Richard Harrison Smith - Jamestown College Concert Choir

Jamestown College Concert Choir

In 1969, Smith took over as director of the Jamestown College Concert Choir. Through a combination of strict discipline and intense musical training, Smith turned the choir - unusual among top-flight concert choirs in that less than 25% its members were music majors - into a highly well-regarded choir.

In 1972, on the choir's first tour of Europe, it became the first American choir of any kind to sing at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris - an honor they repeated on several subsequent tours.

In 1984 Smith was appointed Dean, a position he held for over a decade. He also filled in occasionally during those years as a biochemistry teacher, exercising his old master's degree.

On October 13, 1994, Smith conducted a 25th anniversary reunion concert at the Jamestown Civic Center; everyone who had ever sung in the choir was invited; 400 singers - over 40% of the choir's entire alumni body - participated.

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