The Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia—the Harler years: an examination of Alan Harler’s twenty-seven–year tenure as the conductor of the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia

The Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia, one of America’s oldest community music organizations, is currently completing its 146th season. Founded in 1873, the Mendelssohn Club has participated in significant performances around the world, worked with composers of great renown such as Sergei Rachmaninoff and Krzyzsztof Penderecki, and premiered works by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Gustav Mahler, and Vincent Persichetti. It further continues to premiere and commission compositions by contemporary composers. Alan Harler, who led the Mendelssohn Club from 1988 to 2015, pioneered this commissioning work beginning in 1990.

During his tenure with the Mendelssohn Club, Harler reimagined how a semi-professional community chorus could shape music-making in Philadelphia. In an effort to rebuild and develop the organization, he rewrote the mission statement, and based his leadership and changes to the organization on this new mission. He restructured the board of directors, instituted new programs including educational and social justice initiatives, and added a core of professional singers. Additionally, he completely overhauled the financial structure of the organization, paying off over $60,000 of debt and building to an annual operating budget of roughly $500,000. When Harler began, the Mendelssohn Club was at a crossroads. Due to this debt and internal struggles, members were not sure if the ensemble would survive. Through Harler’s visionary artistic and organizational leadership, the Mendelssohn Club grew to be an incredibly strong and internationally respected organization once again.

As primary source material, this document utilizes interviews with Harler and previously unexplored archival documents held by the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia.