The Cornell University Chorus was founded in 1920, initially as the Cornell Women's

Glee Club A glee club in the United States is a musical group or choir group, historically of male voices but also of female or mixed voices, which traditionally specializes in the singing of short songs by trios or quartets. In the late 19th century it w ...

. The Chorus is a sixty-member treble choir, with repertoire including masses, motets, spirituals, classical,

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, 20th-century music, and traditional Cornell songs. Aside from its constantly changing and increasing selection of choral music for treble voices, the Chorus also performs major works with the

Cornell University Glee Club The Cornell University Glee Club (CUGC) is the oldest student organization at Cornell University, having been organized shortly after the first students arrived on campus in 1868. The CUGC is a thirty-nine member chorus for tenor and bass voices ...

such as Beethoven's

Missa Solemnis {{Audio, De-Missa solemnis.ogg, Missa solemnis is Latin for Solemn Mass, and is a genre of musical settings of the Mass Ordinary, which are festively scored and render the Latin text extensively, opposed to the more modest Missa brevis. In French ...

, Handel's

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, and Bach's Mass in B Minor and St Matthew Passion . Christmas Open House 1950

The Chorus performs annually during Convocation, First-Year Parents Weekend, Homecoming, Senior Week, Commencement, and Reunion Weekend. In addition to the concerts on campus, the Chorus also has experience in professional settings, working under the baton of

Nadia Boulanger Juliette Nadia Boulanger (; 16 September 188722 October 1979) was a French music teacher and conductor. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organist. From a ...

Eugene Ormandy Eugene Ormandy (born Jenő Blau; November 18, 1899 – March 12, 1985) was a Hungarian-born American conductor and violinist, best known for his association with the Philadelphia Orchestra, as its music director. His 44-year association with ...

Erich Leinsdorf Erich Leinsdorf (born Erich Landauer; February 4, 1912 – September 11, 1993) was an Austrian-born American conductor. He performed and recorded with leading orchestras and opera companies throughout the United States and Europe, earning a ...

Michael Tilson Thomas Michael Tilson Thomas (born December 21, 1944) is an American conductor, pianist and composer. He is Artistic Director Laureate of the New World Symphony, an American orchestral academy based in Miami Beach, Florida, Music Director Laureate of ...

Julius Rudel Julius Rudel (6 March 1921 – 26 June 2014) was an Austrian-born American opera and orchestra conductor. He was born in Vienna and was a student at the city's Academy of Music. He emigrated to the United States at the age of 17 in 1938 after ...

, and Karel Husa on the stages of Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center,

the Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

, the Philadelphia Academy of Music, and the

Saratoga Performing Arts Center Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) is a large amphitheatre located in Saratoga Springs, New York, on the grounds of Saratoga Spa State Park. It presents summer performances of classical music, jazz, pop and rock, country, comedy, dance, opera, ...

. The Chorus has also been featured on two nationwide broadcasts: a special half hour on CBS radio, and an appearance on PBS's MacNeil/Lehrer News Hour as part of an artistic feature on former director Susan Davenny Wyner. The Chorus has collaborated with world musician Samite of Uganda, participated in a production of Richard Einhorn's Voices of Light with

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, and performed several major works with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, including Bach's Mass in

B Minor B minor is a minor scale based on B, consisting of the pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. Its key signature has two sharps. Its relative major is D major and its parallel major is B major. The B natural minor scale is: : Changes need ...

, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, and

Lili Boulanger Marie Juliette "Lili" Boulanger (; 21 August 189315 March 1918) was a French composer and the first female winner of the Prix de Rome composition prize. Her older sister was the noted composer and composition teacher Nadia Boulanger. Biography ...

's Du fond de l'abîme with the Cornell Symphony Orchestra.

Commissioning Project

In 2003, the Cornell University Chorus launched a commissioning project known informally as "No Whining, No Flowers." The goal of the project is to expand the contemporary repertoire for treble choirs by commissioning pieces from women composers using text from women writers. Furthermore, these texts are intended to explore topics that differ from the traditional treble repertoire themes of lost love and scenery admiration - hence the title of the project. Commissioning projects to date include: * Elizabeth Alexander: ''Why I Pity the Woman Who Never Spills'' (2003) *Sally Lamb: ''The Sadness of the Sea'' (2004) *Edie Hill: ''A Voice'' (2005) * Carol E. Barnett: ''Song of Perfect Propriety'' (2006) *

Augusta Read Thomas Augusta Read Thomas (born April 24, 1964) is an American composer and professor. Biography Thomas studied composition with Oliver Knussen at Tanglewood; Jacob Druckman at Yale University; Alan Stout and Bill Karlins at Northwestern University ...

: ''Juggler of Day'' (2007) *

Abbie Betinis Abbie Betinis (born January 21, 1980) is an American composer. She has composed music for a variety of musical ensembles, and is best known for her choral music and other vocal works. Work The music of Abbie Betinis music has been described as "i ...

