University of Pennsylvania Glee Club - History

History

The Glee Club's history began modestly in 1862 when eight undergraduate men formed what is now the oldest performing arts group at the University of Pennsylvania; subsequently, another eight men were added to the group. The Glee Club's premier performance was in the chapel of Collegiate Hall at Ninth & Chestnut Streets in Philadelphia for "an audience that was unusually select and large, the Hall filled to its utmost capacity". At this concert, each man wore red and blue ribbons in his buttonhole, thus becoming the first known Penn group to wear the University colors as part of its uniform.

The Glee Club quickly became a part of campus life, singing at football rallies, basketball games, alumni events, and chapel services. Soon, much of the University's musical demands depended upon the Glee Club. As a result, the reliance on such traditional collegiate songs such as Gaudeamus Igitur and Integer Vitae gave way to original pieces composed especially for the University and the Glee Club which themselves became traditions: The Red and Blue, Afterglow, and Fight On, Pennsylvania.

In 1934, under director Harl McDonald, the Penn Glee Club began performing with the Philadelphia Orchestra. The Club's partnership with this symphony came to include a 1938 performance of the Brahms' Alto Rhapsody with Marian Anderson and the 1970 world premiere broadcast of then-Director Bruce 'Monty' Montgomery's Herodotus Fragments. The 1950s saw the first of many Glee Club appearances on national television with such celebrities as Ed McMahon and Carol Lawrence. The Club has been showcased on television specials, in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and at professional sporting events. The Philadelphia Phillies had the Club sing the National Anthem at the 1993 National League Championship Series. In 1976, the Penn Glee Club first performed with the Boston Pops. The Club has also shared the stage with such superstars as Bob Hope, Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Stewart, Grace Kelly, and Bill Cosby.

The Penn Glee Club stepped out of the formal lines of choral performance in 1928, performing its first fully staged production, Hades, Inc., written by then-director H. Alexander Matthews. Staging became standard fare for the modern Club with 1969's Handel With Hair. Each year, the Club writes and produces a fully staged, Broadway-style production, highlighting male choral singing, clever plots and dialogue, dancing, humor, colorful sets and costumes, and a pit band.

The Penn Glee Club has toured internationally since 1959 and has traveled to nearly all 50 states in the United States and 37 nations and territories on five continents. Since its first performance at the White House for President Calvin Coolidge in 1926, the Club has sung for numerous heads of state and world leaders. One of the highlights of 1989 was the Club's performance for Polish President Lech Wałęsa. In 1999, several prominent Japanese executives sponsored a tour to Guam and Japan, the Club's first tour of the Asian Pacific. In 2004, the Club returned to Asia, this time touring China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. The following year, in 2005, the Club journeyed back to South America for the first time since 1987, touring Argentina and Uruguay. The 2006-2007 season saw the group traveling to Ireland and Northern Ireland for the first time. In the summer of 2009, the Club toured Colombia, Panama, and Costa Rica.