The Radcliffe Choral Society, founded in 1899, is a treble (soprano-alto) choral ensemble, open to any student at Harvard University. The ensemble performs a distinctive repertoire spanning nine centuries of choral literature: sacred and secular, a cappella and accompanied, and choral-orchestral works. RCS aims to foster the appreciation and celebration of women’s choral music through the commission of new works for soprano and alto voices, high-caliber performances, music festivals, and annual domestic and international travel. The choir strives to honor its history and further its legacy of excellence in treble choral music and an extraordinary community formed through music-making.
Elizabeth Cary Agassiz, the first president of Radcliffe College, founded the Radcliffe Choral Society in 1899. By 1904, under the leadership of Dr. Archibald Davidson (“Doc”), RCS became Radcliffe College’s official chorus. Doc conducted both RCS and the Harvard Glee Club, and in 1917, the choirs joined forces in a performance of Johannes Brahms’ Song of Fate with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, launching a tradition of collaboration that lasted over 50 years.
Wallace G. Woodworth (known as “Woody”), Doc’s successor, served as conductor of the RCS and the Harvard Glee Club for 33 years. He is renowned for establishing the tradition of touring for both choirs in 1954, a tradition brought to new heights by Woody’s successor, Eliot Forbes, who brought the choirs on two continental tours. Under Forbes’ leadership, the two choirs gained critical acclaim in 1963 for their Grammy-nominated performance of Mozart’s Requiem with several other Boston choirs at President John F. Kennedy’s funeral.
The 1970s marked a period of transition for the Radcliffe Choral Society as Harvard University became co-educational, with the merging of the all-women’s Radcliffe College with the all-male Harvard College. This led to the eventual formation of a mixed chorus, the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum. The women in Collegium performed an annual RCS concert and held the RCS charter through this period, but women-only choral singing experienced a temporary hush during this transition.
In 1974, two singers wrote to female members of Collegium calling to re-establish RCS as an independent chorus to provide more opportunities for women singers at Harvard. The Radcliffe Choral Society was re-formed, and Priscilla Chapman assumed the role of conductor in 1974. In 1975, Chapman led RCS in its first concert since re-formation, featuring a variety of works from different eras in RCS history. In 1976, the first year that male and female students both were admitted to Harvard-Radcliffe jointly, RCS regained its charter and sang at Freshman Welcome in Harvard Yard for the first time. Since the revival of the RCS, the choir has received international acclaim, commissioned new works, hosted regular festivals celebrating the work of soprano-alto choruses, and traveled both internationally and domestically to share its music with communities across the globe.
In the fall of 1978, Beverly Taylor became the conductor of the RCS. She led the RCS on four international tours: to the British Isles in 1979, to Northern Europe in 1983, to Central Europe in 1987, and to Sweden, Poland, and Czechoslovakia in 1992. The RCS received several international prizes on these tours, including Second Prize at the Dutch International Koorfest in the Hague and first prize in the Youth Division of the International Eisteddfod in Llangolen, Wales. Under her dynamic leadership, the group achieved tremendous growth and acclaim.
From 1995 to 2010, the RCS sang under the baton of Jameson Marvin. In 1996, Constance DeFotis joined the RCS as the Associate Director of Choral Activities at Harvard.
In 1999, RCS celebrated its 100th birthday with a Centennial Celebration. Among the festivities was a concert, alumnae reunion, receptions, and banquet. It was a great way for women to come together and celebrate 100 years of song with RCS. The year ended with the performance of Beethoven's 9th Symphony at Arts First and RCS' sixth international tour to South America.
In 2004, Kevin Leong became the Associate Conductor of RCS, which he continued until 2012, serving first with Jameson Marvin and then with Dr. Andrew G Clark, who became Director of Choral Activities at Harvard in 2010. From 2012 to 2023, Meg Weckworth was the Resident Conductor of RCS with Andy Clark and Liz Eschen assumed that role for the 2023-2024 season. The Radcliffe Choral Society is currently led by Associate Director for Choral Activites, Dr. Hana Cai.
The Radcliffe Choral Society has always championed empowering treble music, whether it is pre-existing works in the canon, such as James Kallembach’s Antigone and Linda Tutas Haugen’s Anne Frank: A Living Voice, or commissioned works, such as Dr. Katherine Pukinskis’s “A Sense of Decency,” which sets excerpts from a dissent and an opinion written by the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Furthermore, RCS seeks to uplift other treble choirs through our Rising Voices Festivals, featuring ensembles from a variety of communities and creating space for music exchange and collaboration.
