John Nichols is in his 20th season as Music Director of the Quincy Choral Society. Under maestro Nichols' direction, membership in the Society has grown to over 100 members, and together they have brought musical excellence to the South Shore and the world.

Originally from Wilmington, Delaware, Mr. Nichols is fortunate to count among his mentors Karel Husa, Gregg Smith, Robert Shaw and Nadia Boulanger. His formal degrees are from Ithaca College and Indiana University, with additional studies at the Juilliard School and Master Classes with Sir David Willcocks and John Rutter in England.

The Quincy Choral Society has performed most of the major choral repertoire under John Nichols’ direction. Their performance of the Brahms Requiem was praised by Patriot Ledger critic Joel Altman, who stated, "This music was driven by a probing intellect, a sense of nobility and a controlled passion of rare intensity".

In 1997, the Quincy Choral Society embarked on their first European concert tour when they traveled to London to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the wedding of John Quincy Adams. Since then, they have toured biennially in the summer, having performed at St. Mark’s Cathedral, Venice; Chartres Cathedral, France; St. Nicholas Church, Prague; the Edinburgh Festival, Scotland and other venues in Wales, England, France, Italy, Austria and Finland. In the summer of 2007 the chorus concluded their sixth concert tour. QCS was the first choir from the United States to be invited to perform at the International Choral Festival in St. Petersburg, Russia. In 2003, QCS released their first commercial CD, Come, Ye Thankful People, Come, which received national distribution and local recognition from Ron Della Chiesa on WGBH Radio.

John Nichols has been involved with the musical life of Greater Boston for the past thirty-five years as conductor, composer, arranger, performer, adjudicator and educator. He has performed with Chorus Pro Musica and was an assistant to Alfred Nash Patterson. Mr. Nichols has held faculty positions at Curry College, Suffolk University and Governor Dummer Academy. He is past director of The New School of Music in Cambridge and has been on the faculty of the BSO "Days In The Arts" program at Tanglewood. Currently Mr. Nichols is Performing Arts Lead Teacher for the Chelsea Public Schools. He and his wife, Jodi, who sings alto with QCS, have been married 30 years. They have two children, three grandchildren and a Golden Retriever named Rosie.

Virginia Grimes received her piano accompaniment degree from Duke University. She has been the accompanist for the Quincy Choral Society since 1993 and accompanies throughout the Boston area. She is Director of Music for the First Parish of Norwell and teaches piano and accompanies at Milton Academy.

Gingy lives in Milton with her husband, Frank, and her son, Brandon, both of whom are prominent figures in the music world of the South Shore. Gingy’s musical accomplishments are too numerous to list here, but they are highlighted by her ability to play the parts of the entire QCS orchestra for rehearsal, her amazing ability to figure out exactly where John wants to start up in the middle of complicated pieces with Chorus members using several versions of the manuscript, and a little-known talent for singing show tunes in the shower.