John Raymond Ferris, University Organist and Choirmaster (1958-1990), in rehearsal with the Harvard University Choir. Photo courtesy of Nancy Wilson.
In Honor of John Raymond Ferris
By Edward Elwyn Jones
Gund University Organist and Choirmaster
Harvard’s oldest living tradition, its daily service of Morning Prayers signaling the beginning of each academic day, features music by the Choral Fellows of Harvard University (whose singing the New York Times called “otherworldly and unforgettable”). These sixteen singers provide the music five mornings a week as well as leading the Harvard University Choir in its schedule of services, concerts, and recordings. While a body of singers has always sung the University’s daily services (the Morning Choir), the idea of a more formalized group was instituted by Dr. Murray Forbes Somerville, Gund University Organist and Choirmaster 1990–2003.
Dr. Somerville writes, “During my sabbatical term, in the spring of 1998, spent studying three noted US choirs and three choirs in the other Cambridge, I noticed that special attention was placed on vocal training, several of the choirs requiring private study with approved teachers. Upon my return, I worked on a plan to move in this direction, building on the institution of Morning Choir as the backbone of the Harvard University Choir. We decided on a scheme of choral fellowships, appointed in the spring for the following year, with option to renew on both sides, with an enhanced stipend and mandatory voice lessons paid for by the church. A generous gift from HBS alumnus Buzz McCoy enabled funding for the first three years, and the inaugural class of Choral Fellows took office in the fall or 2001.”
In the fall of 2017, Dr. Somerville proposed that we honor our distinguished predecessor, John Raymond Ferris — whose work with the Harvard University Choir is legendary— by naming the group in his honor (the Ferris Fellows). Dr. Somerville announced our intention to do so at the Uchoir reunion that fall, and he kicked off the campaign with a very generous lead donation. We are now very close to the target of $200,000 which, alongside funds already amassed, will reach the threshold to enable the group’s naming in John’s honor.
As Chairman of the Harvard University Choir Alumni Committee, and long-time Choir Secretary, Jim Farmer writes, “It is fitting to remember John Ferris by naming this fund in his honor to supplement the Ferris plaque outside Appleton Chapel. During his lengthy tenure as University Organist and Choirmaster (1958–1990), John built an extraordinary community of singers (over 750 Uchoir alums), all of whom counted him as mentor, teacher, confidant, and friend.”
It is our hope to complete this campaign by the fall of 2021 when, at the start of October, another Uchoir reunion will be held. In a building whose very stones are a living memorial to Harvard’s dead, and a guardian of its memories and hopes, I can think of no more fitting tribute to our distinguished predecessor, whose extraordinary legacy continues to resonate around our hallowed walls.
For more information about the Choral Fellows and the Harvard University Choir read Choir & Organ's An Uncommon Leap of Faith, published in 2002.
With gratitude to all who donated to the campaign to name the Choral Fellows in memory of John Raymond Ferris (1926-2008),
University Organist and Choirmaster (1958-1990)
Deborah J. Abel (in Honor of Nancy B. Granert)
Susanna Adams
William R. Adams Jr.
Lisa Adedoyin Folashade Adeeko
Ramsey B. Alberson (in Memory of John R. Ferris)
John M. Allen III
Paul L. Althouse Jr.
Alexandra Amati
James I. Armstrong
Alice W. Ballard
Marjory Zoet Bankson
Richard Barnum
Susan Dreyfuss Bartholomew
Dianne Marie Bazell
Charles R. Beaudrot, Jr.
