Harvard Glee Club Visits Tampa

America’s oldest men’s college choir to join with USF Chamber Singers for concert March 19 2015 7:30PM at St. John’s Episcopal Church

The Harvard University Glee Club is a 60-voice, all-male choral ensemble founded in 1858, the oldest men’s collegiate chorus in the United States. The Glee Club (Andrew Clark, Conductor), will be singing a joint concert with the University of South Florida Chamber Singers (James Bass, Conductor) at St. John’s Episcopal Church, 906 S. Orleans Ave., Tampa FL 33606 on Thursday March 19 2015 at 7:30 PM, presented by the Harvard Club of the West Coast of Florida. Tickets are $25, $100 for premium reserved, and free for USF students with ID at the door!

The Harvard Glee Club is the oldest American men’s college chorus. For many years after its founding 1858, it served as a social club performing college songs and glees to the accompaniment of banjos and mandolins. Then in 1912, under the leadership of A.T. Davison, the Club began to build a new repertoire based on the best in choral music. The HGC first performed with the Boston Symphony in 1917, and appeared regularly with them for many decades, including the American premiere of Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex, later recorded under the direction of Leonard Bernstein, himself a Glee

Club alum. The first tour to Europe in 1921 led to associations with the leading composers of the time, as Poulenc and Milhaud both composed original music for the HGC. This sponsorship of the men’s choral genre has continued ever since, with dozens of composers producing music for the HGC, including Randall Thompson, Gustav Holst, Toru Takemitsu, Sir John Tavener, Stephen Paulus, Dominick Argento and even P.D.Q. Bach! Glee Club alums composing music have included Virgil Thomson, Elliott Carter, Irving Fine, John Harbison, and Leonard Bernstein.

Today the Club is composed of about 55 men, mostly Harvard College undergraduates, from all over the USA and abroad. They combine with other University groups to perform major choral-orchestral works, and make annual spring tours within the USA and foreign tours every 4 to 5 years. This year’s spring tour will take the Glee Club to Savannah GA, Charleston SC, Orlando FL, Tampa FL and Naples FL.

For additional information/tickets:

Purchase Tickets Here

By Phone: 239-390-2788 through ArtsNaples World Festival 

Location:  St. John's Episcopal Church, 906 South Orleans Avenue Tampa, FL 33606

Date: March 19, 2015       Time:  7:30 PM

For additional Information:

Harvard Club of the West Coast of Florida
Contact:  Bruce Himelstein
414-915-0613
Bphimelstein@gmail.com

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