For 55 years, the Junaluska Singers have enriched the lives of many under the direction of Dr. Glenn Draper, providing music for conferences and worship services at Lake Junaluska Conference & Retreat Center. This spring, Dr. Draper announced that the 2009 season of the Junaluska Singers concert tour would be his last.
Dr. Glenn Draper retired following the Junaluska Singers concert on Saturday, December 12. A celebration in honor of Dr. Draper and his 55 years of ministry at Lake Junaluska was held in the Terrace Hotel Auditorium immediately after the concert. Dr. Draper was named Director Emeritus of the Lake Junaluska Singers, and was thanked for his years of service with a standing ovation.
Dr. Draper has had a stellar career as a musician at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga, First Presbyterian Church in Chattanooga, and as the director of the Junaluska Singers for the past 55 years. Many special opportunities were planned for the remainder of 2009 to celebrate Glenn and Lounelle’s 55 years of ministry at Lake Junaluska. Click on the links located on the sidebar on the right of your screen for a detailed look at Glenn's life and ministry at Lake Junaluska!
Read Dr. Glenn Draper's Retirement Interview
Glenn Draper Biography
Glenn Draper has been the director of the Junaluska Singers for more than 50 years. Born in Roanoke, Va., Draper received a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University and served as graduate assistant to the dean of music at Southern Methodist University where he earned a master’s degree. In 1976, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humanities by Highpoint University. Draper served as a music director for the Lake Junaluska Methodist Assembly and at Pfeiffer College and the University of Miami, Fla. He served in the U.S. Air Force, earning the Outstanding Service Award for his work with the Keesler Air Force Base Male Chorus.
During his career, he directed singers’ performances before heads of state, including every U.S. President since Richard Nixon and British royalty. He has led 49 international concert tours and countless American tours. His groups, including the Chattanooga Singers and the Singing Mocs at UTC, have performed at New York City’s Carnegie Hall, the Crystal Cathedral in Los Angeles, Australia’s Sydney Opera House and in concert with such famous performers as Perry Como, Wayne Newton, Tony Bennett, and Liberace.
His groups have performed for national audiences on the "The Ed Sullivan Show" and "The Hour of Power" and have produced more than 30 albums. His affiliation with Billy Graham’s world ministries has taken Draper and his singers across the globe. The U.S. Department of Defense also commissioned Draper to lead five tours to entertain overseas military personnel. Draper has been honored with inclusion in Who’s Who in Music around the World, men of Achievement Around the World, and Personalities of the South. He has received the Love of Chattanooga Award, the Indiana Wesleyan University Fine Arts Outstanding Achievement Award, and the Orpheus Award from the Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity and has been the recipient of numerous teaching and advising awards at UTC.
He is a member of the American Choral Directors Association, the Music Educators National Conference, the National Association of Teachers of Singing, and Rotary Club International.
Draper is married to Lounelle, who Glenn met in the fall of 1955 at Southern Methodist University. They were married November 24, 1956. They have two sons, Glenn Wright and Dean.