Robert Porco

Director of Choruses
Frances P. and Chester C. Bolton Endowed Chair
The Cleveland Orchestra

Robert Porco became Director of Choruses for The Cleveland Orchestra in 1998, following in a line of distinguished Cleveland choral leaders that has included Boris Goldovsky, Robert Shaw, Margaret Hillis, Robert Page, and Gareth Morrell.

Mr. Porco’s primary duties focus on preparing the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus and the Blossom Festival Chorus for performances. In addition, he conducts the Orchestra’s annual series of Christmas concerts at Severance Hall, featuring the Chorus and Children’s Chorus, as well as other performances.

Throughout his career, Mr. Porco has been active as a conductor of opera and of choral-and-orchestral works.  He has been the director of choruses and a regular guest conductor for the Cincinnati May Festival since 1989, and has guest conducted the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, and other orchestras in the United States and Europe.  Mr. Porco has prepared choruses for such prominent conductors as Pierre Boulez, James Conlon, Andrew Davis, Christoph von Dohnányi, Raymond Leppard, James Levine, Jesús López-Cobos, Zubin Mehta, André Previn, Kurt Sanderling, Robert Shaw, Leonard Slatkin, and Franz Welser-Möst, among others.

Mr. Porco has prepared The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus or selected chorus members for Severance Hall performances including Verdi’s Don Carlo (2003), Richard Strauss’s Elektra (2004), Verdi’s Falstaff (2006), Richard Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier (2007), Dvořák’s Rusalka (2008), and Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro (2009), all under the direction of Franz Welser-Möst, and performances of Handel’s Messiah. Mr. Porco led the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus in preparations for January 2007 performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, conducted by Mr. Welser-Möst, which were recorded live and released on compact disc by Deutsche Grammophon. He also prepared the chorus for February 2009 Carnegie Hall performances of Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass and Debussy’s Nocturnes. 

Prior to his appointment with The Cleveland Orchestra, Ohio native Robert Porco served as chairman of the choral department at Indiana University from 1980 to 1998, and as artistic director and conductor of the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir from 1989 to 1998.

Updated:  September 2009