Cornell University Chorus


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.
The Chorus performs annually during Convocation, First-Year Parents Weekend, Homecoming, Senior Week, Commencement, and Reunion Weekend. In addition to its concerts on campus, the Chorus also has experience in professional settings, working under the baton of Nadia Boulanger, Eugene Ormandy, Erich Leinsdorf, Michael Tilson Thomas, Julius Rudel, and Karel Husa on the stages of Carnegie Hall and the Lincoln Center in New York City, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the Academy of Music in Philadelphia, and the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, New York.
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 Anonymous 4, and performed several major works with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, including Bach's Mass in B Minor, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, and Lili Boulanger'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:
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 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
  • 1960-1963: Thomas Andrew Sokol
  • 1963-1964: William C. Holmes
  • 1964-1965: Thomas Andrew Sokol
  • 1965-1966: Thomas Andrew Sokol ; William C. Holmes
  • 1966-1970: Thomas Andrew Sokol
  • 1970-1971: David Buttolph : Thomas Andrew Sokol
  • 1971-1974: Thomas Andrew Sokol
  • 1974-1975: Donna Bloom
  • 1975-1983: Thomas Andrew Sokol
  • 1983- 1984: Thomas Andrew Sokol ; Byron Adams
  • 1984-1985: Thomas Andrew Sokol
  • 1985-1986: Byron Adams
  • 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
  • 2021–2022: Sarah Bowe
  • 2022–present: Joe Lerangis

    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 and one in the Spring. They also perform around campus at student and alumni events throughout the year.

Earlier subset history

Nothing But Treble 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.