The Metropolitan Chorale is a 100-voice auditioned chorus, and one of Boston’s premier vocal ensembles.
Our Vision
The chorale is a vibrant community of musicians drawn together by a commitment to performing stellar repertoire at high standards, while fostering a warm, welcoming atmosphere.
Our mission
Our mission is to unite vocal musicians who share the joy of learning and performing diverse repertoire. Our innovative programming is designed to engage and inspire performers and audience members alike. We are committed to forming artistic collaborations within Greater Boston.
Our values
Community – Inclusivity – Innovation – Collaboration
Sing with us!
The Metropolitan Chorale invites experienced choral singers to audition for our 2024-25 season.
Your generous gift helps us fulfill our mission so we can continue to create memorable experiences for all of our patrons at each of our events, and build creative collaborations across Greater Boston.
You can also mail your donation to: Metropolitan Chorale PO Box 1428 Brookline, MA 02446
We greatly appreciate your support and look forward to seeing you at our concerts this season!
The Metropolitan Chorale is proud to be supported by an operational grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC), and we offer sincere thanks. The MCC provides unrestricted funds through their Cultural Investment Portfolio, partnering with cultural organizations to develop the arts sector in Massachusetts. For more information, please visit massculturalcouncil.org.
Awards
LISA GRAHAM wins The American Prize in CONDUCTING (community choral division), 2021—The Dale Warland Award in Choral Conducting
Lisa was selected from applications reviewed recently from across the United States. The American Prize National Nonprofit Competitions in the Performing Arts is the nation’s most comprehensive series of non-profit competitions in the musical and theater arts, unique in scope and structure, designed to recognize and reward the best performing artists, ensembles and composers in the United States based on submitted recordings. The American Prize was founded in 2009 and is awarded annually in many areas of the performing arts.
The American Prize Dale Warland Award in Choral Conducting celebrates the artistry of one of the greatest choral conductors of his generation. Dale Warland has made an indelible impression on contemporary choral music, nationally and internationally. In a quarter-century with The Dale Warland Singers (DWS), he shaped an all-professional a cappella ensemble lauded for its exquisite sound, technical finesse, and stylistic range. From that platform, Warland offered stunning performances of traditional repertory and premiered commissioned works on national and international stages. On July 4, 2021, Dale Warland was the recipient of The American Prize National Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement. The American Prize is delighted to share the legacy of this legendary artist through the re-naming of the choral conducting award in his honor. For more about this special award and its designee, please visit Dale Warland Award.
The artist provided this biographical sketch:
Lisa Graham is in her sixteenth season as Music Director of the Metropolitan Chorale. Under her leadership, the Chorale’s membership has grown in size to more than 100 members who hail from communities throughout Greater Boston. She has shaped the Chorale’s programming to include contemporary, American, and lesser-known works, alongside the masterworks of the repertory. She has enhanced the reputation and reach of the Chorale through collaborations with acclaimed vocalists and instrumentalists, as well as established composers of our day. In a review of her appearance conducting with the Boston Pops, Broadway World praised Dr. Graham as “a spellbinding maestro, balletic in her direction … a great connection with her performers on stage.”
In addition to her role as Music Director for the Metropolitan Chorale, she is the Evelyn Barry Director of Choral Programs at Wellesley College, and a founding member and Lifetime Honorary Member of the National Collegiate Choral Organization.
THE AMERICAN PRIZE—History & Judges
The American Prize National Nonprofit Competitions in the Performing Arts grew from the belief that a great deal of excellent music being made in this country goes unrecognized and unheralded, not only in our major cities, but all across the country: in schools and churches, in colleges and universities, and by community and professional musicians.
With the performing arts in America marginalized like never before, The American Prize seeks to fill the gap that leaves excellent artists and ensembles struggling for visibility and viability. The American Prize recognizes and rewards the best America produces, without bias against small city versus large, or unknown artist versus well-known.