Inspired by the drive to share treble music around the globe, the Radcliffe Choral Society’s dynamic tour tradition continues to be upheld to this day. RCS tours together every year: embarking on an international tour every four years and on domestic tours around the United States the remaining three years. In the last two decades, RCS has shared its music and spirit with communities around the world: the 1996 Western Europe tour included concerts in France, Monaco, Switzerland, and Italy; the year 2000 took RCS to South America; the 2004 tour to South Africa made history at Harvard when RCS became the first choir to travel to Africa; in 2008 RCS traveled to the remarkable cities and rainforests of Costa Rica; in the summer of 2012 RCS traversed Eastern Europe, exploring Turkey, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Croatia; and finally, in 2016 RCS ventured farther than ever before to Indonesia, marking the first time any American collegiate choir has toured the country.
Another beloved tradition of the Radcliffe Choral Society, RCS also features contemporary a cappella subset, ‘Cliffe Notes, founded in 1991. Performing mostly contemporary pop music, ‘Cliffe Notes is featured during RCS performances. In addition, 'Cliffe Notes can be heard at private parties, caroling, parades, benefits, and other events.
RCS is an independent 501(c)(3) organization, managed and overseen entirely by students. Members gain valuable experience in arts administration, concert production, marketing, tour planning, and other facets of non-profit leadership that inspire many graduates to embark on related careers, public service, and lifelong arts and music education advocacy.
The Radcliffe Choral Society is a proud ensemble of the Harvard Choruses, currently under the direction of Dr. Hana Cai and Dr. Andrew G. Clark. RCS collaborates with the Harvard Glee Club and the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum, on an annual basis to perform choral-orchestral masterworks. Recent masterwork performances include Craig Hella Johnson’s Considering Matthew Shepard, Michael Tippet’s A Child of Our Time, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 Resurrection, and Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony.
One of only five Harvard organizations continuing to bear the Radcliffe name, the Radcliffe Choral Society is proud to honor its history and legacy by celebrating excellence in women’s choral music and the extraordinary community formed through its music-making. If you have any questions about the RCS’s history or would like to receive e-Newsletters, please email our Manager.
Elizabeth Cary Agassiz, the first president of Radcliffe College, founded the Radcliffe Choral Society in 1899. By 1904, under the leadership of Dr. Archibald Davidson (“Doc”), RCS became Radcliffe College’s official chorus. Doc conducted both RCS and the Harvard Glee Club, and in 1917, the choirs joined forces in a performance of Johannes Brahms’ Song of Fate with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, launching a tradition of collaboration that lasted over 50 years.
Wallace G. Woodworth (known as “Woody”), Doc’s successor, served as conductor of the RCS and the Harvard Glee Club for 33 years. He is renowned for establishing the tradition of touring for both choirs in 1954, a tradition brought to new heights by Woody’s successor, Eliot Forbes, who brought the choirs on two continental tours. Under Forbes’ leadership, the two choirs gained critical acclaim in 1963 for their Grammy-nominated performance of Mozart’s Requiem with several other Boston choirs at President John F. Kennedy’s funeral.
The 1970s marked a period of transition for the Radcliffe Choral Society as Harvard University became co-educational, with the merging of the all-women’s Radcliffe College with the all-male Harvard College. This led to the eventual formation of a mixed chorus, the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum. The women in Collegium performed an annual RCS concert and held the RCS charter through this period, but women-only choral singing experienced a temporary hush during this transition.
In 1974, two singers wrote to female members of Collegium calling to re-establish RCS as an independent chorus to provide more opportunities for women singers at Harvard. The Radcliffe Choral Society was re-formed, and Priscilla Chapman assumed the role of conductor in 1974. In 1975, Chapman led RCS in its first concert since re-formation, featuring a variety of works from different eras in RCS history. In 1976, the first year that male and female students both were admitted to Harvard-Radcliffe jointly, RCS regained its charter and sang at Freshman Welcome in Harvard Yard for the first time. Since the revival of the RCS, the choir has received international acclaim, commissioned new works, hosted regular festivals celebrating the work of soprano-alto choruses, and traveled both internationally and domestically to share its music with communities across the globe.
