It continued to flirt with dissolution — some years being quite active and successful and others less so — until the fall of 1876 when it came under the professional direction and training of "Professor" Friedrich Zuchtmann, a vocal instructor from Springfield, Massachusetts.

[2][3] In 1925 they sang at the White House for President Coolidge,[4] and they twice won the New England Intercollegiate Glee Club Contest - once in 1928 and once in 1934.

These tours, each lasting over a month, eventually took the Glee Club all over the globe and featured a number of notable performances.

They became the first American chorus to sing High Mass at the Notre Dame Cathedral,[7] and sang for many notable people, including Pope Paul VI,[7] King Mihendra and Queen Ratna of Nepal,[8] president Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya,[9] President Félix Houphouët-Boigny of the Ivory Coast,[10] Princess Sarvath El Hassan of Jordan[11] Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel,[12] and noted composition teacher Nadia Boulanger.

In their 2007 tour to Estonia they sang for Prime Minister Andrus Ansip and President Toomas Hendrik Ilves.