Considered an institution among his choral contemporaries, Norman Scribner is one of Washington's most versatile and respec­ted musical figures. In 1965, Mr. Scribner founded The Choral Arts Society of Washington, an ensemble of 190 singers who perform under his direction at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in regular season subscription concerts. As artistic director of one of the major symphonic choruses in the United States for over 41 years, he has led and prepared The Choral Arts Society for numerous national television appearances, performances with the world’s leading orchestras, and several recordings and international tours performing the standard repertoire, world premieres, and new works commissioned by the Society.

At the request of Leonard Bernstein, Mr. Scribner assembled a professional choir to perform in the world premiere of Mass for the opening of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in 1971.  The choir returned to the Kennedy Center numerous times, most memorably for the Center’s Tenth Anniversary concert broadcast on PBS and recorded on the Columbia label.  The Choir recorded Haydn’s Mass in Time of War in 1973 under the direction of Leonard Bernstein, and also recorded on the Columbia label.

An accomplished pianist, Mr. Scribner was the staff keyboardist for the National Symphony Orchestra from 1963-1967. He has also served as guest conductor of the Sym­phony on several occasions. During his distinguished career, Mr. Scribner was a member of the Choral Panel of the National Endowment for the Arts, produced the annual free Christ­mas and Spring Festivals at the Kennedy Center, served as cho­rus master of the Washington Opera, prepared the Handel Festival Chorus for eleven seasons, and conducted Alexander's Feast as part of the European Symposium Choral Masterworks Tour in England.

Norman Scribner is also well known as a composer for his choral symphony, Love Divine, commissioned by the United Methodist Church and premiered at the church's General Conference in Baltimore with Scribner con­ducting, and his choral work, Song for St. Cecilia, performed at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Norman Scribner’s musical presence in Washington began immediately after graduating with honors from Baltimore’s prestigious Peabody Conser­vatory, when he became conductor of the American Uni­versity Chorale, assistant or­ganist of Washington Cathedral, and organ­ist-choirmaster of St. Alban's Epis­copal Church, a position he still holds. Over his expansive career, he has held teaching positions at Amer­ican University, George Washington Univer­sity, and the Col­lege of Church Musicians of Washington National Cathedral.

Throughout Mr. Scribner’s remarkable career, The Choral Arts Society of Washington was honored as the first choral group to receive a performance grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, toured internationally including the Spoleto Festival in Italy, the opening of the world-renowned Henry Wood Promenade Festival in London with the BBC Orchestra at the invitation of Leonard Slatkin, and performed in Moscow’s Red Square with the National Symphony Orchestra under Mstislav Rostropovich to an audience of  100,000 people.

Along with the BBC and National Symphony Orchestras, Mr. Scribner has prepared Choral Arts for performances with the New York Philharmonic, Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Israel, Cracow, and Paris Opera Orchestras. Choral Arts has performed works in over twenty languages including Czech, Finnish, Greek, and Yiddish, and has performed virtually the entire standard choral repertoire in addition to countless commissions, Washington premieres and world premieres.

Choral Arts performs annually for the nationally televised Kennedy Center Honors and Capitol Fourth Celebration, as well as the annual Choral Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., featuring area musicians and dancers on stage at the Kennedy Center in honor of Dr. King’s legacy. These performances have been broadcast nationally on National Public Radio stations on  “Celebrating the Choral Arts” with Martin Goldsmith and Norman Scribner.

The chorus has also performed for many special events in the Washington area, throughout the United States and abroad. In 1968, Mr. Scribner and Choral Arts joined the nation in paying tribute to slain political leader Senator Robert F. Kennedy, performing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial as Kennedy’s funeral procession passed by. Choral Arts has also performed for President Reagan and Carter’s inaugurals, Maestro Mstislav Rostropovich’s 60th Birthday Gala Celebration, and at the Bicentennial of the US Constitution. Society members were even invited to test the acoustics of Washington’s subway system before it was built. Donning hardhats, choristers performed the famous “echo chorus” from Handel’s Alexander Feast, including the phrase “the vaulted roofs rebound.”

Through his work with Choral Arts and beyond, Norman Scribner’s work has greatly influenced the quality of musical life in the nation’s capital for the last 40 years. As a testament to that statement, in 1984 Washingtonian Magazine named Mr. Scribner their “Washingtonian of the Year.” This season Choral Arts celebrates Maestro Scribner’s contributions with a special 40th Anniversary Season featuring a selection of the most beloved choral masterpieces of all time.