Margaret Hillis; Grammy-Winning Choral Director

Margaret Hillis, 76, nine-time Grammy winner and founding director of the Chicago Symphony Chorus. She organized the group in 1957 and directed it for more than 35 years, leading performances in Chicago and throughout the United States and Europe. She captured national attention in 1977 when she substituted on short notice for the ailing Sir Georg Solti to conduct the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 at New York’s Carnegie Hall. Hillis won her Grammys between 1978 and 1993 for choral recordings of works by Verdi, Beethoven, Brahms, Berlioz, Haydn, Orff, Bach and Bartok. On Wednesday in Chicago.