In 1941 he founded the Collegiate Chorale, a group notable in its day for its racial integration. The group performed Beethoven's 9th symphony with the NBC symphony and Arturo Toscanini, who referred to Shaw as 'The Maestro I have been looking for'
He went on to found the Robert Shaw Chorale in 1949, a group which produced numerous recordings and visited 30 countries in tours sponsored by the U.S. State Department. From 1967-1988 he was musical director and conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. After 1988 he continued to conduct and teach in a series of summer festivals and week-long Carnegie Hall workshops for choral conductors and singers.
