History of the University Choir
While the first mention of choral performance at Harvard comes from the eighteenth century, a formal constitution of the University Choir was not seen until 1834; the constitution makes it clear, however, that the choir had existed before this date. One of the attractions of joining the choir at the time was the lack of supervision during compulsory Morning Prayers services.
The Choir sat in the Gallery and were left alone until it was time to sing; often they would sleep or read, paying little attention to the service. After the appointment of John Knowles Paine as the first University Organist and Choirmaster in 1862, the Choir attained the status of a professional performance choir.
John Knowles Paine was the first American-born composer to achieve fame for large-scale orchestral music. The senior member of a group of composers collectively known as the Boston Six, Paine was one of those responsible for the first significant body of concert music by composers from the United States. The Boston Six's other five members were Amy Beach, Arthur Foote, Edward MacDowell, George Chadwick, and Horatio Parker.
The annual Christmas Carol services, the longest continually running services of their kind in the country, were founded in 1910 by Archibald T. Davison, who soon invited the women of Radcliffe College to participate, a tradition maintained by Davison's successor, Professor G. Wallace Woodworth.
John R. Ferris, who served as Choirmaster from 1958 to 1990, won high praise for performances of a wide variety of sacred choral literature by incorporating women into the previously all-male University Choir.
Under the directorship of Dr. Murray Forbes Somerville between 1990 and 2003, the choir began touring and recording CDs on the Koch International, Northeastern, Naxos, Centaur, Gothic, and ASV labels and, with the Boston Camerata under Joel Cohen, for Erato Records of France.
After his leadership during the 2003–2004 academic year, during which he served as Acting University Organist and Choirmaster, Edward Elwyn Jones was appointed the seventh Gund University Organist and Choirmaster. The first year of his appointment saw one of the most imaginative Christmas Carol Services in recent memory, including such varied works as music from Palestrina and a newly commissioned work by Harvard Professor Elliot Gyger, and a spectacular Spring concert entitled "Choral Evolution" which featured Leonard Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, Roxanna Panufnik’s Westminster Mass, and Libby Larsen’s Missa Gaia. The tradition of new commissions for the choir has continued under Jones; with the choir has featured a new commission each year at the Carol Services and most recently premiered three new works by Carson P. Cooman, Emma Lou Diemer, and Tarik O'Regan, written to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Memorial Church. Jones has also led the Choral Fellows on two successful spring tours to Montreal, Quebec and San Francisco, California, and took the Sunday Choir to Mexico City, Querétaro, and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico in the spring of 2007.
Emma Lou Diemer is an American composer.
Tarik Hamilton O'Regan is a British and American composer. His compositions number over 100 and are partially represented on over 37 recordings which have been recognised with two Grammy nominations. He is also the recipient of two British Composer Awards. O'Regan has served on the Faculties of Columbia University as a Fulbright Chester Schirmer Fellow, The Radcliffe Institute of Harvard University as a Radcliffe Fellow, Yale University, Trinity College in the University of Cambridge, Rutgers University, and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton as Director's Visitor.
About the Choir
Approximately 40 singers form the Sunday Choir, a group that performs a wide range of choral literature for the Sunday services of Memorial Church in Harvard Yard. In recognition of their commitment, all members of this group are paid. Auditions for positions in the Sunday Choir are held early in the Fall Term. The choir attracts singers who like a challenge, singing a wide variety of music at a professional standard with a weekly performance deadline. This group performs in the annual Christmas Carol services and spring concert, and collaborates with other musical groups, both on and off campus. The Sunday Choir also undertakes both international and domestic tours.
The weekly schedule of the Sunday Choir involves rehearsals from 5 to 6:30 PM on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons in addition to a rehearsal and service on Sunday mornings. Weekday rehearsals are preceded by an hour-long tea.
In addition, the Sunday Choir goes on retreat to the St. Paul’s School in New Hampshire on Columbus Day weekend each year where, among other things, they celebrate "Carols in October" and begin to learn the repertoire for the Christmas Carol services in December. The choir also presents a spring concert each year and often performs at the Harvard ARTS FIRST festival in early May.
Sixteen selected singers from this ensemble form the Choral Fellows.
The Choral Fellows
The Choral Fellows (formerly known as the Morning Choir) are a group of sixteen dedicated singers drawn from the Sunday Choir who additionally perform in the daily Morning Prayers services in Appleton Chapel; this is one of Harvard’s oldest traditions. This ensemble also represents the University Choir on tour and at special events. These singers are appointed for the full academic year after extensive auditions held the previous spring and receive free voice lessons as well as a significant stipend.
The Choral Fellows program employs a select group of singers who are dependable and committed members of the University Choir. The Choral Fellows as a group are responsible for between 6 and 8 services a week and their preparation and attendance are considered a given. Their presence is intended to help the choir develop the consistency and polish that comes from singing together often.
Conceived by Dr. Murray Forbes Somerville (Gund University Organist and Choirmaster, 1990–2003) the program is designed to provide a select group of students with a performing opportunity they would not find elsewhere as well as raise the standard of musical performance within the choir.
The Choral Fellows program was made possible by a gift to the Memorial Church at Harvard University, with the active support of the late Reverend Professor Peter J. Gomes, 1942-2011, Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in The Memorial Church.
Franz Xaver Gruber, was an Austrian primary school teacher, church organist and composer in the village of Arnsdorf, who is best known for composing the music to "Stille Nacht".
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Simon Lindley is an English organist, choirmaster, conductor and composer. He was Leeds City Organist from 1976 to 2017 (named City Organist Emeritus in Summer 2017 and is Organist Emeritus of Leeds Minster, having been organist and Master of the Music Leeds Minster from 1975 until his retirement in 2016.
The Choir of St John's College, Cambridge is considered to be one of the finest collegiate choirs in the world. It is part of the English cathedral tradition, having been founded to sing the daily liturgy in the College Chapel, though it is set apart from other English choirs of this tradition by the frequent inclusion of Continental works in its repertoire and its emphasis on polyphonic interpretations. Alongside the choir of King's College, Cambridge, it is one of the two most famous collegiate choirs in Cambridge, having had over 90 recordings published.
John C. Walker, more familiarly known as John Walker, is an American concert organist, choirmaster, and CD recording artist. He is also a former president of the American Guild of Organists, elected in May 2014 to a two-year term of the 16,000-member organization. Walker has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Asia, and Europe. He is "widely recognized for his flawless technique and execution as well as his controlled and passionate playing," said Duke University in announcing a John Walker recital at Duke Chapel. Since 2006 he has served on the faculty of the Peabody Institute and George Mason University.
The musical foundation of Chichester Cathedral consists of the Organist and Master of the Choristers, the Assistant Organist and the organ scholar; together with six singing men, eighteen choristers, six probationers – and including a head chorister and a senior chorister who both wear a notable medallion on a red ribbon according to their office held. The choristers and probationers are all boarders at the Prebendal School, the cathedral's choir school. The lay vicars are professional singers who all have everyday jobs.
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