Robert Page, Music Director Emeritus

Dr. PageGrammy Award-winning Robert Page (April 27, 1927-August 7, 2016) was the Music Director Emeritus of The Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh.  In May 2013, he retired from his position as the Director of Choral Studies and Paul Mellon Professor of Music and Director of Choral Studies at Carnegie Mellon University, where he was named a University Professor, the highest distinction their faculty can achieve.  He was named Pennsylvania’s Artist of the Year in 1998, and has been dubbed “a national treasure” by the American Record Review.

The Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh achieved local, national and international acclaim under his direction. Works performed under his baton include Shostakovich’s Babi Yar; Britten’s War Requiem; Berlioz’s Requiem; Orff’s Carmina Burana; Mendelssohn’s Elijah; Haydn’s Creation; and Goodbye, My Fancy by Ned Rorem.

As a conductor of symphony orchestras, opera and music theater productions, Page conducted many of the major orchestras of the United States, including Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Houston, Dallas, Louisiana, Milwaukee, Virginia and San Antonio, as well as the opera companies of Cleveland, Kansas City and Toledo. In Europe, he conducted the Royal Philharmonic Opera Orchestra (London) and the Luxembourg RTL Orchestra at the Echternach Festival.  In June, 1995, Page conducted the Czech State Philharmonic of Brno and The Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh in performances of the Beethoven Missa Solemnis in Brno, Prague, Czech Republic and Cracow, Poland and the Budapest Concert Orchestra (MAV) with The Mendelssohn Choir in a performance of the Verdi Requiem in Budapest, Hungary. In 1997, Page was invited to conduct the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra in performances of Carmina Burana in the Czech Republic and Vienna. Page also conducted the Robert Page Singers, soloists and the Budapest Concert Orchestra in performances of Haydn’s Creation, in Budapest, at the Liszt Academy and in St. Stephan’s Cathedral in Vienna, Austria.

Active in the national choral orchestra scene, Page served on the choral, festival and overview panels of the National Endowment for the Arts. He was a founding member of Chorus America, the service organization for independent choruses, and served as its president for three years.