Margaret Hillis
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Margaret Hillis (October 1, 1921 – February 5, 1998) was an American conductor.
She was the founder and music director of the Chicago Symphony Chorus, which she led from 1957 to 1994. She was concurrently music director of the Elgin Symphony Orchestra from 1971-1985. She is remembered as the first woman to conduct the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which occurred in 1977 at a Carnegie Hall concert, after Sir Georg Solti became too ill to conduct a performance of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 8.
She won 9 Grammy awards for her work as a choral conductor (she was at one time an assistant to Robert Shaw).
