[1][2] During this period, the group toured major Southern cities annually, playing to standing room only crowds in Richmond and traveling as far afield as Atlanta,[3] St. Louis.

[16] In 1971, the Z Society gave the Glee Club its Organization Award in recognition of its concerts and the recording of its album A Shadow's on the Sundial.

[19] The Glee Club has often provided musical accompaniment to public observances in honor of the founder of the University of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson, and his home, Monticello.

They presented musical accompaniment to a visit to Monticello by the French Ambassador to the United States, Jules Jusserand, in 1904,[20] and sang for the ceremony honoring the creation of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation in 1923.

Over the years the group has counted various famous UVA students among its alumni, including Woodrow Wilson, who joined the Glee Club while attending the University of Virginia School of Law,[23] Harrison Randolph, who went on to serve as the president of the College of Charleston for nearly 50 years, Frank Hereford, who served as president of the university from 1974 to 1985,[24] and Edward A. Craighill, author of The Good Old Song.

[25] Other notable alumni include Elbert Lee Trinkle, governor of Virginia from 1922 to 1926;[26] Fulton Lewis, Jr., radio personality and author of the UVa fight song, "The Cavalier Song;" Ernest Mead, chair emeritus of the McIntire Department of Music at the University of Virginia; Charles S. Russell, justice on the Supreme Court of Virginia;[27] John Entenza, architect and editor of Arts & Architecture Magazine;[28] Frederick Nolting, ambassador to Vietnam;[29] Prince Alexis Obolensky, socialite and the "father of modern backgammon";[30] Hollis B. Chenery, noted economist; James F. Jones, president of Trinity College (Connecticut);[31] musicologist Charles Hamm,[32] John Edgar Park, host of Make: television; and Michael Butterman, Music Director of the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra and the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra.

In its own words, the Glee Club is "committed to performing at a professional level, promoting fellowship, preserving longstanding tradition, and upholding the ideals of student self-governance."

One of the high points of the group's early years was its 1943 premiere performance of The Testament of Freedom by American composer Randall Thompson, then a Virginia professor.

The Glee Club commissioned Thompson to write the piece in honor of the 200th anniversary of the birth of University founder Thomas Jefferson.

[43] The group continues to commission choral works for men's voices; recent examples include a men's voices version of James Erb's often performed version of "Shenandoah,"[44] and Young T.J., commissioned by the Glee Club from composer Neely Bruce in honor of Thomas Jefferson's 250th birthday.

[47] The Glee Club most recently was part of a group to commission a work by Lee Hoiby called Private First Class Jesse Givens.