The Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American orchestra based in Boston. It is the second-oldest of the five major American symphony orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded by Henry Lee Higginson in 1881, the BSO performs most of its concerts at Boston's Symphony Hall and in the summer performs at Tanglewood.
The Boston Pops is an American orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts, specializing in light classical and popular music. The orchestra's current music director is Keith Lockhart.
Seiji Ozawa was a Japanese conductor known internationally for his work as music director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, and especially the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO), where he served from 1973 for 29 years. After conducting the Vienna New Year's Concert in 2002, he was director of the Vienna State Opera until 2010. In Japan, he founded the Saito Kinen Orchestra in 1984, their festival in 1992, and the Tokyo Opera Nomori in 2005.
The Tanglewood Festival Chorus, directed by James Burton, is a chorus which performs with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Boston Pops in major choral works. The Tanglewood Festival Chorus (TFC) was organized in the spring of 1970, when founding conductor John Oliver became director of vocal and choral activities at the Tanglewood Music Center, the summer home of the BSO. Originally formed for performances at the BSO's summer home at the behest of the BSO's conductor designate Seiji Ozawa, the Tanglewood Festival Chorus is the official chorus of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Boston Pops Orchestra year-round, performing in Boston, New York and Tanglewood.
Robert Lawson Shaw was an American conductor most famous for his work with his namesake Chorale, with the Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus, and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. He was known for drawing public attention to choral music through his wide-ranging influence and mentoring of younger conductors, the high standard of his recordings, his support for racial integration in his choruses, and his support for modern music, winning many awards throughout his career.
The Harvard Choruses are three choral ensembles at Harvard University, consisting of the Harvard Glee Club, the Radcliffe Choral Society, and the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum Each year the three Harvard Choruses combine to perform a large choral-orchestral work.
Irving Gifford Fine was an American composer. Fine's work assimilated neoclassical, romantic, and serial elements. Composer Virgil Thomson described Fine's "unusual melodic grace" while Aaron Copland noted the "elegance, style, finish and...convincing continuity" of Fine's music.
Jameson Neil Marvin is an American choral conductor, composer, arranger, and editor. Between 1978 and 2010, Marvin directed the Harvard Glee Club, the Radcliffe Choral Society, and the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum and has also taught choral conducting at Harvard University. He received a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Choral Music from the University of Illinois, a Master of Arts in Choral Conducting from Stanford University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Music Composition from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has worked with Howard Swan and Robert Shaw, and his students have gone on to lead major choruses throughout the country. With the Holden Choruses, he has made nearly a dozen appearances at conventions of the American Choral Directors Association, including six national conventions. His academic specialty is the music of the Renaissance, and he serves as principal editor of the Oxford Music Renaissance series. Marvin retired from Harvard at the end of the 2009-2010 academic school year.
The Harvard–Radcliffe Collegium Musicum is a mixed chorus at Harvard University, composed of roughly 50 voices from undergraduate and graduate student populations. Founded in 1971 to coincide with the coeducational merger of Harvard and Radcliffe College, Collegium drew from members of the Harvard Glee Club and the Radcliffe Choral Society to form a smaller mixed group that could represent Harvard on tours. Although Collegium used to perform primarily early Renaissance music, its repertoire now draws from centuries of a cappella and orchestral selections. Together with the (tenor-bass) Harvard Glee Club and the (soprano-alto) Radcliffe Choral Society, it is a member of the Harvard Choruses.
Rutgers University Glee Club (RUGC) is a nationally recognized men's chorus based at Rutgers University, in New Brunswick, New Jersey. It is currently conducted by Dr. Brandon Williams. Dr. Patrick Gardner, the previous conductor, directed the group from 1994 - 2023.
The Radcliffe Choral Society(RCS) is a 60-voice treble choral ensemble at Harvard University. Founded in 1899, it is one of the country's oldest soprano-alto choruses and one of its most prominent collegiate choirs. With the tenor-bass Harvard Glee Club and the mixed-voice Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum, it is one of the Harvard Choruses. All three groups are led by Harvard Director of Choral Activities Andrew Clark. The RCS Resident Conductor is Elizabeth Eschen. RCS tours domestically every year and travels internationally every four years.
The Cornell University Chorus was founded at Cornell University in 1920 as the Cornell Women's Glee Club. The chorus is a 60-member treble choir with a repertoire that includes masses, motets, spirituals, classical, folk, 20th-century music, and traditional Cornell songs. The Chorus also performs major works with the Cornell University Glee Club such as Beethoven's Missa Solemnis, Handel's Messiah, and Bach's Mass in B Minor and St Matthew Passion.
Melinda O'Neal is a conductor of choral and choral-orchestral music, professor emerita of music, and author.
Elliot Forbes, known as "El", was an American conductor and musicologist noted for his Beethoven scholarship.
The Fairfield University Glee Club is a mixed chorus of about 60 undergraduate and graduate singers at Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut. The Glee Club has performed in churches, schools and recital and concert halls throughout Europe, singing from Galway to Rome and Florence to London. The choir has performed at Carnegie Hall, the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., Westminster Cathedral in London, the Aula Paolo VI at the Vatican and the U.S. military academies at West Point and Annapolis.
James Yannatos was a composer, conductor, violinist and teacher. He was a senior lecturer at Harvard University until his retirement in 2009.
Archibald Thompson Davison was an American musicologist, conductor, composer and music educator. He is best remembered as an academic for his work as editor of the two volumes of 'The Historical Anthology of Music', done together with Willi Apel.
Lorna Cooke deVaron was an American choral conductor. She was one of the pre-eminent choral conductors of the 20th century, having given the world premiere or American premiere of many important works by Benjamin Britten, Leonard Bernstein, Samuel Barber, Aaron Copland, Irving Fine, Gunther Schuller, Daniel Pinkham, and others. DeVaron founded the New England Conservatory Chorus, which she directed from 1947 to 1988.
James Burton is a British conductor and composer. He is currently the Boston Symphony Orchestra Choral Director and Conductor of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus. He also holds the position of Director of Orchestral Activities and Master Lecturer in Music at Boston University.
Judith Clurman is an American conductor and educator. She is the musical director for Essential Voices USA and The Singing Christmas Tree Float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade(NBC). She teaches voice and ensemble voice at The Manhattan School of Music and edits two choral series for Hal Leonard Music. She is a member of ASCAP, ASCAP's Special Classification Committee, and the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
