RCS Foundation

The 2024-2025 season is RCS’ 125th Anniversary Season! Please join us in Cambridge, MA on Friday, May 2, and Saturday, May 3, 2025 for 125th anniversary festivities!

Friday, May 2, 2025: RCS concert in Sanders Theatre at 8pm, preceded by a brief social gathering for RCS singers, alums, and friends. 

Saturday, May 3, 2025: All-day RCS reunion celebration of the 125th anniversary, including a conducted sing of RCS music across the eras, participation by past musical directors, food, drink, and socializing.

If you have questions or are interested in volunteering, please email us at rcsf125@gmail.com.

The May 31 event went off swimmingly! We had 55 attendees — alums from RCS years 1964-2024, lots of energy and socializing, terrific food, amazing singing, and a lot of positive sentiment going into the 125th anniversary year. We hope you’ll join us for May 2-3, 2025 next year!

Please attend the annual meeting this Saturday June 8, 1-2:15pm (ET) by Zoom. The agenda is forthcoming. We have a video of Anika Christensen ‘26 reflecting on the past season and a lot of good info to share about RCS’s 125th Anniversary, and the next season with ADCA Hana Cai.

Friday, May 31, 2024, 5-6:30pm

Paine Hall Room 9

3 Oxford St, Cambridge, MA 02138

Calling all Radcliffe Choral Society alums! Join fellow choristers to kick off our commemoration of 125 years of soprano-alto choral music at Radcliffe and Harvard. Following the 4-Choir Sing including members of all Harvard Choruses (Memorial Church, 3-5pm), RCS alums and current students will gather for an early evening of song, socializing, and light refreshments, with 125th anniversary memorabilia available for all who join. Don’t miss this special alumni-weekend affair!

Click here to register for the RCS event from 5-6:30pm

Click here to register for the 4-Choir Sing from 3-5pm

Friday | April 26, 2024 | 8:00pm

Sanders Theater and via Livestream

A Light in April is a combined concert of the Harvard Choruses featuring guest conductor Sydney Guillaume who will lead performances of his works. His intricate and spirited musical language, often calling on his roots in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, inspires the rest of the program, and calls us to celebrate our human connection and capacity for joy. Reserve free tickets here.

Part of Harvard’s annual ARTS FIRST Festival.

The Harvard Glee Club presents the world premiere of THREE SPIRITUALS arranged by Dr. Brandon Waddles—who will be leading these works—and performs selections from two other countries famous for their lower-voice choirs, Germany and Wales. 

The Radcliffe Choral Society welcomes you into the affinity spaces of Jocelyn Hagen’s Moon Goddess, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel’s Sister Songs, Melissa Dunphy’s Wild Embers, and Katerina Gimon’s Fire, among others. In this treble-celebratory program, we hear the music of power and struggle, ferocity and wisdom, dancing and shouting.

The concert will culminate in jazz & operatic selections that combine the forces of both choirs.
Purchase tickets here or watch via livestream.

We hope you had a wonderful holiday season and a happy new year! As January goes on, it’s time for one of the most exciting times in the RCS concert schedule…the J-Term tour! This year, our favorite sopranos and altos are traveling across the southern United States, hitting cities in Texas and Louisiana along the way. If you’re in the area, we encourage you to attend any of the following performances.

Tuesday, January 16 at 1:00pm in Houston, TX | Northshore High School Senior Auditorium with the Varsity Choral and Middle School Choir | Free Entry
Thursday, January 18 1t 12:00pm in College Station, TX | Rudder Theater with Texas A&M Women’s Chorus | Free Entry

It’s time for the last concert of the year! The Harvard Choruses are proud to present Comfort and Joy: a free holiday concert on Saturday, December 2nd at 4pm in Sanders Theatre. The Harvard Glee Club, Radcliffe Choral Society, and Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum will be joined by Cambridge Common Voices in a program of holiday favorites, from traditional carols and motets to popular songs and jazz standards. Come share in the holiday spirit with over 200 singers on stage and the beloved audience singalong!

Reserve free tickets here: https://boxoffice.harvard.edu/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=harvard-choruses

Happy fall! As the new season is upon us, so is the first RCS concert of the 2023-2024 Season! Please join us in supporting RCS and Collegium’s Two Roads concert, on Saturday, November 4th, at 8:00 PM in Sanders Theatre. The concert will include the world première of The Side Road by GRAMMY® and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, Caroline Shaw, and a world première by Joshua Shank commemorating the 60th anniversary of the death of President John F. Kennedy (AB ‘40).

For those trekking to Sanders Theatre, join us in the foyer at the Radcliffe Choral Society Foundation table to catch up with your fellow alums!

For those who can’t attend in person, there will be a free live stream of the performance available. RCSers have loved seeing the supportive comments from alums in the YouTube live chat, so let’s make sure to spread the RCS love no matter where you’re tuning in from! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D13uagQoxmM

Purchase tickets here: https://www.boxoffice.harvard.edu/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=harvard-choruses&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::context_id=

This event will also mark the first RCS concert for the new Administrative Manager for Choral Music, Olivia Porada! Olivia has joined the team to support the choral staff and the student leaders in their endeavors. There is a blog post on the Choruses’ website to introduce Olivia — it includes blurbs from Andrew Clark and current RCS manager Hannah Boen, as well as a short intro/welcome video from Olivia: 

https://www.singatharvard.com/news/welcoming-olivia-porada

The Radcliffe Choral Society has quite an exciting season ahead! Join us in supporting our favorite sopranos and altos as they perform under the guidance of Andrew Clark, Director of Choral Activities; Elizabeth Eschen, RCS’s Resident Conductor; and Naomi Bennett, Teaching Assistant.

RCS & COLLEGIUM FALL CONCERT

Saturday, November 4, 2023 | 8:00 PM EST | Sanders Theatre, Harvard University

World premiere of The Side Road by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw and Undelivered by Joshua Shank, marking the 60th anniversary of the death of President John F. Kennedy

HARVARD-YALE GLEE CLUB CONCERT

Friday, November 17, 2023 | 7:30 PM EST | Woolsey Hall, Yale University

Harvard Glee Club, Radcliffe Choral Society, Yale Glee Club

COMFORT AND JOY: A COMMUNITY CHORAL CONCERT

Saturday, December 2, 2023 | 4:00 PM EST | Sanders Theatre, Harvard University

Combined ​Harvard Choruses & Cambridge Common Voices

RADCLIFFE CHORAL SOCIETY U.S. TOUR

January 11-20, 2024 | Cities and venues TBA.

SPRING CONCERT: RCS & HGC

Friday, March 1, 2024 | 8:00 PM EST | Sanders Theatre, Harvard University

ARTS FIRST FESTIVAL: THE HARVARD CHORUSES

Friday, April 26, 2024 | Sanders Theatre, Harvard University