About
The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus (ASOC) was founded in 1970 by former ASO Music Director Robert Shaw. Comprising 200 auditioned voices, the Chorus is an all-volunteer organization that performs on a regular basis with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and is featured on many of the Orchestra’s recordings. Led by ASO Director of Choruses Norman Mackenzie, the Chorus is known for its precision and expressive singing quality.
Their recordings with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra have won multiple GRAMMY® Awards, including Best Choral Performance, Best Classical Recording and Best Opera Recording. Those include Vaughan Williams’s A Sea Symphony and the Berlioz Requiem. The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus performs large choral-symphonic works with the full Orchestra under the batons of Music Director Robert Spano and Principal Guest Conductor Donald Runnicles. In addition, the Chorus has been involved in the creation and shaping of numerous world-premiere commissioned choral works.
The Chorus made its debut at New York’s Carnegie Hall in 1976 in a performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, with the ASO led by Robert Shaw. In addition, the Chorus performed in Washington, D.C., for President-elect Jimmy Carter’s Inaugural Concert in 1977. The Chorus has traveled to Germany three times to be a special guest of the Berlin Philharmonic, in December 2003 for performances of Britten’s War Requiem, in May 2008 for the Berlioz Requiem performances – all with Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Guest Conductor Donald Runnicles.