Ever since its founding in 1876, The Boston Cecilia has held a central place in the performing arts in this city. Antonín Dvořák led the chorus in Boston’s first performance of his Requiem in 1892. It premiered Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis and later sang it under Max Fiedler at the dedication of Symphony Hall in 1900. Igor Stravinsky, commissioned by his countryman Serge Koussevitsky, composed his Symphony of Psalms for the Boston Symphony when Cecilia in 1930 sang the choral part in the American premiere, six days after its world debut in Switzerland. During those years music director Arthur Fiedler brought Cecilia through the Depression and World War II as the official chorus of the BSO.

Under Donald Teeters, who led the chorus from 1968 to 2012, Cecilia became the first group in Boston to perform Bach and Handel with period instruments, including all but two Handel oratorios. Through the changing times, shifting tastes, and turns of technology, Cecilia has shone in music of diverse periods and styles, and it remains committed to delivering concerts characterized by informed and expressive performances of the great works of choral repertoire, old and new.