Our History

Ten Thousand Voices: 

A Brief History of the UVA University Singers

by Ensemble Historian Elizabeth Roden (CLAS '19)

The University Singers, UVA’s flagship choral ensemble, was founded in 1957 by music professor Donald MacInnis. Originally called the Virginia Singers, the group began as a town-and-gown mixed chorus of mostly faculty members, operating independently of the McIntire Department of Music. In 1964-65, the music department assumed sponsorship of the ensemble, which then became known as the University Singers. Shortly after, from 1966-67, Charles Bradley, a local organist and later Founding Director of the Oratorio Society, succeeded MacInnis as Music Director of the group. In 1967, Professor Donald Loach accepted the position of Music Director of the Singers (having joined the UVA music faculty in 1964). Early in his tenure, Loach conducted the ensemble in performances of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana and G.C. Menotti’s The Unicorn, the Gorgon, and the Manticore, both featuring dancers on stage. In 1968, he established the annual Messiah Sing-In, an event sponsored by the University Singers. Though it has since become a treasured University tradition, the Sing-In started as an informal gathering of local residents and members of the Oratorio Society who wished to perform the piece. When the University began accepting women in 1970, the ensemble became a curricular ensemble in the music department and a student-dominated organization. While Loach was on sabbatical and for several years after, Professor James Dearing led the Singers as interim conductor from 1973-76.

Loach resumed the directorship in 1976 and remained Music Director of the Singers until his retirement in 1998. Over nearly 30 years, he shaped the character of the University Singers and challenged the group with a wide range of choral repertoire. In 1974, Loach and the Singers established their annual Madrigal Dinner Concerts in early December. Held in Newcomb Ballroom, the concerts featured jugglers, clowns, and acrobats, as well as performances of Renaissance madrigals. The Singers, clad in period dress, also moved from table to table in smaller groups, entertaining dinner guests with madrigals. In addition, Loach enjoyed presenting themed concerts, such as “Music of Shakespeare’s Time” and concerts involving theatrical scripts. The Singers performed larger pieces with the University Orchestra as well, including the Brahms Requiem, and two performances (in 1975 and 1985) of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, conducted by Otto Werner- Mueller. In 1987, the ensemble performed Carmina Burana again with the orchestra, Glee Club, and University Women’s Chorus. Loach frequently invited other college choruses to sing with the group, resulting in collaborative concerts with UNC-Chapel Hill, the University of Richmond, and Princeton, among others. In addition to domestic tours, the University Singers traveled to southern England in 1980 for their first European tour, singing in Coventry Cathedral, Cambridge’s Round Church, and St. Margaret’s in London. Loach, who also directed Glee Club, led both ensembles on combined tours of Spain in 1982, the Soviet Union in 1984, and Belgium, Amsterdam, Germany, and Switzerland in 1987. In 1996, the Singers toured alone in Italy, visiting Milan, Venice, Florence, and Rome; their rendition of Richard Genée’s “Insalata Italiana” proved to be popular among Italian audiences. Retiring in 1998, “Coach” Loach, as his students affectionately dubbed him, brought the University Singers to a high standard of musical excellence. Upon his retirement, Bruce Tammen took over as Music Director of the group, and in 2000, was succeeded by visiting professor Marika Kuzma.

In 2001, Professor Michael Slon was appointed as Director of Choral Music and Music Director of the University Singers. Under his aegis, the group has set a new musical standard, performing a wide range of a cappella and accompanied choral literature, including a wide variety of major works and the works of contemporary composers. Expanded repertoire has included the first performance of the Bach Mass in B minor at UVA, performances of Barber’s Prayers of Kierkegaard, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Verdi’s Requiem, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, and Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, and premieres of commissioned works by Eric Whitacre, Judith Shatin, J. Todd Frazier, Forrest Pierce, and Stephen Paulus – whose “Psalm 46” was commissioned for the University Singers’ 50th Anniversary. In 2005, in collaboration with the Charlottesville Symphony, Slon and the Singers established their annual Family Holiday Concerts – now a beloved community tradition that sells out two concerts each year. That same year (2005), Slon founded the UVA Chamber Singers, a select ensemble drawn from the University Singers that performs a variety of music for chamber choir.

Recent tour performances have taken the group to much of the Eastern and Midwestern U.S., as well as a 2015 tour to England, Poland, Austria, and the Czech Republic – on which the group collaborated with the Jesus College Choir at Cambridge and the Brno Philharmonic Choir. Highlights during Slon’s tenure have also included concerts with Bobby McFerrin, Meredith Monk and her vocal ensemble, performances for Hillary Clinton, and the creators of Les Misérables (Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil), and a performance for the 2010 VMEA Conference. The ensemble has also become a fixture at official University events, performing for the UVA 2006 Capital Campaign Gala, the UVA President’s Convocation (and inaugurations), and the 2017 Bicentennial Launch Gala before an audience of 20,000 on the Lawn. Likewise, the ensemble continues its special collaborative partnership with the Charlottesville Symphony. In the 2000s, with the development of an annual newsletter, website, social media presence, and the group’s first CD recordings, the ensemble has expanded its media visibility and fostered new connections with ensemble alumni. The 2016 UVA Holiday Greeting featured the University Singers performing in the Rotunda, and broke UVA’s media engagement record, with nearly 400,000 views on Facebook and YouTube to date. In addition, the ensemble continues to support a strong culture of student leadership through Exec officers. And in combination with its pursuit of musical excellence, (contributing to the formation of students for a variety of professions, including music), the University Singers cultivates a strong sense of community through the choral art, such that students and alumni form tremendous bonds as a musical family.