From his early beginnings as a glee club recruiter for the well known bandleader
and TV presenter Fred Waring, Robert Shaw, then a postgraduate from Pomona
College, rose through the ranks to become America's most respected and best
known choral conductor.
In 1941 Shaw founded the Collegiate Chorale, a symphonic choir based in New York
which still exists today. In the 1940s the choir was noted, and often
criticised, for its liberal policy on racial integration. Upon hearing the choir
perform Beethoven's 'Ninth Symphony' the Italian conductor and notorious musical
perfectionis...