The Washington Chorus

The Washington Chorus is one of the leading vocal ensembles of the capital city of the United States. It is a symphonic chorus that gives its own yearly subscription series and often appears with the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, D.C. This chorus, originally called the Oratorio Society of Washington, was founded in 1961. It quickly established itself as one of the leading choruses in the capital city and soon began appearing with the National Symphony Orchestra. It is not the only important local choir to do so; the Paul Hill Chorale, and the Choral Arts Society also have close ties with the symphony. In its first 40 years the Washington Chorus appeared with the NSO some 275 times and has been conducted by such maestros as Seiji Ozawa, Neville Marriner, Raphael Frühbeck de Burgos, Charles Dutoit, Karl Richter, Zdenek Macal, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Leonard Slatkin. Robert Shafer was appointed musical director in 1971. A leading choral conductor and a member of the faculty of Shenandoah University, Shafer has raised the standards and membership of the chorus, which now numbers 200 singers. He conducted the chorus and his Shenandoah Conservatory Choir with the National Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Britten's War Requiem that won the Grammy Award of the U.S. National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences as the Best Choral Performance of the Year for 2000 on a Washington Chorus disc, released by Naxos internationally. The chorus also appeared on the Grammy-nominated recordings of John Corigliano's Symphony No. 1 (Of Rage and Remembrance) conducted by Maestro Slatkin on RCA and Mstislav Rostropovich's taping of Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov on the Erato label. Julian Wachner was appointed music director in 2008.