Once upon a time, that is, in October 1958, IMF Deputy Director Charles “Chick” Merwin chaired a “Meeting to Discuss Music in the Fund.”  The previous December, he and Phil Thorsen, Director of Administration at the IMF, organized a group of 15 IMF staff to sing Christmas carols during the annual IMF Dance.   This led to strong interest in forming a group more permanent than an annual get-together of carolers.  Within a month, the IMF Chorus had 31 singers.  The first non-Christmas concert took place in the spring of 1959, an evening of entertainment which included choral music in Norwegian, Czech, and German, as well as a solo recital of songs, music by a clarinet, piano, and cello trio, and solo guitar. 

Fifty years later, the World Bank-IMF Chorus continues the tradition of holding twice-yearly concerts, in spring and in winter.  The Chorus currently has over 120 members and its concerts are well-attended by staff, family, friends, and others in the neighboring community.  

In 1959, World Bank and IFC staff were invited to join the IMF Chorus although the name was changed to the Fund-Bank Chorus only in 1961.  Later it was known as the World Bank – International Monetary Fund Choral Society, and now, the World Bank - IMF Chorus.  No matter what its name, its reach extends well beyond the Bretton Woods institutions.  Members also include staff from the Bank-Fund Staff Federal Credit Union, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Organization of American States, spouses and children of staff members, retirees, and other music-lovers from the nearby community such as George Washington University and the US State Department.

The Chorus repertoire is as varied as its membership.  Among the many works in its 100+ programs over the last 50 years are compositions such as Mozart’s Requiem, Gloria by Vivaldi, Carmina Burana by Carl Orff, Mass in G by Schubert, Christmas Oratorio by Bach, semi-staged productions of Iolanthe and The Pirates of Penzance by Gilbert and Sullivan, an all-Russian concert, opera choruses, Broadway music, and folk songs and Christmas carols from around the world.  Accompanying musicians have included the Bank-Fund Orchestra composed of staff members, music students from Catholic University and the University of Maryland, and professional instrumentalists from the Washington area.

In its half-century history, the Chorus has had 11 directors; some of them staff members, others, professionals in the local music community (or both).  The first director was Jan Wunsch, organist and choirmaster at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.  In 1960 the position was held by P.M. Jayarajan, an Alternate Executive Director from Sri Lanka.  A violinist with the National Symphony Orchestra, he also founded the Bank-Fund Orchestra which performed together with the Chorus in many of its concerts.

From 1961 to 1970, the Chorus was led by Jack Upper, who brought his experience both as soloist with the Oberlin and Yale glee Clubs and as director of a church choir in Ann Arbor, Michigan.   Jack, whose long career at the Bank included positions in the Industry Department, EMENA region, and EDI, retired in1985 but remains active as the longest surviving member of the Chorus.  He continues to sing with the group as a tenor, and even returned as guest conductor when the Chorus sang at the World Bank’s 60^th anniversary celebration. 

In January 1971 Jean Tarnewiecki, the spouse of a World Bank staff member, took over the position of director.  She was an experienced cellist and choral director who had conducted choruses in Peru for 23 years.  Under her decade-long tenure the Bank-Fund Chorus grew to as many as 80 members.  In the following 2-3 years Joya Bovingdon Cox conducted the Chorus.  She was director of Singers for All Seasons, a chamber chorus within the Choral Arts Society of Washington.  From 1984-88 the Chorus was led by Nevilla Ottley, a Washington-area radio show host, music teacher, and director of other choral groups.  For the December 1985 Christmas concert, the internationally-acclaimed conductor Michael Morgan accepted Ms. Ottley’s invitation to be guest conductor.

In 1988 Charles Kelly, an Operations Officer with the IMF Treasurer’s Department, directed the orchestra, and in 1989 he became director of the Chorus.  A computer specialist at the Fund, he was a professionally trained musician, holding a Master’s degree in Music from Florida State University, where he studied conducting for three years. 

In 1993, Jenny Craley Bland stepped in.  She had been a singer in the alto section (since 1974) and then the Chorus’ accompanist before becoming its music director. In addition to serving the Chorus, she led a madrigal group, Jenny and Friends, which performed lesser-known Christmas carols in the Bank’s lobbies during the holiday season.  She retired from the World Bank in 1995 after over three decades working as a translator.  At the same time she retired from the Chorus, but returned as its Assistant Music Director and Rehearsal Accompanist in 2003.  She remains in this position while continuing numerous other musical activities in the Washington area.

When Jenny retired, the position of musical director was offered to Diana Saez, spouse of World Bank staffer Ernesto Cuadra.  A native of Puerto Rico, she is the founder and artistic director of Coral Cantigas, the only chamber choir in the Washington DC metropolitan area dedicated to the performance of choral music from Spain, Latin America and the Caribbean.  She has conducted a number of other choirs in the region and has won several awards for her contribution to the arts.  She has a Master of Education from Harvard University and a Master of Choral Conducting from Temple University, and recently has gone back to school to work on her Doctorate in Musical Arts at the University of Maryland. 

