The Lexington Community Arts Pilot Project and the University of Missouri Extension Division will present the premiere of “Legends of Lexington,” four audio tours of the historic districts of Lexington, MO featuring music, sound and production by composers from the Mizzou New Music Initiative, at a reception this Friday, September 26 at Wentworth Military Academy in Lexington.

The audio tours are part of a two-year program to help Lexington brand itself as a destination for tourists and artists. MNMI managing director William Lackey and Justin Pounds, who’s working on his master’s in composition at Mizzou, have spent the last year making period visits to Lexington, learning about the town, interacting with community members, and gathering ideas and material for the tours.

Pounds composed the music, while Lackey provided supervision, advice and audio engineering, recording voiceovers from volunteer narrators and location sounds, and editing and mixing all the parts into a finished product.

Lexington, which overlooks the Missouri River about 75 miles northeast of Kansas City, was the site of one of Missouri’s bloodiest Civil War Battles, and now is home to the Battle of Lexington Historic Site, wineries, orchards, an historic downtown with shops and restaurants, Wentworth Military Academy, and more.

The tours will available in digital formats and on CD, and will be released to the public for the first time this weekend during the town’s annual Apples, Arts and Antiques Festival.

You can find more information about the MU Extension Community Arts Program here, and see a brief video about the Lexington project in the embedded window below.