"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.