Harvard Choruses


The Harvard Choruses are three choral ensembles at Harvard University, consisting of the Harvard Glee Club, the Radcliffe Choral Society, and the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum Each year the three Harvard Choruses combine to perform a large choral-orchestral work.
The Harvard-Radcliffe Chorus is an adjunct member, consisting of both Harvard students and members of the broader community, and serving in part as a training chorus for the other groups.
The Harvard Choruses are under the direction of Harvard's Director of Choral Activities, Andrew Clark.

History

The trifecta was also collectively known as the "Holden Chapel Choirs". The "Holden" name comes from the choirs' principal rehearsal space and former offices, Holden Chapel in Harvard Yard. Holden Chapel is one of the oldest college buildings in the country. The all-male Harvard Glee-Club, the oldest university choir in America, was established in 1858 by the president of Harvard’s Pierian Sodality and several of its College friends. Archibald T. Davison was the Glee Club's first conductor and he served as choirmaster there before joining the Harvard Music Department in 1910. The members, a combination of undergraduate and graduate level students, are predominantly known for singing the Harvard Fight songs at university events and their four cardinal virtues: glee, good humor, unity, and joy. In 1899 the Radcliffe Choral Society was established as a treble choral ensemble. The group is student run and managed. More recently came the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum which boasts the only co-ed membership of the three Holden groups, and focuses primarily on early-Renaissance music. The choir groups are known for being competitive within the three groups themselves, yet there is a fraternity-like bond within the male Glee club and the unique groups themselves convene for social activities that allow close bonding and networking opportunities.

Current

The acting director of the Holden voice program is Elizabeth Eschen. The well-known Holden Voice Program is still holding active auditions and shows for chorus singers and has future shows and auditions scheduled for later on in 2017. The Holden Choruses are turning over a new leaf in a near era and now being referred to as the Harvard Choruses, according to the Harvard-Radcliffe Facebook page which the university outspokenly condones. The Radcliffe Choral Society features a Capella group known as the .