In the fall of 1978, Beverly Taylor became the conductor of the RCS. She led the RCS on four international tours: to the British Isles in 1979, to Northern Europe in 1983, to Central Europe in 1987, and to Sweden, Poland, and Czechoslovakia in 1992. The RCS received several international prizes on these tours, including Second Prize at the Dutch International Koorfest in the Hague and first prize in the Youth Division of the International Eisteddfod in Llangolen, Wales. Under her dynamic leadership, the group achieved tremendous growth and acclaim.
From 1995 to 2010, the RCS sang under the baton of Jameson Marvin. In 1996, Constance DeFotis joined the RCS as the Associate Director of Choral Activities at Harvard.
In 1999, RCS celebrated its 100th birthday with a Centennial Celebration. Among the festivities was a concert, alumnae reunion, receptions, and banquet. It was a great way for women to come together and celebrate 100 years of song with RCS. The year ended with the performance of Beethoven's 9th Symphony at Arts First and RCS' sixth international tour to South America.
In 2004, Kevin Leong became the Associate Conductor of RCS, which he continued until 2012, serving first with Jameson Marvin and then with Dr. Andrew G Clark, who became Director of Choral Activities at Harvard in 2010. From 2012 to 2023, Meg Weckworth was the Resident Conductor of RCS with Andy Clark and Liz Eschen assumed that role for the 2023-2024 season. The Radcliffe Choral Society is currently led by Associate Director for Choral Activites, Dr. Hana Cai.
The Radcliffe Choral Society has always championed empowering treble music, whether it is pre-existing works in the canon, such as James Kallembach’s Antigone and Linda Tutas Haugen’s Anne Frank: A Living Voice, or commissioned works, such as Dr. Katherine Pukinskis’s “A Sense of Decency,” which sets excerpts from a dissent and an opinion written by the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Furthermore, RCS seeks to uplift other treble choirs through our Rising Voices Festivals, featuring ensembles from a variety of communities and creating space for music exchange and collaboration.
Inspired by the drive to share treble music around the globe, the Radcliffe Choral Society’s dynamic tour tradition continues to be upheld to this day. RCS tours together every year: embarking on an international tour every four years and on domestic tours around the United States the remaining three years. In the last two decades, RCS has shared its music and spirit with communities around the world: the 1996 Western Europe tour included concerts in France, Monaco, Switzerland, and Italy; the year 2000 took RCS to South America; the 2004 tour to South Africa made history at Harvard when RCS became the first choir to travel to Africa; in 2008 RCS traveled to the remarkable cities and rainforests of Costa Rica; in the summer of 2012 RCS traversed Eastern Europe, exploring Turkey, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Croatia; and finally, in 2016 RCS ventured farther than ever before to Indonesia, marking the first time any American collegiate choir has toured the country.
Another beloved tradition of the Radcliffe Choral Society, RCS also features contemporary a cappella subset, ‘Cliffe Notes, founded in 1991. Performing mostly contemporary pop music, ‘Cliffe Notes is featured during RCS performances. In addition, 'Cliffe Notes can be heard at private parties, caroling, parades, benefits, and other events.
RCS is an independent 501(c)(3) organization, managed and overseen entirely by students. Members gain valuable experience in arts administration, concert production, marketing, tour planning, and other facets of non-profit leadership that inspire many graduates to embark on related careers, public service, and lifelong arts and music education advocacy.
The Radcliffe Choral Society is a proud ensemble of the Harvard Choruses, currently under the direction of Dr. Hana Cai and Dr. Andrew G. Clark. RCS collaborates with the Harvard Glee Club and the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum, on an annual basis to perform choral-orchestral masterworks. Recent masterwork performances include Craig Hella Johnson’s Considering Matthew Shepard, Michael Tippet’s A Child of Our Time, Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 Resurrection, and Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony.
One of only five Harvard organizations continuing to bear the Radcliffe name, the Radcliffe Choral Society is proud to honor its history and legacy by celebrating excellence in women’s choral music and the extraordinary community formed through its music-making. If you have any questions about the RCS’s history or would like to receive e-Newsletters, please email our Manager.
Radcliffe Choral Society
Student Organization Center at Hilles (SOCH) 59 Shepard St, Box #253 Cambridge, MA 02138 |
Email: [email protected]
Phone: (617) 299-1609 |