 "The New York Times"—long after Fritz Reiner helped Margaret Hillis become a conductor in Chicago—remarked that Hillis "established herself as a choral conductor ... because there were virtually no orchestral conducting opportunities for women when she began her career in the 1950s" ( Margaret Hillis' New York Times obituary ).Hillis was a choral conductor with the New York City Opera prior to becoming the founder and conductor of the Chicago Symphony Chorus in 1957.Carol Fox founded the new Chicago Lyric Opera in 1954.