Margaret Hillis

Margaret Eleanor Hillis (October 1, 1921, Kokomo, Indiana – February 5, 1998, Evanston, Illinois) was an American conductor. She was the founder and first director of the Chicago Symphony Chorus.

Life Hillis was born in Kokomo, Indiana, in 1921. She began to study the piano at the age of five and continued with several other instruments, including woodwinds, brass, and double bass. She made her conducting debut, while still a student, as assistant conductor of her high school orchestra at the Tudor Hall School (now Park Tudor School) in Indianapolis, IN.

After suspending her studies for two years during World War II to become a civilian flight instructor in Muncie, Indiana, which later performed as the New York Concert Choir and Orchestra. She also worked as a choral conductor for the New York City Opera and the American Opera Society. During her years in New York she taught choral conducting at the Juilliard School and Union Theological Seminary. From 1970 to 1977 she was Director of Choral Activities at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Among her pupils was Robert Evett.

Hillis was also founder and music director of the American Choral Foundation (now Chorus America), an organization that sought to raise the standards of choral performance.

In 1992, Hillis conducted the Interlochen Arts Academy Orchestra and Choir as part of the Mozart Bicentennial Celebration in Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center, New York. first on a special concert in November 1957 and later on subscription concerts in December 1958, leading the orchestra and chorus in Honegger's Christmas Cantata. Hillis captured nationwide attention on October 31, 1977, when she substituted on short notice for the ailing Sir Georg Solti, conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in a performance of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 8 in New York's Carnegie Hall.

Under her leadership, the Chicago Symphony Chorus performed and recorded a number of the major choral symphonic works, which were considered milestones in the CSO's history. Hillis won nine Grammy Awards from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences for best choral performance.

She also worked with community and regional orchestras, and was director for several years of the Kenosha Civic and the Elgin Symphony Orchestras. Hillis regularly conducted the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the training orchestra of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Starting in the late 1970s, she worked actively as a guest conductor, leading performances of the National, San Francisco, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Saint Paul, Baltimore, Minnesota, Columbus, Peoria, San Antonio, Spokane, and Oregon symphony orchestras; the New York Choral Society; the Los Angeles Master Chorale; the Gloria Dei Cantores; and the Santa Fe Opera.

Honors and awards Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance 1977 – Sir Georg Solti: VERDI Requiem 1978 – Sir Georg Solti: BEETHOVEN Missa solemnis 1979 – Sir Georg Solti: BRAHMS A German Requiem 1982 – Sir Georg Solti: BERLIOZ The Damnation of Faust 1983 – Sir Georg Solti: HAYDN The Creation 1984 – James Levine: BRAHMS A German Requiem 1986 – James Levine: ORFF Carmina Burana 1991 – Sir Georg Solti: BACH Mass in B minor, BWV 232 1993 – Pierre Boulez: BARTÓK Cantata profana