"Teeters and his classy cast and players offered the first truly satisfying performance I’ve heard... If I ever forget what a superb programmer he's been over his 39 years of directing Boston Cecilia, remind me of this concert."

-Lloyd Schwartz, The Boston Phoenix, Apr. 5, 2007. Read the review!

Introducing New Music: Recent and Right Now, presenting the music of up-and-coming composers, in collaboration with Scott Wheeler. Annual series debuts in June 2008!

The Boston Cecilia is recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as a non-profit corporation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Contributions to The Boston Cecilia are fully deductible to the extent permitted by law. A copy of our most recent report to the IRS, on Form 990, is available upon request. Email us to request copy.

Donald Teeters, conductor, is now beginning his 40th season as music director of The Boston Cecilia. He is in the forefront of historically-oriented New England musicians. He was the first Boston choral conductor to engage players of period instruments for pre-19th century works. He conducted the Boston period-instrument premiere of Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers in 1979, and the first American period-instrument performance of Bach’s St. John Passion in 1981. In 1982, Teeters and Cecilia began what has become over time a comprehensive survey of Handel’s major dramatic works for chorus. These period instrument performances have elicited the highest praise from public and critics alike and have played an important role in establishing Boston as a major world center for stylistic Handel interpretations and informed performance practice. In 2005, Teeters and Cecilia gave the Boston premiere and only the second US performance of Handel’s classical one act dramatic cantata, The Choice of Hercules.

Teeters has also led Cecilia in significant explorations of English music, especially the music of Benjamin Britten, and American twentieth century repertoire, including premieres and commissions from important New England composers. In 2002, he conducted the first performance of Daniel Pinkham’s Christmas Jubilations, a work composed for and dedicated to Teeters and Cecilia. Music by Donald Martino, John Harbison, Robert Sirota, James Woodman and others have figured prominently in recent programming. In 1994, Teeters led the world premiere of Scott Wheeler’s The Angle of the Sun, which was commissioned by Cecilia in honor of Teeters’ 25th anniversary as director. In April 2007, Teeters led the Boston Cecilia and a distinguished cast of soloists in a Jordan Hall concert performance of Wheeler’s one-act opera The Construction of Boston, a performance that was recorded for release on the Naxos label. Earlier Teeters/Cecilia recording collaborations appear on the Koch International and Newport Classic labels.

While still an undergraduate at New England Conservatory, Maestro Teeters was offered the music leadership position at St. Andrew’s Church in Wellesley where he served for ten years. Since 1967, he has been the principal church musician at All Saints Parish in Brookline. In 1964, Alfred Nash Patterson offered Teeters the position of keyboardist for Chorus pro Musica and later added associate conductor to the title. During the four years Teeters worked for and with Patterson, numerous opportunities to perform at the keyboard and as conductor arose, including CpM performances in Symphony Hall, in Kresge Auditorium at MIT, at the Harvard Club. Teeters also assisted Patterson in preparation for several CpM performances with the Boston Symphony, including a St. John Passion and Lohengrin at Tanglewood. Patterson was instrumental in obtaining a Tanglewood Fellowship for Teeters for the 1967 season.

In 1967, Thomas Dunn invited Teeters to join him as associate conductor and rehearsal keyboardist in Dunn’s first season as music director of the Handel & Haydn Society. The following year Donald Teeters was appointed music director of The Cecilia Society (now The Boston Cecilia) and for several years continued his work with both institutions. He was a member of the New England Conservatory organ department faculty from 1970 to 2002, and for the Spring 2007 semester, Teeters rejoined the Conservatory faculty to lead a graduate seminar in Handel’s English language dramatic works. Teeters received that institution’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2004 and, in 2005, Teeters received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Alfred Nash Patterson Foundation.