When he was first hired as artistic director of Key Chorale in 2007, Joseph Caulkins figured he would lead the chorus of more than 100 voices for five or six years and then move on to the next job opportunity. It was such a different organization back then that he never expected to be preparing for his 20th season.

“It’s kind of shocking, 20 years,” he said during a recent online interview from France, where he was preparing for one of his almost annual mountain climbing adventures. 

“When I came here, there were maybe two or three concerts a year. It was a community chorus and not much outreach,” Caulkins said. “But I didn’t realize how willing this organization was to grow and explore and expand. And even though it’s been 20 years, it only feels like a few years and we’re still exploring different ideas.”

The chorus was created in 1985 and was led for its first 21 years by Daniel Moe. Since Caulkins was hired, he has brought in new singers, expanded the repertoire and established collaborations with other local arts organizations. He also has launched numerous community outreach programs with speciality groups like the Off-Key Chorale for those living with Parkinson’s and the Where Are My Keys? Chorale for those dealing with memory loss.

“What started as one choir is now five, including one for senior enrichment,” he said. “I love all the educational and community outreach. You can’t help but think about the impact your organization is having on the community, and not just great concerts.”

He said he gets a special thrill from the “moments working with seniors or the glimmer in the eye of a third grader or high schooler. For people to be touched by something you love really means a lot.”

Key Chorale now has educational programs that reach students from kindergarten through high school, and extends to senior outreach. High school students are celebrated throughout the year and are featured in several concert programs.

Key Chorale has received support to share its lessons and music for structured choral singing for seniors across the country. The Patterson Foundation has funded assistance from the national consulting firm No Margin, No Mission, helping the organization put together music and programming that other groups can buy or rent to build their own local choruses.

“We never set out to be, but we became experts in bringing music in a really structured way to seniors. We’re presenting at Chorus America and other places across the country and it’s interesting that this little chorus is now leading the field in health and wellness and singing,” he said.

Caulkins said the consultants “guided us into something amazing. I’m a conductor not an entrepreneur. Without the kind of expertise and consultants we have, we would never have been able to fully realize this idea. We now have about a half dozen choruses buying our programs.”

Little of that would be possible without the organization’s sizable audience base for the growing number of programs it presents at a variety of venues around Sarasota. This year, for season 42, there will be 11 distinct concert programs, including the chorus’ traditional partnerships with the Circus Arts Conservatory and Venice Symphony for Cirque des Voix and a holiday show with the Sarasota Ballet’s Studio Company.

“This year, all the collaborations are with groups we’ve had long relationships with,” Caulkins said.

Among them is the February 13 American Roots concert that marks the return of the Lubben Brothers.

“This was one that was going to be a one-off and we keep doing it because we love it and the audiences love it,” he said.

This year’s show will focus on Folk Origins, the history of folk music from Stephen Foster to Bob Dylan. The program actually brings in another collaboration, with the Hermitage Artist Retreat where Tommy Lubben was in residency, creating musical charts and arrangements as part of the Cross Arts Collaborative.

“The idea is not to just sing it or perform, but we’re using historic video and audio from the era, to talk about how this music shaped a lot about America’s culture and a big part of the civil rights movement,” Caulkins said.

It is one of several concerts that are key to the season’s theme of “Where Sound Becomes Story.” 

In programming two March concerts featuring the music of Mozart and Antonio Salieri, which the group is calling “Opus 1700,” Caulkins said he was thinking of new ways of presenting music that might appeal to younger generations.

For years, he said audiences would come, hear beautiful music, be touched and leave.

“I don’t want to say those days are numbered, but the ways all of us older folks and everybody in between are accessing programming and art is a lot different,” Caulkins said.

“We are looking at what elements we can add to the program that will make it more visual, more engaging, that will tell a story, something that’s not like everything else,” he said. The concerts will include letters exchanged between Salieri (who was the focus of the Peter Shaffer play and movie “Amadeus”) and Mozart to give people a glimpse into the lives of the artists and their own connections.

On April 24, Key Chorale will present “The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci,” by Jocelyn Hagen. “What’s great about this is that it brings you into his work, exploring the images of his notebooks, the themes, all with this beautiful musical backdrop,” Caulkins said. “This is something we never would have done 10 years ago.”

The season will open Oct. 10 with Karl Jenkins’ “The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace” which was inspired by texts and musical traditions from different cultures around the world. In November, the Key Chorale Chamber singers will present “Radiance 2.0 Bradenton,” similar to a concert performed last year in Sarasota amid the glow of hundreds of candles. A similar concert will follow April 2 in Venice.

“We knew that people would like the experiential nature of the concert, and it’s a good way to bring somebody into choral music. They will hear music they probably never heard. It’s very accessible and very emotional,” he said. The Bradenton program at Christ Episcopal Church will feature organist Jeremy Filsell, violinist Jeff Thurstpon and cellist Susan Dobronsky. The Venice program will feature cellist Matrick Thorpe

The organization will honor Virginia Shearer, executive director of the Sarasota Art Museum of Ringling College, at its annual Perfect Pitch luncheon in November, and it will celebrate young voices in two concerts.

Key Chorale’s 42nd season

For ticket information: keychorale.org; 941-552-8768

October 10 – “The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace” by Karl Jenkins. 4 p.m. First United Methodist Church, 104 S. Pineapple Ave., Sarasota

November 2 – Perfect Pitch Annual Luncheon honoring Virginia Shearer, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.. The Ora, 578 McIntosh Rd., Sarasota

November 14 – Radiance 2.0, Bradenton – A Candlelit Choral Experience;  7 p.m. Christ Episcopal Church, 4030 Manatee Ave., West, Bradenton

November 29 – “Nowell, Nowell” featuring The Sarasota Ballet’s Studio Company. 4 p.m. Sarasota Opera House, 61 N. Pineapple Ave., Sarasota

January 29 - 31 – “Cirque des Voix” with The Circus Arts Conservatory and The Venice Symphony.  Big Top Tent at Nathan Benderson Park

February 13 – “American Roots: Folk Origins,” featuring The Lubben Brothers. 3:30 p.m. The Ora, 578 McIntosh Rd., Sarasota

March 8 – “Tomorrow’s Voices Tonight,” Student Scholar Soirée. 5:30 p.m. Westcoast Black Theatre, 1012 N. Orange Ave., Sarasota

March 12 – Opus 1700: Mozart & Salieri, Day I. 7:30 p.m. Church of the Redeemer, 222 S. Palm Ave., Sarasota.

March 13 – Opus 1700: Mozart & Salieri, Day II, 2 p.m. Church of the Redeemer

April 2 – Radiance 2.0, Venice. 8 p.m., Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Venice.

April 24 – “The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci.” 4 p.m. Church of the Palms, 3224 Bee Ridge Rd., Sarasota

May 10 – “Illuminate: An Electrifying Fusion of Youth Artists.” 6 p.m. Sailor Circus Arena, 2075 Bahia Vista St., Sarasota