Is the University of Maryland Chorus ever talked about or mentioned these days on the College Park campus? Or have they been completely forgotten about? (I suspect so.) What about the name Dr Paul Traver? (Who?) Does anyone ever talk about him and his legacy? (I suspect not.) Excuse me for not being more optimistic, but the reality is that when one disappears and is not getting any exposure, one is quickly forgotten about, almost as if they never existed.

I wasn’t really clear on why this liquidation happened, so I did some research on this and this is what I found.

I don’t think that the University of Maryland ever liked that the University Chorus was not an all-student Chorus. It was known as a “town and gown” Chorus, meaning auditioned community members and students at the UMD. As I remember, the Chorus was started at the request of the National Symphony Orchestra. In 1967, they asked Dr Paul Traver to form a Chorus for a Messiah performance the NSO wanted to do. As it turned out, the performance received rave reviews and the Chorus decided to stay together, and Dr Traver called it the University of Maryland Chorus which lasted for over 40 years. It was the first choral ensemble in the School of Music. It was Dr Paul Traver’s Chorus. Well, decades later he retired, and the Chorus had always been known as the, “150-voice University of Maryland Chorus” especially during their legacy of Kennedy Center and Wolf Trap performances with the NSO and (inter)national guest orchestras. When the Chorus was ended, they were down to 70 voices — that’s hard to believe; how did that happen? — so I guess the University decided “what better time to end them?” The University said, “The Chorus had accomplished their goals.” So to honour their accomplishments, legacy and achievements, the University said that the name, “University of Maryland Chorus” would be retired and never used again. I found that odd and unfortunate because many universities have a University Chorus. It seems to me that their legacy could be better honoured by keeping the University of Maryland Chorus name and requiring that only University students are allowed to sing with the Chorus per audition. When the Chorus was ended, it was comprised of 2/3s non-students and 1/3 students. That leaves me wondering: What happened that so few students (in the School of Music, for example) were interested in singing with The Maryland Chorus? I think the Chorus was mostly students when I sang with them. Upon their retirement, the University said that no new Chorus would be created for the non-students or community members. They could go and audition for other choral ensembles in the DC Metro area.

The University said they wanted to use financial resources on student-only ensembles. I should point out that non-students were required to pay the University a one-time fee — I think it was about USD$25.00 — to sing with the Chorus. So, as I said, I don’t think the UMD was ever that hot on the Chorus being partially comprised of community members, but they allowed Dr Traver to have his Chorus of students and non-students, and they achieved things that no other Chorus had achieved. They were not at all your typical University Chorus.

It’s unclear to me how they got down to 70 voices from their original 150 voices. Was there a decline in the interest in The Maryland Chorus because they had far fewer engagements with the NSO? Or did the new Chorus Director want a smaller ensemble?

I’m not sure what resources the University was referring to since the choristers paid for their own scores. The Chorus didn’t cost the University anything other than to pay the Chorus Director — and wasn’t he on salary anyway? — and “resources” for lights and heating. What other resources were there, or was that just part of the excuse to end them?

The Maryland Chorus was an outstanding Chorus. They were my favourite. When I lived in the District of Columbia, I compared them to Margaret Hillis’s Chicago Symphony Orchestra Chorus. Yes, they were that good. Absolutely. And one other Chorus was quite jealous of them. I remember a friend of mine who worked in Georgetown at the classical music store saying one day after hearing the Chorus the night before, “That Maryland Chorus can sing the shit out of choral music. They’re the best-sounding but the worst dressed.” I thought they looked fine. They usually wore black pants/long skirts and white shirts with the men in black bow ties and sometimes with black jackets. Dr Traver didn’t often require black jackets because he didn’t want any of the tenors or basses getting overheated and fainting on stage.

I had a hard time leaving the District and moving to San Francisco because I struggled with leaving The Maryland Chorus. I really didn’t want to do that. But, in hindsight, had I stayed in the District, the Chorus was no longer doing what attracted me to them in the first place (or one of the things that attracted me to them, I should say): their many engagements and their symphonic choral repertoire with the NSO during the Doráti legacy and performances with international orchestras. Then I sang with the San Francisco Symphony Chorus which was a similar experience, but we were not The Maryland Chorus since each Chorus is different.

I know that when the Chorus was ended that many people on the College Park campus disagreed with the University’s decision to disband The Maryland Chorus including non-music students. They knew what their University Chorus had achieved and they felt very proud of them, “our University Chorus performs at the Kennedy Center with the National Symphony Orchestra all the time.” One non-music student said that he used to walk by their rehearsal hall every Tuesday night to hear the Chorus and their wonderful sound.