Master Chorale of Washington

The Master Chorale of Washington, formerly the Paul Hill Chorale, was a symphonic choir based in Washington, D.C., composed of approximately 126 auditioned volunteer choristers and twenty-four professional choristers. Its most recent music director was Donald McCullough.

The chorale was founded in 1967 by Paul Hill as an informal group of about 35 singers. In 1969, Hill recruited an additional 44 singers to perform Beethoven's Fidelio with the National Symphony Orchestra (NSO). Over the next 42 years, the chorale rose on the Washington choral music scene and established itself as a prominent chorus in the nation's capital. Over the years the chorale has appeared in hundreds of concerts at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, including performing in the center's inaugural concerts in 1971, at Wolf Trap's Filene Center, Carnegie Hall, Notre Dame de Paris, the Cathedral of Chartres in Chartres, France, and the Washington National Cathedral. For nearly three decades, under the leadership of its founder and music director Paul Hill, the chorale performed a series of concerts at the Kennedy Center as well as appearing as guest chorus for the NSO under the batons of Howard Mitchell, Antal Dorati, Dmitri Kabalevsky, Julius Rudel, Erich Kunzel, Neville Marriner, Mstislav Rostropovich and Leonard Slatkin. In addition, the chorale appeared in performances with luminaries such as Victor Borge, Julian Lloyd Webber, Garrison Keillor, Danny Thomas, Christopher Plummer, and Peter Schickele, and with notable arts organizations including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Royal Ballet, Washington Opera, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Joffrey Ballet, Richmond Symphony, Fairfax Symphony Orchestra and Pacific Northwest Ballet. For twenty consecutive years, the chorale hosted the Kennedy Center's free annual Messiah Sing Along with Maestro Hill directing orchestra, chorus, and 3,000 guests in the Hallelujah Chorus.

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