15 Facts About Margaret Hillis

Margaret Eleanor Hillis was an American conductor.

Margaret Hillis was the founder and first director of the Chicago Symphony Chorus.

Margaret Hillis began to study the piano at the age of five and continued with several other instruments, including woodwinds, brass, and double bass.

Margaret Hillis made her conducting debut, while still a student, as assistant conductor of her high school orchestra at the Tudor Hall School in Indianapolis, IN.

Margaret Hillis later became assistant conductor of Shaw's Collegiate Chorale.

In 1950, Margaret Hillis founded the Tanglewood Alumni Chorus, which later performed as the New York Concert Choir and Orchestra.

Margaret Hillis worked as a choral conductor for the New York City Opera and the American Opera Society.

Margaret Hillis was founder and music director of the American Choral Foundation, an organization that sought to raise the standards of choral performance.

In 1992, Margaret Hillis conducted the Interlochen Arts Academy Orchestra and Choir as part of the Mozart Bicentennial Celebration in Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center, New York.

Margaret Hillis was an older sister to Elwood "Bud" Hillis, who served as Representative to the United States Congress from Kokomo, Indiana for eight terms.

Margaret Hillis was the first woman to conduct the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, first on a special concert in November 1957 and later on subscription concerts in December 1958, leading the orchestra and chorus in Honegger's Christmas Cantata.

Margaret Hillis captured nationwide attention on October 31,1977, when she substituted on short notice for the ailing Sir Georg Solti, conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in a performance of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No 8 in New York's Carnegie Hall.

Margaret Hillis won nine Grammy Awards from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences for best choral performance.

Margaret Hillis worked with community and regional orchestras, and was director for several years of the Kenosha Civic and the Elgin Symphony Orchestras.

Margaret Hillis regularly conducted the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the training orchestra of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.