Gregg Smith founded the Singers in 1955, when he was a graduate teaching assistant in the music department of UCLA. In 1958 the group took its first step toward international recognition with a European tour that included an appearance at the Brussels World's Fair.
Soon after, the Singers came to the attention of Igor Stravinsky, and in 1959 they began a 12-year association which ended with Gregg Smith traveling to Venice, at the family's request, to prepare the chorus and orchestra for Mr. Stravinsky's funeral.
The Singers made a second European tour in 1961 which culminated in a spectacular concert at the Edinburgh Festival and a subsequent Time magazine article. A national touring contract followed, and, to date, the Singers have made 38 national tours, plus a dozen European tours, three tours of the Far East, and a trip to Mexico to perform and record contemporary choral music of Mexico for Newport Classics.
The Singers’ commitment to performing works of living composers and contemporary music, can be seen in the following achievements. In 1973, the Gregg Smith Singers initiated both its New York City concert series and the Adirondack Festival of American Music (AFAM) in Saranac Lake, N.Y. Both programs have continued annually and provide the major sources for development of the Singers' American repertoire. In addition, the concert programs have presented a representative selection of traditional European choral literature. Still, American choral music accounts for roughly 70% of the Singers' overall programming. It may also be important to note that, on average, the Singers perform four premieres at every program. The summer of 2006 marked the final season of AFAM — after 33 years. However GSS’s New York City Concert Series continues. This 2007-2008 season marks its 36th year and is distinguished by the NEA American Masterpieces Festiaval — 5 choirs in 4 concerts celebrating The Gregg Smith Singers Legacy.
The Singers have received recognition throughout their existence, including three Grammy awards, two Montreux awards and the Stereo Review 1966 Record of the Year award for their Columbia recording of the music of the Revolutionary American composer, William Billings. Other awards specifically honor Gregg Smith's dedication to contemporary American music. For example, Gregg Smith and Robert Shaw are the only choral conductors to receive the Alice M. Ditson Conductor's Award. In 1988, the Singers were presented with the Berliavsky Award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters for the group’s tremendous support of American music. In 1992 and 1996, the ASCAP Chorus America Award was presented to the Singers "for adventuresome programming of contemporary music". In 2001, Chorus America awarded Gregg Smith and the Singers the prestigious Margaret Hillis Award for choral excellence and in November 2003, the American Composers Alliance gave Gregg Smith their Laurel Leaf Award for distinguished achievement in fostering and encouraging American music. Most recently, at the Chorus America National Convention in June 2004, Gregg Smith was chosen to receive the Louis Botto award for Entrepreneurial Spirit, presented “for a lifetime of devotion to choral music and unflagging creativity in finding ways to bring it to a broader public, through outstanding performances, recordings and the preservation and dissemination of choral manuscripts."
The primary mission of the Gregg Smith Singers is to encourage the development and preservation of American choral music, with an emphasis on new works of the 20th and 21st centuries, through performances, recordings, workshops and publications.
Gregg Smith provides the artistic vision of the Singers and programming is always selected with a mind to championing new American choral music and celebrating its rich tradition. In his experience, too many Americans have lost their sense of history, and he believes that the beauty of choral music can do so much to revive our understanding of American culture, past and present.
The Singers are one of the most recorded classical choirs in the world with over 130 albums, cassettes, and CDs produced during their existence. Over 90 of these are of contemporary American choral music. Although the Singers have offered hundreds of workshops for conductors, singers and teachers in the past, the main focus in recent years has been toward composers - mainly in the form of readings. In the past decade they have read nearly 300 new works and performed and recorded 60 of them. Finally, the Singers have been instrumental in obtaining publication of many of these composers' works, especially with the aid of their recordings. This effort has enhanced the distribution of new American choral music to knowledgeable conductors, orchestras and choruses.