With a rich legacy and powerful performances, the club has been building a brotherhood and making memories for generations.
 

By Erin MacLellan

featured in the Ohio State Alumni Magazine, December 2024

The Ohio State Men's Glee Club will perform with the University Glee Club of New York City and the Harvard Glee Club.

Alice Tully Hall, New York City
Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025 at 8 p.m.

Get tickets

With a unanimous decision from the nine-judge panel and an unprecedented lead of 20 points, the Men’s Glee Club won Choir of the World at the 1990 Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod in Great Britain. That year, 130 choirs joined the competition, wowing 100,000 festivalgoers. (Photo from University Archives)

Charlie Thacker was 11 years old when he plopped into a seat in Weigel Auditorium for a concert by the Ohio State Men’s Glee Club. He spotted his father, Dana Thacker (1995, 2005 MBA), on stage decked out in a scarlet jacket. Charlie knew his father loved to sing — Dana often burst into song in random stores or pizza parlors — but Charlie preferred band. He had no interest in chorus. None.

Then the 75 men began singing “Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel,” a barbershop arrangement of a gospel song. “I heard beautiful wide chords ringing through the auditorium. It sounded like a thousand voices singing,” Charlie recalls. “Words can’t do justice to how moved I was. I had no idea a choir could ever sound like that.”

The club’s impact has been reverberating across campus almost since Ohio State’s founding. One of the oldest student organizations, it started simple, with a small group of men forming a glee club, and evolved into an internationally acclaimed ensemble that can bring people to tears, stir school spirit, and even inspire romance, depending on the lyrics and melody.

Today, the club is directed by Robert J. Ward, associate professor and director of choral studies at Ohio State. Ward marvels at the group’s tenacity. “The Men’s Glee Club has survived two world wars, the Korean and Vietnam wars, and two pandemics,” Ward says. “There’s been every reason for the club to crater, but it hasn’t.”

In addition to entertaining Ohio State audiences, the club has sung across the United States and Europe. In 1910, members performed under the baton of John Philip Sousa. In 1957, they sang on national television, and in 1990, they won Choir of the World at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod in Wales, under the direction of then-Professor Jim Gallagher (1968 MA).

The Men's Glee Club is marking its 150th anniversary with a January concert at Lincoln Center in New York. They will sing pieces as varied as a song from the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack and “Ave Maria” by German composer Franz Biebl. The club will perform in April in Columbus with alumni, including Tim Best (1970, 1972 MA, 1981 PhD). He can’t wait to join his “brothers in song.”

Enjoy the rest of the article in the Ohio State Alumni Magazine. 

Support the harmony