A Tribute to Dr. Lara Hoggard

Dr. Lara Hoggard
(February 9, 1915 - March 16, 2007)

“The lifework of Lara Hoggard is synonymous with choral music education, consummate musicianship and inspired performance, not only in N.C. but throughout the U.S. and beyond,” states Robin Garner in her Columbia University Teachers College dissertation on the life and work of Lara Hoggard. A legend in the arena of choral conducting, Dr. Hoggard (lovingly called “Doc”) taught, mentored and inspired hundreds of us during his illustrious forty-year career. Here at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill we certainly know what a treasure we had in this remarkable conductor, composer, arranger, and teacher.  From 1967-1980, Dr. Hoggard taught at Carolina, establishing the renowned Carolina Choir and becoming the first William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Music from the Division of Fine Arts. Of great significance, too, was Dr. Hoggard’s affiliation with the UNC-Chapel Hill Summer Institute in Choral Arts, where for over a quarter of a century he worked with public school music teachers and students from across the state.

As a singer in the Needham Broughton High School Choral Ensemble, I had the great good fortune of first meeting and working with Dr. Hoggard in 1974 at the “Youth and Music in Vienna Festival” (“Jugend und Musik in Wien”), which he directed.  Challenged and inspired, I then came to Carolina (as a Lara Hoggard Scholar), and enjoyed years of music-making under his baton.  Still resonating in memory are a number of the awe-inspiring performances he helped to create: the requiems of Duruflé and Brahms, “Personent Hodie” on University Day in the OLD Memorial Hall (!), and Randall Thompson’s “Testament of Freedom” – to name but a few. Strikingly tall and handsome, with his white locks and brilliant eyes, “Doc” assuredly and lovingly shaped the gorgeous, rich sounds for which his groups were known – delighting his choristers and an adoring public in the process.  His legacy certainly lives on in those of us who learned so much from this great teacher.

On April 26, 2007, in the new Memorial Hall, we will be dedicating a performance of Bach Mass in B minor to Dr. Lara Hoggard, in loving memory of this Carolina “giant.”  For further biographical information on Dr. Lara Hoggard, see:

www.ncsica.com and www.ncacdaonline.org/hoggard.htm

A memorial service will be held at University Presbyterian Church on Franklin Street at a date to be determined.  Cards and remembrances can be sent to Mrs. Mildred Hoggard and/or Ms. Susan Hoggard Yohe, 505 Carved Oak Drive, Durham, NC 27707

Dr. Terry Ellen Rhodes
Professor of Music and UNC Opera Director
B.M., UNC-CH, 1978