On Monday, November 16, 2026, the Bayou Masterworks Chorale presents If I Can Sing, I Still am Free, a concert conducted by Dr. Deborah Chandler—the founder of the Bayou Masterworks Chorale.
Formerly know as the Monroe Symphony Chorus, Dr. Chandler founded the Bayou Masterworks Chorale in 2005, and serves as the artistic director and conductor.
Dr. Chandler and John Tolar—a member of Parkview Baptist Church, where this concert will be taking place—joined Cory Crowe for an interview on Lagniappe where they shared some more information on this concert.
"When you're dreaming of the concert, you have to have an opener and a closer. You have to have some kind of way to put it together to make it make sense that you chose those songs," Dr. Deborah Chandler said. "So we're starting out with a chant Ubi Caritas, which means where there's love there's God. And so we kind of go through there and it's, you know, it's one of those Lagniappe kind of concerts. There's something for everyone and a little something extra."
Joining the Chorale will be the Colhoun Middle School Choir, directed by Naomi Kilpatrick—a former student at the University of Louisiana Monroe. There will be around 25 kids joining the performance for four numbers, and one piece performed by themselves.
This concert will be held at the Parkview Baptist Church on 1001 Forsythe Ave., Monroe, LA, and will begin at 7 p.m. Entry to this concert is free and open to everyone, with a suggested but not required donation of $10 to support guest musicians.
"I participate to help host this event and we've been doing it for years at Parkview, and we've filled the place in past events," John Tolar said. "We hold about 1,200 including our balcony, and so we have great acoustics in our facility. And Debbie has been there a number of times over the last 15 years, and it's always been very successful and we're very pleased to do that."
For more information on this event, visit facebook.com/bayoumasterworkschorale. To find out more about what's happening at Parkview, visit pbcmonroe.com.
