Cheryl Frazes Hill
Chorus Director, Margaret Hawkins Chorus Director Chair

Dr. Frazes Hill is now in her sixth season as director of the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus. In addition to her role in Milwaukee, she is the associate conductor of the Chicago Symphony Chorus. Frazes Hill is Professor Emeritus at Roosevelt University’s Chicago College of Performing Arts, where she served for 20 years as director of choral activities. During the 2022.23 season, Frazes Hill will prepare the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra for classical performances of Brahms’s Gesang der Parzen, Schicksalslied, and Academic Festival Overture, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Holst’s The Planets, and Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony.
In her role as the Chicago Symphony Chorus associate conductor, she has prepared the chorus for Maestros Boulez, Barenboim, Levine, Mehta, Tilson Thomas, Conlon, Alsop, and many others. She most recently prepared the Chicago Symphony Chorus for performances of Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloe, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen. Recordings of Frazes Hill’s chorus preparations on the Chicago Symphony Orchestra label include Beethoven, A tribute to Daniel Barenboim and Chicago Symphony Chorus: A 50th anniversary Celebration.
Under her direction, the Roosevelt University choruses have been featured in prestigious and diverse events, including appearances at national and regional music conferences, and performances with professional orchestras including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Sinfonietta, the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and the Illinois Philharmonic. The Roosevelt Conservatory Chorus received enthusiastic reviews for their American premiere of Jacob Ter Velduis’s Mountaintop. Other recent performances have included the internationally acclaimed production of Defiant Requiem and appearances with The Rolling Stones during a recent United States concert tour.
Frazes Hill received her Doctorate in Conducting and her Master of Music degree from Northwestern University and two undergraduate degrees from the University of Illinois. An accomplished vocalist, she is a featured soloist, nominated for a Grammy Award in the CBS Masterworks release Mozart, Music for Basset Horns.
An award-winning conductor/educator, Frazes Hill has received the ACDA Harold Decker Conducting Award, the Commendation of Excellence in Teaching from the Golden Apple Foundation, the Illinois Governor’s Award, Roosevelt University’s Presidential Award for Social Justice, the Northwestern University Alumni Merit Award, and the Outstanding Teaching Award from the University of Chicago, among many others.
Frazes Hill’s newly released book, Margaret Hillis: Unsung Pioneer, a biography of the famed female conductor, is available on Amazon and in bookstores and is currently a finalist for a Midwest Book Award. She is nationally published on topics of her research in music education and choral conducting. Frazes Hill is a frequent guest conductor and guest speaker, most recently featured with conductor Marin Alsop and Ravinia Festival’s Breaking Barriers: Women on the Podium.