Founded in 1874 by William Wallace Gilchrist, Mendelssohn Club has been a major force in choral music in Philadelphia and beyond, with notable historic performances including the 1916 U.S. premiere of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with Leopold Stokowski and The Philadelphia Orchestra.  Other historical premieres include the first performance outside the Soviet Union of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 13, and the Philadelphia premieres of Brahms’ German Requiem, Prokofiev’s Ivan the Terrible, Scriabin’s Symphony No. 1, and Bartók’s Cantata Profana.

Under the dynamic leadership of Alan Harler, now in his 20th season as Music Director, Mendelssohn Club is known for its professional productions of choral/orchestral programs, as well as performances in guest engagements with prominent area orchestras.  Harler’s programs combine new or rarely heard works with more traditional works in order to enhance the presentation of each, and to provide the audience with a familiar context for the new experience.  Dedicated to the ongoing vitality of the choral art, Mendelssohn Club and Alan Harler have made a significant commitment to the commissioning of new choral music, and have commissioned and premiered 36 new works since 1990. This commitment has earned Mendelssohn Club an ASCAP/Chorus America Award for Adventurous Programming.  Mendelssohn Club has also been honored with an award from the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations for “bringing the community together in song” through Harler’s multicultural concert programming.

Mendelssohn Club also explores interdisciplinary concert presentations, including the Philadelphia premiere of Richard Einhorn’s 1994 cantata, Voices of Light, with the 1928 silent film masterpiece by Carl Dreyer, The Passion of Joan of Arc.  A November 2006 co-production of Carmina Burana with the contemporary Leah Stein Dance Company was the first dance collaboration in Mendelssohn Club’s recent history.

Alan Harler, Music Director

In 1988, Alan Harler was named music director of Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia, only the twelfth person to hold that position since the chorus's founding in 1874.  Maestro Harler also serves as Laura H. Carnell Professor and Chairman of Choral Music at Temple University's Esther Boyer College of Music.  He is an active conductor outside of Philadelphia, having performed regularly at the Festival Casals in San Juan, Puerto Rico and the Aspen Choral Institute, and has given master classes and conducted performances in Taiwan and China under the sponsorship of the Taiwan Philharmonic Association.
           
Alan Harler is a strong advocate for new American music.  He was founder and director of the Contemporary Vocal Ensemble of Indiana.  During his tenure with Mendelssohn Club, he has commissioned 36 new compositions, including such major works as Robert Moran's Requiem: Chant du Cygne (1990), Charles Fussell's Specimen Days (1992), Robert Stern's Returning the Song (1994), Cynthia Folio's Touch the Angel's Hand (1994), Jan Krzywicki's Lute Music (1995), James Primosch's Fire Memory/ River Memory (1998), Charles Fussell’s High Bridge (2003), and Andrea Clearfield’s The Golem Psalms (2006).  He conducted Mendelssohn Club in a critically acclaimed recording of the Moran Requiem for Argo/London Records in 1994.  With the Temple University Concert Choir, he has presented many Philadelphia premieres, including Moran's Hagoromo, Alfred Schnittke's Requiem, and Arvo Pärt's Passio Domini Nostri Jesu Christi Secundum Joannem.  Maestro Harler has prepared choruses for many of the country's leading conductors, including Riccardo Muti, Klaus Tennstedt, Charles Dutoit, Zubin Mehta, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Lorin Maazel, David Robertson, and Wolfgang Sawallisch.
           
Harler has led many master classes in conducting, and currently serves as one of five Conducting Mentors with the Conductors Guild, making himself available for consultation with young conductors internationally.