Mission

To create transformative musical experiences that bring people together through the joy of choral music.


Vision

The Washington Chorus envisions an inclusive community where choral music connects, reflects, and inspires everyone.


Core Values

Collaboration: We engage and work closely with our artistic partners, stakeholders, and donors to further our mutual appreciation and support for the musical arts.

Community: We foster an environment of cohesiveness, partnership, and respect within our choral community of singers, board members and staff. We serve and engage with our regional and broader communities by singing and learning together and sharing our collective passion for choral music.

Excellence: We perform choral music at the highest levels of excellence and artistry with our musical partners and for our audiences.

Inclusion: We promote diversity, inclusion, access, and equity in The Washington Chorus and across the choral community.

Innovation: We explore and embrace new frontiers across the broad musical expanse. We harness our collective strengths and resilience to overcome challenges with innovation and integrity.


Biography

The Washington Chorus (TWC), now in its 62nd season, is one of the foremost symphonic choruses in the nation. Noted for the superb artistry of its performances and recordings of the entire range of the choral repertoire, TWC is widely recognized as a cultural leader in the nation’s capital.

A three-time nominated and two-time Grammy Award winner, the 160-voice Washington Chorus presents an annual series at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, regularly performs at the invitation of the National Symphony Orchestra, and appears annually at the Music Center at Strathmore in Maryland and Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Virginia. ...

TWC was the first major Washington area chorus to be founded independent of a church or college. In 1961 Hugh Hayward, a medical doctor and classically trained musician, founded the Oratorio Society of Montgomery County, which became known as the Oratorio Society of Washington, and is now celebrated under the name of The Washington Chorus. In 1971, Robert Shafer succeeded Hayward as music director, leading the chorus for more than three decades with great distinction, including two Grammy Awards. From 2008–2017 Julian Wachner led the organization with education and innovation at the forefront of his programs. Christopher Bell brought unparalleled attention to precision and clarity to the ensemble with his trademark flair during his tenure as Artistic Director from 2017 to 2020. The Chorus' fifth Artistic Director Eugene Rogers is widely regarded as one of the most acclaimed next-generation conductors and musical thought leaders today working at the intersection of classical music and social change.

TWC’s commitment to the greater Washington community is evidenced by its Connections Programs, including the Side-by-Side high school program and the DC Honor Chorus in partnership with DC Public Schools.

Chorus America, the national association for choruses, has honored The Washington Chorus with the Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence and the ASCAP Alice Parker Award, which recognizes a chorus programming significant, recently-composed music that expands the mission of the chorus and challenges audiences in new ways. Other awards include the 2000 Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance for the live-performance recording of Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem and a 1996 Grammy Award for John Corigliano’s Of Rage and Remembrance with the National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Leonard Slatkin.

TWC has appeared at the invitation of leading orchestras including the National Symphony Orchestra and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. TWC is proud to have sung with the NSO in more than 300 performances, under the direction of many of the world’s greatest conductors, including Gianandrea Noseda, Christoph Eschenbach, Leonard Slatkin, Mstislav Rostropovich, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Seiji Ozawa, Sir Neville Marriner, Kent Nagano, Marin Alsop, Gustavo Dudamel, Sir Andrew Davis, and many others.

TWC has sung for numerous prestigious events throughout its history— inaugurations, papal visits, with the Rolling Stones during their 50th anniversary tour, and at the White House in 2013 and 2014 for the President and First Lady.


Roster


Artistic Director

A two-time Michigan Emmy Award winner, a 2017 Sphinx Medal of Excellence recipient, and a 2015 GRAMMY® Award nominee, Eugene Rogers is recognized as a leading conductor and pedagogue throughout the United States and abroad. In addition to being the founding director of EXIGENCE, Dr. Rogers is the director of choirs and an associate professor of conducting at the University of Michigan. Recently, he was named as the fifth Artistic Director of the two-time GRAMMY® Award-Winning Ensemble, The Washington Chorus (Washington, D.C.).

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