are you going to just play or conduct all your favorites? Is it just going to be Terri's picks?TF: (Laughs) No, it's not like a jukebox where we pop a quarter in and it's all of Terri's greatest hits. We really are kicking off the season with our 60th anniversary celebration. Instead of saving it for the end, we've got a big production that is planned with the Louisville Chorus and members of the Louisville Youth Orchestra. We are doing a concert on Oct. 18 to launch the season. Now, technically, we launched it this summer with our women's choir, Lascito Coro, that sings and raises scholarship dollars for our students to be able to perform during the year at no cost, if need be, that "No Song Left Unsung" initiative that we have. But with our youth, we'll kick it off on Oct. 18 with "Lift Every Voice" at St. Michael Catholic Church out in Jeffersontown. We hope a lot of people will come out and celebrate with us as we combine voices with the Louisville Chorus.DG: I guess the big question is, what are you going to do with all your free time when you're done with LYC?TF: I don't think I really have free time. I told someone the other day, when you're a musician, you just get so used to piecing together lots of different jobs. I feel very fortunate to have had lots of eclectic inputs. I canter at the temple on U.S. 42, and I teach adjunct at the University of Louisville, and I'm very involved at the Sacred Heart School for the Arts with music directing shows for Sacred Heart Academy, and I'm very active with Kentucky Music Educators Association. I adjudicate around the state, and then I also manage assessment events. So all of those pieces of my life will still be in play. I told the students that they are the Louisville Youth Choir, I'm not. So they are still going to see me around and active in the arts community. It's just this piece, this one job that I happen to have, is going to allow me time to be in the audience and enjoy these youth singers from a different perspective.DG: And that time of 30 years with the Louisville Youth Choir. Terri Irwin Foster, congratulations on 30 years, and of course to the LYC for 60 years. And I look forward to seeing you in the audience.TF: Thanks so much. I will be there, and if I could just do a quick call out to any alumni that maybe have not connected with LYC, it is a big anniversary year for us. We would love for you to reach out and find us on our website and reconnect so that we can make sure that you're not missing anything for the 60th. And of course, the community is always welcome to be a part of what we'll be celebrating this year.DG: I should also mention before we go that you can honor Terri Foster with photos, notes, your recollections, your experiences singing under Terri at honoringterrifoster.org. So I hope you get lots of nice notes and pictures from that. Thank you, Terri.TF: Thanks, it's been a great ride. ...read more read less