Margaret Hillis - Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

On September 22, 1957, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra announced that Margaret Hillis, at Music Director Fritz Reiner’s invitation, would organize and train a symphony chorus. Auditions began two weeks later, and on March 13 and 14, 1958, the Chicago Symphony Chorus made its subscription concert debut performing Mozart’s Requiem with Bruno Walter conducting. A few weeks later, Reiner himself led the Chorus for the first time in performances of Verdi’s Requiem.

Hillis was also the first woman to conduct the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, 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 in the fall of 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 Hillis’s leadership, the Chicago Symphony Chorus performed and recorded many of the major works in the choral symphonic repertoire, gave important world premieres, appeared with visiting orchestras, and was part of many noteworthy 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.