Mary M. Beekman
Ann P. Bernstein
Paul S. Bernstein
Thomas N. Bisson (in Honor of Nancy B. Granert)
Albert L. Blackwell
David Eric Blackwell
Paul A. Blanchard
Robin Bledsoe
Joanne Booth
Colin Crawford Brash
LeeAnn Brash
John R. Brown
Susan King Brown
Matthew J. Butterick
Ariel Pablo Camperi
Juliet M. Carey
Rosemarie Cassels-Brown
Luci V. Cedrone
Michael J. Cedrone (in Honor of Nancy B. Granert)
Charles E. Cerf
Rowland W. Chang
David Bruce Chase
Elliot Chase
Paula Leggett Chase
David W. Christianson
David W. Clark
Timothy B. Cogan
Community Foundation of Greater Memphis
Kathryn Compton (in Honor of Nancy B. Granert)
David L. Conant
Rebecca E. Conant
Charles E. Cook (in Honor of Nancy B. Granert)
Thomas F. Cooke II
Ronald E. Coons
Deborah Vogel Cornwell
Barbara Nobles Crawford
Lisa Goode Crawford
Rudd Adams Crawford
Martina Margarita Crocker
Daniel B. Cunningham (in Memory of Lee Edward Wiederhold)
Margaret G. Cunningham (in Memory of Lee Edward Wiederhold)
David Damrosch
Lori Fisler Damrosch
Maria M. Davidis
A. David Davis
Katharine Beal Davis
Victoria P. de Menil
Bree Dietly
Sharon K. Dobbins-Alberson (in Memory of John R. Ferris)
Cynthia E. Dunbar
Benjamin S. Dunham
Carol R. Dunn
Harriett M. Eckstein (in Honor of Nancy B. Granert)
Edgerly Foundation
William S. Edgerly
The Esmond Nissim Foundation, Inc.
Annmarie Errichetti
Kathy P. Evans
James B. Farmer
Anne Faulkner
Jennifer Morgan Fauth
Maryanne Gail Fenerjian
Adam M. Finkel
Tamzen Flanders
Lora E. Fleming
Zachary Paul Fletcher
David Salomon Flores
David D. Foster (in Memory of Trevor L. Jones)
David Otis Fuller, Jr.
Jerome Fung
Alison Frazier Games
Matthew S. Gamser
Christine N. Gandel
Kathryn E. Geissinger
Henry Gibbons IV
Katherine H. Gibson
Gilbert W. Gimm
Deborah A. Gitin
Reed A. Gochberg
Cynthia Inez Gonzales
Byron Joseph Good
Nicolas Grabar
Nancy B. Granert
Greater Washington Community Foundation
David H. Griesinger
Joan Griewank Colligan
Carolyn Montgomery Guard
Matthew R. Guard
Nicolas Gurtner
Mary Causey Hamilton
Suzanne L. Hamner
W. Easley Hamner
Elizabeth Anne Marie Hansen
Elizabeth Malkin Haviland
Jordan Timothy Haviland
Charles C. Hefling, Jr.
Peter L. Heiman
Mark W. Hessler
Betsy F. Hestnes (in Honor of Harold Hestnes)
Kenneth T. Hoffman
Pamela Joan Hogan
Robert S. Hurlbut Jr. (in Honor of Nancy B. Granert)
Judy Diane Hustead
David P. Illingworth
Ann T. Ingram
David P. Ingram
Isaiah A. Jackson III
Nicholas R. Jones
Keith Benjamin Josephson
Emily Perkins Gantt Kahn
Yoni Kahn
Elizabeth M Keith
Kent M. Keith
William E. Keller
George A. Kent (in Honor of Nancy B. Granert)
Mary Louise Hoffman Kent (in Honor of Nancy B. Granert)
Mark Alvin Keroack
Jeffrey Kimball
Mary Elizabeth Kirk
David Armin Klaus
Pauline Whittinghill Klyce Pennoyer
Ellen Cooper Klyce
Walter Brigham Klyce
Roy F. Knight
Colleen C. Krebs
Eric W. Kristensen
Leo Lanzillo
Meredith A. Larson
Nicholas Lasoff (in Honor of Nancy B. Granert)
