Cleveland Orchestra Chorus and Blossom Festival Chorus
Robert Porco, Director
Frank Bianchi, Assistant Director

The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus is one of the few professionally trained, all-volunteer choruses sponsored by a major American orchestra. In addition to performing with The Cleveland Orchestra in four to six subscription concert weekends each season and in the Orchestra’s annual Christmas concerts at Severance Hall, the Chorus has appeared with the Orchestra on tour (both domestically and abroad), on television, in special concerts (such as the 1994 opening of Jacobs Field and the 1996 Cleveland Bicentennial concert in the Flats), and on numerous recordings. The Chorus has also toured on its own, either a cappella or with other ensembles, to the Casals Festival in San Juan, Puerto Rico; the Chautauqua Institution in New York; and various venues in Belgium, England, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Wales.

With The Cleveland Orchestra, the Chorus has visited Carnegie Hall 19 times between 1965 and 2009. In addition, it appeared at Carnegie Hall in 1962, 1963, and 1964 with the Festival Casals Orchestra under the direction of Pablo Casals, following its performances at the Casals Festival in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Members of the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus come from nearly 50 northeast Ohio communities. Together, the group’s 150 members volunteer more than 50,000 hours annually, through rehearsals and performances. They also raise money for their tours, through a variety of projects and events.

Many members of the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus participate as well in the Blossom Festival Chorus, founded in 1968 when Blossom Music Center opened as the summer home of The Cleveland Orchestra. The Blossom Festival Chorus participates in several concerts each season at Blossom. Singers audition in the spring for both ensembles.

Today’s Cleveland Orchestra Chorus was formed in 1952 at the request of Music Director George Szell. The Chorus celebrated its 50th anniversary during the 2002-03 season. Two other Cleveland Orchestra choral organizations existed previously. As early as the Orchestra’s third season in 1920-21, founding manager Adella Prentiss Hughes issued an invitation for Clevelanders to join a Cleveland Orchestra Chorus. It lasted less than a year. Soon after Severance Hall opened in 1931, a second Cleveland Orchestra choral ensemble was established. Known as the Cleveland Philharmonic Chorus, it flourished for nearly a decade and provided the choral forces for the many staged operas presented under Music Director Artur Rodzinski’s direction.

After the current organization was founded in 1952, it quickly proved its artistic worth. In 1956, Szell invited Robert Shaw to join the Orchestra’s conducting staff as associate conductor and chorus director, further solidifying the Chorus’s reputation for quality. Subsequent directors have been Clayton Krehbiel (1967-1969), Margaret Hillis (1969-1971), Robert Page (1971-1989), Gareth Morrell (1989-1998), and Robert Porco (1998-present).

Chorus Member Login

The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus
Frank Bianchi, Director

The Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus was founded in 1991 to help raise awareness of choral music-making in the schools of Northeast Ohio and to encourage more students to continue their choral activities through college and into adulthood. The 125 members of the Youth Chorus are in grades 9 through 12 and represent more than 45 schools and communities across 6 counties in Northeast Ohio. Like their colleagues in the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, members of the Youth Chorus are chosen through auditions.

In recent years, the Youth Chorus has collaborated with musical ensembles including The Cleveland Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra, Baldwin-Wallace Men’s Chorus, and the Cleveland State Chorale. The Youth Chorus has appeared in concert at the summer conference of the Ohio Choral Directors Association and at the Cathedral of St. John in Cleveland, Ohio. During the 2009-10 season, it will perform at the Ohio Music Education Association Convention in Cincinnati, Ohio. Members of the Youth Chorus have participated in holiday performances with The Cleveland Orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus, in addition to performing at the Blossom Festival. Many members of the Youth Chorus began their Severance Hall singing career as a member of the Cleveland Orchestra Children’s Chorus.

Auditions are held in May each year. Prospective members should prepare a short classical solo and be prepared to sightread and pitch match. Contact Yarina Siry (ysiry@clevelandorchestra.com) for more audition information regarding the Chorus and to schedule an audition.

The Cleveland Orchestra Children’s Chorus
Ann Usher, Director

Formed in 1967, the 60-member Cleveland Orchestra Children’s Chorus participates in performances each year with The Cleveland Orchestra and Cleveland Orchestra Chorus at Severance Hall and during most summers at Blossom Music Center. Recent works performed include Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, Schumann’s Scenes from Goethe’s Faust, Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, Britten’s War Requiem, Berlioz’s Te Deum, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Boito’s Prologue to Mefistofele, Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust, Mahler’s Symphony No. 3, and the annual Christmas concerts. The Children’s Chorus presents an independent concert each spring featuring a diverse repertoire of children’s chorus literature. The ensemble also performs annually at University Circle’s Holiday CircleFest in December and has performed the National Anthem for several Cleveland Indians home games. The Children’s Chorus was selected to perform for the Ohio Choral Directors Association’s 2009 Summer Conference and for the Ohio Music Education Association’s 2003 Professional Conference. In April 2001, the COCC hosted the Eastman Bach Children’s Chorus from Rochester, NY, for a joint performance at Fairmount Temple.

The Children’s Chorus rehearses on Monday evenings from 7 – 9 p.m. In addition, a 45-member Cleveland Orchestra Preparatory Children’s Chorus, which rehearses on Monday evenings from 6 – 7 p.m., serves as a training chorus for less experienced and younger singers. Students learn vocal production and choral performance skills, with emphasis placed on sight-reading using movable do solfège and Kodaly/Curwen hand signs. Students also learn leadership skills that they can use to strengthen the other choirs they participate in at their public or private schools.

The Cleveland Orchestra Children’s Chorus and Children’s Preparatory Chorus are open by audition to boys and girls entering fifth through eighth grades. All boys must have unchanged treble voices. Singers are selected by mid-June. There is a nominal cost to the student for participation, plus the cost of concert uniform attire. Scholarships are available to those in need. For information on audition requirements and to schedule an audition, please contact the Chorus Office at (216) 231-7374 or via email at chorus@clevelandorchestra.com.