Lunchtime Recital: OU Men’s Glee Club and Women’s Chorus

The OU Men’s Glee Club traces its origins to the earliest days of the University of Oklahoma. In 1903, the first dean of the College of Fine Arts, Gustaf Holmberg transitioned the group into a faculty-led academic ensemble. As such, the OU Men’s Glee Club boasts itself as the oldest musical ensemble in the State of Oklahoma. The term “glee club” is an historical term to denote a collegiate or strictly social men’s choir. Today, the OU Men’s Glee Club is comprised of both undergraduate and graduate students representing a wide variety of majors, performing under the direction of Dr. David Howard. The Glee Club has performed nationally and internationally and regularly performs traditional collegiate glee club repertoire, contemporary male choral works. In 2023, the Glee Club released an album of OU spirit songs for the first time since 1988. Fight for OKU: The Legendary OU Men’s Glee Club, is available on all streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music. The OU Women’s Chorus, under the direction of Dr. David Howard, is a select ensemble dedicated to the performance of compelling repertoire created with the beauty of women’s voices as the focal point, performing music from the Renaissance to the present. The ensemble, formerly known as the Women’s Glee Club and the Women’s Choral Club, is comprised of graduate and undergraduate music and nonmusic majors through competitive audition. The OU Women’s Chorus continues to garner praise for their performances; they performed by invitation at the Oklahoma Music Educators Association annual conference in 2018 and 2024. The OU Women’s Chorus’s recently released album, Voces in Concordia is available on all streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music.