Donald Nally

A significant operatic and choral conductor for many years, Donald Nally became prominent in the world of contemporary music with the formation of his small choir, The Crossing. He has also held directorial positions with groups in the U.K. Nally and The Crossing earned a Grammy nomination for its 2024 album Ochre. Nally was born in Hilltown, Pennsylvania, on December 27, 1960. He attended the University of Cincinnati Conservatory, majoring in music education, but switched to conducting for his Master's from Westminster Choir College and to the University of Illinois for his doctorate. For most of his career, Nally has combined academic posts with the leadership of professional choirs. He served as artist-in-residence at Shorter University and Washington and Lee University before forming his first choir, the Bridge Ensemble, in 1996. Though the group was disbanded for financial reasons, its performances in the Philadelphia area were popular and led to Nally's appointment as artistic director of the Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia in 1998. Remaining there until 2002, Nally then left the U.S. for a stint at the Welsh National Opera and also directed choirs for performances by the Philharmonia Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Britain. Nally took a post as chorus master of the Lyric Opera of Chicago in 2006 and also founded a second small choir, The Crossing, that year. The Crossing grew out of an informal performance by Nally and a group of his friends, and it rapidly gained a strong reputation for its adventurous programming. In 2010, Nally found it impractical to continue both his work in Chicago and his leadership of The Crossing and moved back to Philadelphia to focus on the latter. With The Crossing, Nally has recorded for the Innova, Navona, Albany, and ECM labels. An early The Crossing recording was 2011's It Is Time, released on the Navona Records label. In 2012, he formed a third small choral group, BCE (Bienen Contemporary/Early Vocal Ensemble), dedicated to the exploration of connections between 21st century music and music of the Renaissance. Nominated nine times for Grammy Awards, Nally won the Best Choral Performance Grammy in 2018, 2019, and 2023 (the latter for the album Born). The year 2018 also saw the release of Nally's album If There Were Water, with The Crossing, featuring works by Stratis Minakakis and Gregory W. Brown, on Innova. In 2019, Nally led The Crossing on Voyages: Benjamin C.S. Boyle, Robert Convery, and Kile Smith: The Arc in the Sky, both of which earned Grammy nominations. He remained vigorously active through the COVID-19 pandemic, releasing three albums each year with The Crossing in 2020 and 2021. In 2024, Nally and The Crossing released the album Ochre, which received another Grammy nomination. By that time, Nally had commissioned more than 180 new works and released well over 30 albums. Nally served for more than a decade as a professor at the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University, retiring in 2023. ~ James Manheim, Rovi