Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia

Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia, one of America’s longest-standing musical ensembles, is performing its 145^th season, and its fourth season with its 13^th Artistic Director Paul Rardin. Since its founding in 1874, the chorus has carried on a rich tradition of presenting the great works of the choral canon while also premiering, performing, and commissioning new choral works at the highest artistic level. The chorus has performed under the batons of world famous conductors such as Sergei Rachmaninoff, Eugene Ormandy, Claudio Abbado, Zubin Mehta, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Riccardo Muti, and has maintained a performing relationship with the Philadelphia Orchestra since the orchestra’s inception.

In its early history, Mendelssohn Club gave the Philadelphia premiere of Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, American premieres of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 and Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast, and the first performance outside of the USSR of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 13. These works, which are now considered some of the greatest choral works ever written, were new and sometimes experimental at the time of their premiere. Mendelssohn Club continues this tradition today through commissions from luminaries such as David Lang, Julia Wolfe, Alice Parker, and Jennifer Higdon. In its more recent history, Mendelssohn Club has deepened its mission to take artistic risks that challenge both singers and audiences through commissioning new works that include cross-genre performance such as dance video projections.

Mendelssohn Club is known throughout the nation as a leader in advancing the field of choral music. Recognition for this dedication, as well its commitment to artistic excellence, is seen through a Grammy nomination for the 1985 recording of Vincent Persichetti’s Winter Cantata, the 1992 and 2013 ASCAP/Chorus America Award for Adventurous Programming, and its 2014 commission, Julia Wolfe’s Anthracite Fields, receiving the 2015 Pulitzer Prize in Music.