LISA GRAHAM, Conductor

Dr. Graham is the Evelyn Barry Director of Choral Programs at Wellesley College, where she conducts the Wellesley College Choir, Chamber Singers, and Choral Scholars, in addition to teaching academic courses in the Music Department. Under her direction, the Wellesley College Choirs have toured internationally in Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Portugal and South Korea, in addition to domestic tours annually. In 2010, the Choir was chosen to perform at the American Choral Director’s Regional Convention in Philadelphia and appeared as part of the ACDA Eastern Division conference in Boston. Both the Chamber Singers and the Choir are featured in the motion picture, Mona Lisa Smile. Lisa Graham is in her thirteenth season as Music Director of the Metropolitan Chorale. Under her leadership, the Chorale’s membership has grown in size to 100 members who hail from

communities throughout the Greater Boston area. Dr. Graham has shaped the Chorale’s programming to include contemporary, American, and lesser-known programs, alongside the masterworks of the repertory. She has enhanced the reputation and reach of the Chorale through collaborations with acclaimed vocalists and instrumentalists, as well as established composers of our day. In a review of her appearance conducting the Metropolitan Chorale and the Boston Pops, Broadway World praised Dr. Graham as “a spellbinding maestro, balletic in her direction … a great connection with her performers on stage.”

Active in the Boston musical scene, she is a vocal advisor and frequent conductor with Handel and Haydn Society, directing their Holiday Sing concert for a second season last year and enjoying a ten-year history of working with their educational outreach program. Additionally, she is a founding member and former President of the National Collegiate Choral Conductor’s Organization, has served as a Choir Repertoire and Standards Chair for the Massachusetts American Choral Director's Association, and is an active guest conductor, clinician, and festival adjudicator.

Prior to her arrival in the Boston area, Dr. Graham was on the conducting faculty at California State University Northridge. She taught conducting at the University of Southern California where she earned her Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts Degrees, while serving as Assistant Conductor to the USC Thornton Chamber Choir under the direction of Dr. William Dehning. As a vocalist, Dr. Graham has performed as a soprano soloist and has toured extensively.

Dr. Graham recently returned from London after research leave from Wellesley College spring semester.