Robert Porco has been recognized as one of the leading choral musicians in the United States. He has been Director of Choruses for the Cincinnati May Festival since 1989, preparing the May Festival Chorus for performances with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra and the May Festival.

Mr. Porco has been active throughout his career as a conductor of opera and of choral and orchestral works. He is a regular guest conductor with the May Festival and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and he has been a guest conductor with The Cleveland Orchestra and other orchestras in the United States and Europe.

Mr. Porco has prepared choruses for such prominent conductors as Pierre Boulez, James Conlon, Christoph von Dohnányi, Paavo Järvi, Raymond Leppard, James Levine, Jahja Ling, Jesús López-Cobos, Zubin Mehta, John Nelson, André Previn, Kurt Sanderling, Leonard Slatkin, Robert Shaw, Franz Welser-Möst and John Williams. Mr. Porco has prepared the May Festival Chorus for three appearances at Carnegie Hall — a 1991 performance of Mendelssohn’s Elijah with Jesús López-Cobos and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra; a 1995 performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with Robert Shaw, The Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus, Atlanta Symphony Chorus and the Oberlin Concert Choir; and an October 2001 performance of Britten’s War Requiem with James Conlon and the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

In 1998, Mr. Porco was appointed Director of Choruses for The Cleveland Orchestra. Each year he conducts the Orchestra’s series of Christmas concerts at Severance Hall. In addition, he leads The Cleveland Orchestra and Chorus in frequent performances of Handel’s Messiah.  In 2005, he prepared The Cleveland Orchestra Chorus for its debut with the Orchestra at the Lucerne Festival and the London Proms.

The Steubenville, Ohio, native served as professor of music and chairman of the choral department at the Indiana University School of Music from 1980 to 1998. From 1988 to 1998, Mr. Porco was Artistic Director and Conductor of the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir.