The Washington Chorus

Founded in 1961 as the Oratorio Society of Washington, The Washington Chorus (TWC) is noted for its critically-acclaimed performances and recordings of the entire range of the choral repertoire. A Grammy Award winner and a cultural leader in the Washington area, The Washington Chorus is currently in its 51st season. 2011-2012 season highlights include works by Mozart, Julian Wachner, Wagner, and Paola Prestini among others. The Chorus presents an annual subscription series at the Kennedy Center, the Music Center at Strathmore, and other major venues throughout the Washington, D.C. area. The Chorus also frequently appears at the invitation of the National Symphony Orchestra and with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. TWC has sung under the direction of many of the world's greatest conductors including Christoph Eschenbach (in his first appearance as Music Director Designate of the NSO), Leonard Slatkin, Mstislav Rostropovich, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Seiji Ozawa, Sir Neville Marriner, Charles Dutoit, Kent Nagano, Marin Alsop, and many others. The Chorus was awarded the 2011 ASCAP Alice Parker Award recognizing a chorus programming significant, recently composed music that expands the mission of the chorus and challenges the chorus's audience in a new way. In February 2000 the Chorus, under the direction of former Music Director Robert Shafer, won a Grammy Awardfor "Best Choral Performance" for its live-performance recording of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem. Other recordings include the newly released Christmas CD Christmas with The Washington Chorus, Glorious Splendor, Sing Noel!, and the Berlioz Requiem (Gothic Recordings); Dvorak's Stabat Mater and Psalm 149 (Naxos International); Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov (nominated for a Grammyin 1988); and the Grammy Award-winning Of Rage and Remembrance by John Corigliano with the National Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Leonard Slatkin. As a leader in its commitment to community, the Chorus sponsors several educational programs, including the Junior Washington Chorus for teens aged 16-18, and frequently presents free concerts throughout the greater Washington area for special needs groups who may not be able to attend concerts in traditional concert hall settings. TWC's Music Director since 2008, Julian Wachner is one of North America's most exciting and versatile musicians, sought-after as both conductor and composer. This season, he made New York City Opera history having been selected as both conductor and composer at the company's annual VOX festival of contemporary opera. In addition to his City Opera debut, Wachner regularly appears on the world's leading stages, including engagements with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Glimmerglass Opera, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops Orchestra, Portland Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Toledo Symphony, Honolulu Symphony, Spoleto Festival USA, Music Academy of the West, Berkshire Choral Festival, Calgary Philharmonic, San Diego Symphony, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Handel & Haydn Society, Pacific Symphony, and L'Orchestre Métropolitain du Grand Montréal. Wachner's original music, published by E.C. Schirmer, has highly praised by both the New York Times and the Boston Globe. In addition to being music director of The Washington Chorus, Wachner is the inaugural director of music and the arts for Trinity Wall Street, the historic Episcopal parish in lower Manhattan.

March 2012

Additional Resources

Review - "Washington Chorus Provides Quite a 'Feast'" The Washington Post - Washington, DC (Apr. 11, 2006)

Upcoming Events

National Symphony Orchestra: Christoph Eschenbach, conductor / Celebrating Wagner at 200: Act III of Parsifal, in concert 10/10/2013 - 10/12/2013
This concert version of the final act from Wagner's epic opera Parsifal features tenor Nikolai Schukoff, baritone Thomas Hampson, bass Yuri Vorobiev, and The Washington Chorus.
National Symphony Orchestra: Der Rosenkavalier in Concert, with Renée Fleming / Christoph Eschenbach, conductor 3/8/2014 6:00 PM
Marking 150 years since Strauss's birth, soprano Renée Fleming headlines a concert performance of the composer's comic opera that features Sarah Connolly, Marisol Montalvo, Franz Hawlata, Adrian Eröd, Steve Davislim, and Washington Chorus.

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