Vance Lauderdale III
Royal W. Leith III
Avery Elizabeth Lindeman
Felicia Lipson
Warren M. Little
Seth Lloyd
William E. Lobkowicz
Loring Wolcott & Coolidge Charitable Trust
Margaret Ruth Loss
Gwyneth E. Loud (in Honor of Nancy B. Granert)
Kevin J. Madigan
Carol Magenau (in Memory of John R. Ferris)
Sarah Manguso
Jessica Leigh Mark Welch
Linda Cecelia Martucci
Max Taro Masuda-Farkas
Sarah Matthews
Eugene C. McAfee (in Honor of Nancy B. Granert)
Kristin Krebill McCabe (in Honor of Nancy B. Granert)
Barbara M. McCoy
Bowen H. McCoy
Lenora E. McCroskey
David S. McIntosh
Lisa Afua Serwah Mensah
Frederick David Metzger
Timothy W. Meyer
Jasmine Ying Miller
Martha L. Moore-Keish (in Honor of Nancy B. Granert)
Carla L. Mortensen
Seth W. Moulton
Carl F. Muller
Jane C. Munro
Drew Nagele
Robin Locke Nagele
Laura Lee Nash
David R. Nelson
Patricia Nelson
John Eric Noran
Nellie Hauke Ohr (in Honor of Nancy B. Granert)
Felton Owens
Susan R. Owens
Lambrini Papangelis
Barbara Parton
Barbara A. B. Patterson
Stephanie A. Paulsell
Robert M. Pennoyer II
Ronald C. Perera (in Honor of Nancy B. Granert)
Sandra L. Perkins
Jeanette L. Pfaff
Kurt Andrew Pocsi
Adriana Clare Pohl
Laura S. Pruitt
John Allen Quintus
Sharon L. Regan (in Honor of Nancy B. Granert)
John Regier
Kathryn L. Reichard
Richard D. Roark
Daniel Vehe Robinson
Diana Rowan Rockefeller
Wendy Rolfe-Dunham
Alison Taylor Rosenblum
Cynthia W. Rossano (in Honor of Nancy B. Granert)
Kenneth R. Rossano (in Honor of Nancy B. Granert)
Katherine Kyung-Mi Schick
Carl B. Schmidt
Elizabeth A. Schnell
Jacob M. Shapiro
William Shebar
Gail B. Shulman
Rosemarie D. Siegel
David W. Siktberg
Judith R. Sizer
Arnold Lee Snyder, Jr.
Patricia Ward Snyder
Hazel B. Somerville (in Honor of Nancy B. Granert)
Murray F. Somerville (in Honor of Nancy B. Granert)
J. Andrew Spindler
Marga Susan Sproul
David M. Stetson (in Honor of Nancy B. Granert)
Anthony Y. Strike
Kathryn W. Strike
Shona W. Sudarshan
Laura Swain
Victoria Harding Swerdlow
Tricia I. Swift
Ildiko Szabo
Haofeng Edward Tang
Valerie R. Taylor
Christopher Thorpe
Liz Tokar
M. Kathryn Tolbert
Christine A. Triska (in Honor of Nancy B. Granert)
Alexis Z. Tumolo
Paul N. Tweeten
Steven B. Ujifusa
Rosalind U. van Stolk
Marjorie K. Vanderhill
Matthew Vanderhill
Lee D. Vincent
Alexandra Vinograd
Evon Z. Vogt III
Mary Anschuetz Vogt
Katherine L. S. Von Kohorn
Richard K. Wagner
M. C. Wall
Nellesa Renee Walthour (in Honor of Nancy B. Granert)
Jacqueline Wang
William D. Warner
Nathaniel F. Watson (in Memory of John R. Ferris)
Randall E. Wedin
Randolph Nelson Wentworth
Sue Fisher Wentworth
Mary T. White
Barbara Breasted Whitesides
George M. Whitesides
Constance Williams
Preston N. Williams
M. Jane Williamson
Michael T. Wilson
Christoph J. Wolff
Patricia E. Woo
Jason G. Wood
Margaret T. Wright
Cynthia A. Young
David Yuan (in Honor of Nancy B. Granert)
Anka Zaremba
Robert W. Zarrett