Hillis, Margaret (Eleanor)

Hillis, Margaret (Eleanor), esteemed American conductor and teacher; b. Kokomo, Ind., Oct 1, 1921; d. Evanston, 111., Feb. 4, 1998. She studied piano as a child and played the tuba and double bass in school bands. After taking her B.A. at Ind. Univ. (1947), she studied choral conducting at the Juilliard School of Music in N.Y. (1947-49) and with Robert Shaw, who engaged her as his assistant (1952-53). In 1950 she became music director of the American Concert Choir and Orch. in N.Y. From 1952 to 1968 she was conductor of the chorus of the American Opera Soc. there, and also was choral director of the N.Y.C. Opera (1955-56). From 1956 to 1960 she was music director of the N.Y. Chamber Soloists. In 1957 Fritz Reiner, music director of the Chicago Sym. Orch., asked Hillis to organize its chorus. She conducted it with great distinction until her retirement in 1994. She also was choral director of the Santa Fe (N.Mex.) Opera (1958-59), music director of the Kenosha (Wise.) Sym. Orch. (1961-68), resident conductor of the Chicago Civic Orch. (1967-90), conductor of the Cleveland Orch. Chorus (1969-71), music director of the Elgin (111.) Sym. Orch. (1971-85), and conductor of the San Francisco Sym. Chorus (1982-83). From 1950 to 1960 she taught at the Union Theological Seminary in N.Y., and also at the Juilliard School of Music (1951-53). After serving as director of choral activities at Northwestern Univ. (1970-77), she was a visiting prof. at the Ind. Univ. School of Music in Bloomington (from 1978). She also led various master classes in choral conducting. In 1954 she founded and became director of the American Choral Union. In 1994 she was honored with the Theodore Thomas Award in recognition of her long and distinguished career.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire