One Final Bow

Bruce Tammen ’71 was making a name for himself as a baritone chorister in Chicago when he answered a call—both literally and figuratively—that would forever change his life.

The year was 1977, and the caller was none other than Weston Noble ’43, his former Nordic Choir director. It didn’t take long for the esteemed educator to ask Bruce one very important question: Do you want to start a new first-year choir at Luther?

“I said yes, and that decision put me on a completely different path,” he says.

Bruce Tammen ’71

While Bruce shaped the new Chapel Choir over the next three years, he also paid close attention to the other Luther music faculty. He watched, he listened, and he learned—from Noble most of all.

“Weston taught me how to deal with different personalities, how to mollify someone who is dissatisfied, and how to manage conflicts in a group,” he says. “We talked about topics like that all the time.”

In 1980, Bruce returned to Chicago to earn a master’s degree in vocal performance from Northwestern University. Four years later, he landed back at the University of Chicago—where he had earned a master’s degree in English in 1974—to head the school’s choral program. For 12 years, Bruce thrived in that role.

In 1996, when his wife, Old Testament scholar Esther Menn ’80, was offered a faculty position at the University of Virginia, the couple moved to Charlottesville. There Bruce spent the next six years directing the university’s all-male glee club. In 2001, another job offer for Esther (at the Lutheran School of Theology) brought the couple back to the Windy City and serendipitously presented Bruce with the opportunity of a lifetime. “I was unemployed when I ran into one of my former choir members,” he recalls. “We chatted for a bit about what I might do next, and she said, ‘Well, let’s start a choir!’”

Thus was born Chicago Chorale, the highly acclaimed, professional-level volunteer ensemble that Bruce has directed for the past quarter century. In a big city with myriad musical groups, the chorale occupies a niche all its own and is regularly lauded for its vocal purity, stylistic accuracy, and adventurous programming. (Think Bach’s Mass in B Minor, Bruce’s favorite work.)

After 25 years at its helm, Bruce will direct Chicago Chorale one last time, on May 31, in a performance of the Fauré Requiem. As he looks ahead to retirement, he also looks back with gratitude for the place that helped make his remarkable career possible.

“Over the years, I’ve worked with people who came from every conservatory in the country and sung with people who had very specialized, high-end training,” says Bruce, the 2012 recipient of the college’s Weston Noble Award. “It was Luther, a small liberal arts college in the Midwest, that prepared me to succeed at that level.”