Chorus Austin

History

The Austin Civic Chorus was founded in 1964. The Austin Vocal Arts Ensemble, formally known as the Austin Handel-Haydn Society, was founding in 1985. In 1999, the two ensembles merged to be managed and operated by a newly formed non-profit corporation, Chorus Austin. Each of the ensembles maintains its own season of performances, musical style, and membership. The Chorus Austin Consort, a subset of the Austin Vocal Arts Ensemble, was founded in 1996 to provide extra performance opportunities outside of the regularly scheduled concert season. Consort performs a variety of repertoire atypical of the other ensembles.

This project is funded and supported in part by the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division and by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts and an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art.