Robert A. Lague (1947-2023)
Founding Music Director
Robert A. Lague graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music with a Bachelor's degree in Music Education and a Master's degree in Applied Piano.ย He studied Choral Direction with Lorna Cooke DeVaron and Piano with Howard Goding and his father Alfred Lague, a former RIMEA president. He was president of the NEC Chorus and a bass from Massachusetts in the Bicentennial Chorus of America under the direction of Lukas Foss.
Bob taught in the Massachusetts public schools for forty years until his retirement in June 2008.ย His school choruses performed at the National Association for Music Education All-Eastern Conferences and Massachusetts Music Educators Association All-State conferences.ย He conducted the Stoneham High School Chorus at Disney World in April of 2003, 2005, and 2007. He was also the first conductor of the MMEA Northeastern District Junior Festival Chorus and conducted Festival Choruses in Central and Western Massachusetts and in Southern New Hampshire.ย He conducted the Northeastern District Junior Girls Chorus in March 2013.
In addition to being a conductor and music educator, Bob was also the official organist for both the Massachusetts Teachers Association and the National Education Association. He was an accompanist for Maria and Luis of Sesame Street in various children's concerts around the US and in Bermuda. ย He was a delegate to the NEA Representative Assembly for thirty-five years and its organist for twenty-one years.ย In July 2011, he was presented with a plaque honoring his twenty-one years as Official Organist.ย He also received a Lifetime Achievement Award plaque from the NEA Fine Arts Caucus, which he founded forty years ago.ย At the 1999 MMEA All-State Conference, he received the Lowell Mason Award for Outstanding Work in Music Education.ย He was the accompanist for the Massachusetts Music Educators Association All-State Chorus in 2003 and 2004. He is the past chairperson of the MMEA Northeast District. He received the Most Valuable Teacher Award from the Red Sox in conjunction with the Massachusetts Teachers Association; the award was given at a Red Sox/Yankees game in 2008.
Bob was a choir director and organist for fifty years and served most recently in that capacity at Trinity Baptist Church in Arlington, MA. He was the music director of Lexington Pops Chorus for 41 years, since the chorus's inception in 1982 until 2023. He also directed the Carleton-Willard Village Chorus of Bedford, the Lexington Chorale at Brookhaven at Lexington, and the Massachusetts Teachers Association Chorus.