: ''Chant for Great Compassion'' (2008) *

Libby Larsen Elizabeth Brown Larsen (born December 24, 1950) is a contemporary American classical composer. Along with composer Stephen Paulus, she is a co-founder of the Minnesota Composers Forum, now the American Composers Forum. A former holder of the Pa ...

: ''A Book of Spells'' (2009) *

David Conte David Conte (born 1955) is an American composer who has written over 150 works published by E.C. Schirmer (a division of ECS Publishing), including six operas, a musical, works for chorus, solo voice, orchestra, chamber music, organ, piano, guita ...

: ''To Music'' (2010) (Special commission in honor of Chorus alumna Heather Walters, '81, who died on August 27, 2009) *Sally Lamb: ''Voices of the Hills'' (2011) * Kay Rhie: ''Kassia's Hymn'' (2012) * Flannery Cunningham: ''Onion Days'' (2013) * Lisa Bielawa: ''Songs from Ort'' (2014) * Mia Makaroff: ''Jump the Chromosome'' and ''Perception Test'' (2016) *Christine Donkin: ''The Grail Bird'' (2017) *

Melissa Dunphy Melissa Dunphy (born 1980) is an Australian-American composer of classical music. She is most notable for the ''Gonzales Cantata'', a 40-minute choral piece in Baroque style that sets the text of the parts of the dismissal of U.S. attorneys contr ...

: ''It Isn't a Dream'' (2018) *Hanne Bæverfjord: ''It Comes Unadorned'' (2019)

Domestic and International Tours

*1998 -

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

*1999 - Midwest *2000 -

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

*2001 -

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

(with the

) *2003 - Mid-Atlantic *2004 - Great Lakes *2005 -

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

*2008 - China (with the

) *2012 - Oklahoma, Texas, and Louisiana *2013 -

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...

*2014 - Midwest *2015 -

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

*2016 -

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and Guatemala (with the

) *2017 -

Southeastern United States The Southeastern United States, also referred to as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical region of the United States. It is located broadly on the eastern portion of the southern United States and the southern por ...

*2018 -

Gulf Coast The Gulf Coast of the United States, also known as the Gulf South, is the coast, coastline along the Southern United States where they meet the Gulf of Mexico. The list of U.S. states and territories by coastline, coastal states that have a shor ...

*2019 -

and

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

*2020 -

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Tho ...

(with the

) In addition to these extended trips, the Chorus also travels to other universities for competitions and festivals. In the past, they have performed at Harvard for the Centennial Celebration of the Radcliffe Choral Society as well as joint concerts with the Toronto Women's Chorus, the Penn State Glee Club, and the Wellesley Chorus.

Directors

*1920–1942: Lillian (Mrs.Eric Sydney) Dudley *1942–1945: John Marinus Kuypers *1945–1946: Paul John Weaver *1946-1947: Mrs. Don Price *1947-1951: Mrs. F. Clinton White *1951–1957: Thomas Brodhead Tracy *1957–1958: Thomas Andrew Sokol *1958-1960: James F. Armstrong (When Armstrong left to return to Harvard in 1960, the Women's Glee Club was disbanded, and replaced by the Cornell Chorus, under the direction of Thomas Sokol.) *1960-1963: Thomas Andrew Sokol *1963-1964: William C. Holmes (acting director) *1964-1965: Thomas Andrew Sokol *1965-1966: Thomas Andrew Sokol (Fall); William C. Holmes (Acting Director - Spring) *1966-1970: Thomas Andrew Sokol *1970-1971: David Buttolph (Fall): Thomas Andrew Sokol (Spring) *1971-1974: Thomas Andrew Sokol *1974-1975: Donna Bloom *1975-1983: Thomas Andrew Sokol *1983- 1984: Thomas Andrew Sokol (Fall); Byron Adams (Acting Director -Spring) *1984-1985: Thomas Andrew Sokol *1985-1986: Byron Adams (acting director) *1986-1987: Thomas Andrew Sokol *1987-1991: Susan Davenny Wyner *1991-1995: Ron Schiller *1995–2012: Scott Arthur Tucker *2012–2013: John Rowehl *2013–2020: Robert Isaacs *2021–Present: Sarah Bowe

A Cappella Subsets

After Eight (1991-present)

After Eight, formed in 1991, is the official a cappella subset of the Cornell University Chorus. After Eight regularly performs contemporary repertoire arranged for a cappella by current members and alumnae of the group. They additionally perform selections from the Chorus repertoire on occasion, as well as traditional Cornell songs. After Eight has two major on-campus concerts every semester, one in the Fall (Witching Hour) and one in the Spring (Evening Affair). They also perform around campus at student and alumni events throughout the year.

Earlier subset history

Nothing But Treble (1976-1990) formed as a subset of the Chorus in 1976. In 1990, the group disassociated from the Chorus. They are still an active a cappella group on campus.

External links

Cornell University Chorus Official WebsiteChorus FacebookChorus InstagramChorus TwitterChorus YouTubeChorus SpotifyAfter Eight A Cappella

References

{{authority control Choirs in New York (state) Chorus

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

Musical groups established in 1920 1921 establishments in New York (state)