Lois Johnson, Artistic Director (1980-1999)

Lois Johnson became a musician, studying piano and violin as a child. She continued in her musical interests by earning her bachelor’s degree in music and her master’s degree in music from Brigham Young University. She also did post-graduate work at Indiana University. While at BYU she was a graduate teaching assistant and voice instructor.

Just as the name of the Civic Oratorio Society was changed to Utah Valley Choral Society in 1980, Lois Johnson became the director. She retained the baton for eighteen years and established a yearly concert series that included a bit of everything—introduction of the works of local composers and arrangers, Broadway show tunes, choral favorites, oratorios, and classical masterworks and they sang in Provo, Springville, Orem, Park City, and Midway.

Lois instituted Choral Society’s first annual Messiah Sing-In in 1983, which was held in the Provo Tabernacle that year, and continued for the next sixteen years. She also organized many choir festivals and choir firesides that included choir voices from all over the valley.

The Choral Society performed in the musical “Threads of Glory,” the Temple Square concert series, the Mozart Festival in Midway, and in Provo’s Freedom Festival in a musical created by Lex de Azevado. Concerts included Mozart’s Così Fan Tutte, Brahms’ Requiem, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Mozart’s Requiem, and Mendelssohn’s Elijah.
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Lois was the director of choral activities at American Fork High School and Lone Peak High School. She also enjoys sports, reading, gardening, and . . . music.