David Katz is the chief judge of The American Prize. Professional conductor, award-winning composer, playwright, actor and arts advocate, he is author of MUSE of FIRE, the acclaimed one-man play about the art of conducting. Joining Katz in selecting winners of The American Prize is a panel of judges as varied in background and experience as we hope the winners of The American Prize will be. Made up of distinguished musicians representing virtually every region of the country, the group includes professional vocalists, conductors, composers and pianists, tenured professors, and orchestra, band and choral musicians.
“Most artists may never win a Grammy award, or a Pulitzer, or a Tony, or perhaps even be nominated,” Katz said, “but that does not mean that they are not worthy of recognition and reward. Quality in the arts is not limited to a city on each coast, or to the familiar names, or only to graduates of a few schools. It is on view all over the United States, if you take the time to look for it. The American Prize exists to encourage and herald that excellence.”
By shining a light on nationally recognized achievement, winners of The American Prize receive world-class bragging rights to use in promotion right at home. “If The American Prize helps build careers, or contributes to local pride, or assists with increasing the audience for an artist or ensemble, builds the donor base, or stimulates opportunities or recruitment for winning artists and ensembles, then we have fulfilled our mission,” Katz said.
The American Prize is administered by Hat City Music Theater, Inc., a 501(c)3 non-profit performing arts organization based in Danbury, Connecticut.
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Lisa Graham, Director
LISA GRAHAM is in her eighteenth season as Music Director of the Metropolitan Chorale. Under her leadership, the Chorale’s membership has grown in size to 100 members who hail from communities throughout the Boston area. Dr. Graham has shaped the Chorale’s programming to include contemporary, American, and lesser-known programs, alongside the masterworks of the repertory. She has enhanced the reputation and reach of the Chorale through collaborations with acclaimed vocalists and instrumentalists, as well as established composers of our day. In a review of her guest appearance conducting the Metropolitan Chorale and the Boston Pops last December, Broadway World praised Dr. Graham as “a spellbinding maestro, balletic in her direction … a great connection with her performers on stage.”
In addition to her role as Music Director for the Metropolitan Chorale, Dr. Graham is the Evelyn Barry Director of Choral Programs at Wellesley College, where she conducts the Wellesley College Choir, Chamber Singers and Choral Scholars in addition to teaching academic courses in the Music Department. Under her direction, the Wellesley College Choirs have toured internationally in Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Portugal, South Korea, and the Baltics in addition to domestic tours annually. In 2010, the Choir was chosen to perform at the American Choral Directors Regional Convention in Philadelphia and appeared again in 2016 as part of the ACDA Eastern Division conference in Boston. Both the Chamber Singers and the Choir are featured in the motion picture Mona Lisa Smile.
Active in the Boston musical scene, she is a frequent conductor with Handel + Haydn Society, directing their Holiday Sing concert for several seasons and enjoying a ten-year history of working with their educational outreach program. She has toured with and served as cover conductor for the Boston Pops for eight seasons. In 2016, she prepared members of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus for Charles Dutoit’s BSO performance of Holst’s The Planets.
Prior to her arrival in the Boston area, Dr. Graham was on the conducting faculty at California State University Northridge. She taught conducting at the University of Southern California where she earned her Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts Degrees, while serving as Assistant Conductor to the USC Thornton Chamber Choir under the direction of Dr. William Dehning. As a vocalist, Dr. Graham has performed as a soprano soloist and has toured extensively.
She is a founding member and former President of the National Collegiate Choral Conductor’s Organization and was honored as a Life Member for her service in 2019. She has served as a Choir Repertoire and Standards Chair for the Massachusetts American Choral Directors Association, as well as the Eastern Division ACDA, and is an active guest conductor, clinician, and festival adjudicator. Dr. Graham is the 2021 winner of the American Prize Dale Warland Award in Choral Conducting. Her Masters and Doctoral Degrees were earned at the University of Southern California.