Diana is excited about being part of the 50^th anniversary of the Chorus.  “I feel that the Chorus should be a source of pride for everyone involved with the World Bank and IMF”, she says.  “After all, the Chorus has survived for 50 years in spite of changes in administration, in music direction, and in membership.  It has thrived even though we don’t have the best rehearsal conditions:  people work so hard; they hardly have time to come to rehearsal; they are sent on three-week missions; we rehearse for only a little less than an hour every week.  Still, people come with a lot of energy and want to make music together.  We should also appreciate the fact that the group is so diverse:  staff from all levels and sectors of the bank, retirees, spouses, and even friends from neighboring organizations like the IADB, OAS, and George Washington University, and from many different countries.  I am proud and excited to be part of this celebration.”  Diana has showcased the cultural diversity of the Chorus in several concerts featuring songs from different countries.

Diana’s energy, enthusiasm and sense of humor have helped to increase the ranks of the Chorus and encouraged members to stay loyal to the group in spite of their very busy lives.  “Diana is a key asset of the chorus community.  She reinvigorated the Chorus and strengthened its identity.  Her professional excellence and dynamic style holds this identity together,” says Sabine Palmreuther of the World Bank Institute.

The Chorus rehearses once a week during lunch hour on Tuesdays at the United Church just around the corner from the Bank and IMF.  It’s easy to join – no audition is required.  The Chorus is fortunate to have among its ranks several highly talented and experienced singers who sing or have sung as soloists and/or with professional or semi-professional choirs in Washington and abroad.  A number of members sing with theater groups, church choirs, play musical instruments, or take voice lessons.  However, many have no musical experience other than being with the WB-IMF Chorus.

For many members, that one hour of Mozart, Bach, or Gilbert and Sullivan is a welcome break from office routine and the daily stress of working in the business of economic development.  “Aside from the music, the people, and the friendships, for me singing in the choir is an opportunity for catharsis from the daily rhythm of a job in the Bank.  The harmonies and the melodies have an immediate effect on me:  I’m renewed!” says Guillermo Almada, a Senior Resource Management Officer for the Latin America / Caribbean Region who has been singing with the Chorus since 1989.  “Another angle (and funny the Bank has not picked up on this), singing in a choir is one of the best practices for team building.  Regardless of your status and position at work, your input (your voice) is as important as everyone else’s.” 

In addition to Jack Upper – who has been with the Chorus for almost its entire 50-year history -- there are a handful of current members who have been with the group for 20 years or more.  They include Hayley Gorris (1971) Rose-Marie Harris (1973), Michael Niebling (1977), Anthony Ody (1977), Jill Barr (1979), Jeanette Murphy (1980), Helen Toni (1982), Kathryn Scott (1986), and Diana Masone (1987).  “I enjoy singing with all the friends I have made in the Chorus over the years, and being given the wonderful opportunity on so many occasions to perform solos”, says Helen Toni.   “I come out humming every time!  I like seeing the same friends week after week,” says Jill Barr. 

Lorraine Nagy, a member since 1989, has been Chairman of the Chorus since 2002.  A Country Health Specialist at the Bank, she was inspired to join the Chorus after hearing its performance of Handel’s Messiah at the 1988 Christmas Concert.  She had just had a baby girl and wanted to sing to her, so joining the Chorus seemed like an ideal way to learn some songs (her daughter is now 20 years old and also sings).  Working closely with Lorraine as co-Chair is Marisa Diaz-Etchevehere, recently retired from IFC, who joined the Chorus in 2002 when she learned that native Tagalog speakers were needed for the spring concert which included a song from the Philippines.  Marisa is the financial officer and in charge of publicity.

Aside from coordinating the logistics of concerts at the Bank, IMF, and IFC, Lorraine takes on the difficult but most important task of raising much-needed funding to pay all the expenses of the Chorus.  The Chorus is supported by generous contributions from the Bank-Fund Staff Federal Credit Union, the World Bank Family Network, the IMF, and the IFC.  These contributions are the lifeblood of the Chorus, which could not survive on member dues alone, since no admission fees are charged for the concerts. 

In addition to its twice-yearly concerts, the Chorus has performed at a number of special occasions at the World Bank, such as the Memorial Service for former Bank President Lewis Preston in 1995, the Bank’s end-of-fiscal-year and 60^th anniversary celebration in June 2004, Staff Week, and the May 2005 program honoring former Bank President James Wolfensohn upon his retirement.  Incidentally, Mr. Wolfensohn, a strong supporter of the performing arts, was guest cellist in the December 2004 concert of the Chorus, which featured Gloria in D by Antonio Vivaldi.

Outside of the World Bank, IFC and IMF, in years past the Chorus has sung at Children’s Hospital, the Western Presbyterian Church, the State Department, St. John’s Church (Lafayette Square), the Treasury Department, St. Paul’s Church K Street, the Inter-American Development Bank, Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Bethesda, the Church of the Immaculate Conception at 8^th and N St., the United Church on G St., the Veterans Medical Center, and at the Kennedy Center’s 1985 Holiday Festival. 

Charles Merwin, the original founder of the Chorus, continued to sing in the bass section until the mid-1990s, and even after he retired from singing, regularly attended the concerts with great enthusiasm.  Sadly, he passed away in October 2007.  His vision of a chorus made up of staff, family members and friends in the World Bank / IMF community is his enduring legacy, and we are grateful to him for this gift of music that lives on more than 50 years after that first performance of ten Christmas carols at the IMF Dance.