Survivor making ‘real return to podium’

It was just a year ago that choral director and pianist Frank Boggs was driving up I-75 when a landscape truck conked out in front of him.

The Smyrna resident slammed into the truck at 60 mph, deploying the air bag that smashed into his left hand and left it dangling by two tendons.

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Phil Skinner/pskinner@ajc.com

After surviving a car crash that left him unable to play piano, choral director Frank Boggs is about to pick his baton back up.

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“When I came to, my right cheek was against the roof of the car,” recalled Boggs, 81. “When they finally got me out, I was taken to a hand reconstruction surgeon who operated that night to attach and rebuild my hand.”

For the last 12 months, Boggs has spent more time on physical rehab than on his first love, directing the Georgia Festival Chorus, a group he founded 22 years ago.

“I went to therapy every other day for nine months and have been working at home four hours a day,” he said. “I still can’t play the piano, and I would love to be able to. But I am determined to get use of that hand back.”

One thing Boggs has been able to do again is direct his chorus. On Dec. 4, he’s making what he calls his “real return to the podium,” when he’ll be conducting with his right hand at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in east Cobb. The holiday event is always a highlight for the 110-member group that has long been Boggs’ passion.

“When I started the group, there wasn’t anybody doing the music I liked to do,” he recalled. “I started with just 18 singers and we did ‘Messiah’ our first year. We’ve grown a lot, with members from around the metro area.”

Boggs’ life has been filled with music, from his early days growing up in Dallas to studying English literature, music, theater and radio at Baylor University. He went on to earn a master’s degree in music education from Columbia, and while in New York he sang on a Sunday morning radio show that was heard by a Welsh preacher who invited Boggs to live in England for two years.

“I was 26 and having the most unbelievable experiences of my life,” said Boggs. “We had a 300-voice choir that sang every other Saturday night at the Royal Albert Hall. We even had a 600-voice

choir that sang on the eve of Queen Elizabeth’s coronation.”

Boggs eventually returned to the U.S. and began a teaching career that brought him to Atlanta and the Westminster Schools, where he was chairman of the performing arts department and choral director for 23 years before retiring in 1992.

During his first 10 years in town, he sang with Robert Shaw’s Atlanta Symphony Chorus.

“I think Robert Shaw’s influence is why we have so many choral groups here in Atlanta,” said Boggs, whose own group performs a variety of works from spirituals and hymns to classics by Handel and Bach.

The Dec. 4 concert will feature an array of holiday favorites. Admission is free; no tickets are required.

“After the last year, I see this concert as my real return to work,” said Boggs. “And I’m very grateful just to be here.”