Houston Chamber Choir

The Houston Chamber Choir maintains deep roots in its namesake city through frequent presentations of scores by local and Texas-based composers, while simultaneously enjoying acclaim far beyond the state. Conductor Peter Phillips has singled it out as among the foremost American vocal ensembles.

Robert Simpson established the group in 1995 and continues to serve as its artistic director. Its roster consists of twenty-five professional singers, predominantly alumni of leading U.S. conservatories who secure membership through demanding auditions. Each season the ensemble mounts five subscription programs throughout the Houston metropolitan region. In 1999 it launched the invitational festival Hear the Future, which has since drawn thousands of participants from area school and community choirs. One of its earliest international appearances earned a prize at the International Choral Eisteddfod in Wales. Five years later the choir organized the Tallis at 500 commemoration in Houston. Its programming spans Baroque masterpieces to new compositions; in 2007 it introduced the city’s first period-instrument reading of Bach’s Mass in B minor, BWV 232, returning to the work a decade afterward. Multiple Mexican choral programs have been prepared and subsequently toured throughout Mexico. In 2019 the ensemble received an invitation to appear at the twelfth World Symposium on Choral Music, scheduled for Auckland the next year.

Its debut recording, The Blue Estuaries: American Choral Music, appeared on Zephyr in 2001; Ravishingly Russian followed on MSR Classics in 2009. Subsequent projects have appeared on MSR as well as the independent imprints ECM (Rothko Chapel, 2015) and Signum Classics (Duruflé: Complete Choral Works, 2019). The last of these earned the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance. Educational engagement forms a core component of the choir’s activities, notably through the in-school initiative “Rise Up Singing!,” which delivers ear training, music-history lessons, and vocal technique to pupils in grades 3–5.