Chicago Symphony Chorus

Chicago Symphony Chorus

The history of the Chicago Symphony Chorus began on September 22, 1957, when the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) announced that Margaret Hillis would organize and train a symphony chorus. Music Director Fritz Reiners original intent was to utilize the Chorus for the two weeks of subscription concerts that season, performingGeorge Frideric Handels Messiah in December and Giuseppe Verdis Requiem in April. When Bruno Walter informed the Orchestras management that his March 1958 appearances would be his last in Chicago the board president Eric Oldberg insisted that Walter conduct Wolfgang Amadeus Mozarts Requiem utilizing the new Chorus. During that first season, it would have been logistically impossible for Hillis to audition and prepare a new Chorus for three major works within less than four months. As an interim fix the Apollo Chorus was used for the Christmas Messiah concerts.

Contents

History

The Chicago Symphony Chorus gave its informal debut at a private concert for donors on November 30, 1957. Reiner conducted the first half of the concert and Hillis took the podium for the second halfbecoming the first woman to conduct the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She led the Orchestra and Chorus in the final section of Henry Purcells Ode for Saint Cecilias Day, Randall Thompsons Alleluia and William Billingss Modern Music, and the ServantsChorus from Gaetano Donizettis Don Pasquale.

Eighty-one-year-old Bruno Walter led the Chorus in its official debut concerts at Orchestra Hall on March 13 and 14, 1958, a performance of Mozarts Requiem. A few weeks later on April 3, 4, and 8, 1958, Reiner himself led the Chorus for the first time in a performance of Verdis Requiem.

The Chorus made its first commercial recording for RCASergei Prokofievs Alexander Nevsky on March 7, 1959 with Fritz Reiner conducting the Orchestra. The Chorus made its Ravinia Festival debut on July 9, 1960, a performance of Gustav Mahlers Symphony No. 2 (Resurrection) conducted by CSO associate conductor and Ravinia Festival artistic director Walter Hendl. The Chorus made its Carnegie Hall debut on November 12, 1967, singing Hans Werner Henzes The Sicilian Muses and Maurice Ravels Daphnis and Chloe with Jean Martinon conducting.

The Chorus' first tour with the Orchestra was to London and Salzburg in August 1989. They performed Hector Berliozs The Damnation of Faust with Sir Georg Solti conducting. Ten years later, the ensemble won critical acclaim for its performances of Arnold Schoenbergs Moses und Aron under Pierre Boulez and Johannes Brahmss A German Requiem under Daniel Barenboim while performing at the Berlin Festtage in April 1999.

Chicago Symphony Orchestra recordings featuring the Chorus have won ten Grammy Awards from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences for best choral performance. These recordings include hallmarks of the choral repertoire, ranging from Ludwig van Beethovens Missa solemnis to Johann Sebastian Bachs Mass in B Minor, and two recordings each of Brahmss A German Requiem and Verdi's Requiem. Women of the Chorus (prepared by Duain Wolfe) appeared on the recording of Mahlers Symphony No. 3 led by CSO Principal Conductor Bernard Haitink; the recording was released in May 2007, as the first recording on the Orchestras label, CSO Resound[1].

Margaret Hillis led the Chorus as director for thirty-seven years and retired in 1994. Duain Wolfe became the Choruss second director in June 1994.

Honors and awards

Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance

References


External links


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