For
more than fifty-five
years, the Tulsa Boy
Singers have reflected
the finest in choral
tradition - a tradition
which began centuries
ago in the Middle Ages.
During those times,
training in vocal performance
and music theory was
given to boys who sang
in the choir of cathedrals
and churches of Europe.
Today, boychoirs around
the world (most of which
are nonsectarian) continue
to learn just as their
predecessors did in
the days of Purcell,
Bach Haydn, and Schubert,
all of whom began their
careers in a boychoir.
The awesome purity and
ethereal presence of
the young male voice
yet unchanged has sustained
this art throughout
millennia.
The Tulsa Boy Singers was founded in 1948 by George Oscar Bowen. During the first half of the twentieth century, George Bowen was a prominent figure in American choral music education. As a charismatic leader who influenced the musical lives of many thousands of individuals in Oklahoma, and indeed throughout the United States, he felt strongly about
the worth and beauty of the art of music. After a long and successful national career in music education, Mr. Bowen retired from the Tulsa Public Schools at the age of 73. As a result of his strong commitment to the choral music education of young men, George and his wife Dorothy founded the Tulsa Boy Singers. By the time of George Bowen's death in 1957, Tulsa Boy Singers had become a huge success which took on a life of it's own throughout Oklahoma. The early years of the Tulsa Boy
Singers under the direction of George Bowen proved to be a golden era of music education for young men in the Tulsa community.
Williford Gene Roads became the next mentor of young men in the Tulsa Boy Singers. Prior to George Bowen's death, Gene Roads served as his assistant. Early in Gene's musical education, the two men began a close professional relationship that would last for decades. While attending Tulsa Central High School, Gene sang in George
Bowen's a cappella choir. Later, Gene Roads was so impressed with the exemplary presence of the young men in Tulsa Boy Singers that he sought the opportunity to assist George Bowen. The rest is history. Gene Roads directed the Tulsa Boy Singers for 40 years. Gene was a stalwart disciplinarian that developed an uncanny ability to compel his choristers to live up to his ideals and expectations. Literally, hundreds of alumni have to some degree, if not fully, attributed their personal success in
life to the standards and principles set forth by Mr. Roads.
Becoming a legend in his own time, Gene Roads received many distinguished awards for his achievements and contributions to the arts and youth of Tulsa. He was a full time volunteer who dedicated half of his entire adult life to Tulsa Boy Singers. While
he was without a child of his own, throughout the years, the boys of his extended Tulsa Boy Singer family numbered well over a thousand. At the time of his death in February, 1998, Williford Gene Roads was full-time director of Tulsa Boy Singers. Several months prior to his death, Gene summoned Mr. Stephen Tappe to assist him with the choir. Mr. Tappe immediately took the reins of directorship upon Gene's death and served as the Music Director for Tulsa Boy Singers until May, 2004.
Mr.
Stephen Tappe
not only took TBS
to new musical heights,
but enabled Tulsa
Boy Singers to carry
on the vision of its
two previous mentors.
Stephen had an impressive
background in composition,
music theory, choral
studies and organ
performance. As early
as 1974, Stephen immersed
himself in choral
music work with the
famed symphony conductor
Seiji Ozawa and the
Tanglewood Festival
Chorus. As a Hugh
Giles and a Woods
Chandler Scholar at
Yale University in
the early 1980's,
Stephen laid the foundation
for his extraordinary
contribution to choral
music education throughout
the 1980's
and 90's,
Stephen has promoted
choral music education
on a national scale.
In 1987 and 1988,
he was co-founder
and
Chairman of the Board,
Blue Ridge Boychoir
and founder and Director
of the Asheville Chamber
Singers. In 1992 and
1994, Stephen was
Competition Adjudicator
for Florida International
Boychoir Festival
with Sir David Willcocks.
As recently as 1997
through 1999, he was
Artistic Director
of the Tulsa Bach
Choir. Stephen also served as
Organist/Choirmaster
at Trinity Episcopal Church in Tulsa.
The Tulsa Boysingers continues its rich history today under the direction of Casey Cantrell. Mr. Cantwell earned his Bachelor's degree in Organ Performance at Centenary College of Louisiana in Shreveport. He served as Associate Organist/Music Director at Boston Avenue United Methodist Church from 1989 until 2001. Mr. Cantwell is a member of the American Guild of Organists and The Association of Anglican Musicians.
He has served the Tulsa Chapter of the AGO as Dean and Sub-Dean and is the 2005 coordinator for the AGO Region VII Convention in Tulsa. Having enjoyed over 55 years
of success, Tulsa
Boy Singer's
continues the mission and vision
of George Bowen and
Gene Roads to
this day.
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