Constance Defotis, director of choral activities at the University of West Virginia, will assume the newly-created position of associate conductor of Harvard-Radcliffe Choruses next fall.

The new post will fill the gap left when Beverly Taylor departured last year from her job as conductor of the Radcliffe Choral Society (RCS).

The decision to hire Defotis was made at the end of January after auditions with the Collegium, the Glee Club and RCS.

Director of Choral Activities Jameson N. Marvin--who has been conducting all the choirs simultaneously this year--will share some of the responsibilities for administrative work and conducting with the new associate director.

"We're really looking forward to teaming together," Marvin said.

Marvin and Defotis will each direct the three choirs for part of next year. Defotis will begin conducting the Collegium next fall and travel with the Glee Club over spring break and summer vacation, while Marvin will continue with RCS and Glee Club until sometime in the spring.

Defotis will also conduct the Harvard-Radcliffe Chorus.

Marvin said that the restructuring was partly to offer singers in all groups the benefits of having two conductors with different perspectives.

"We each have different strengths and lots of things to offer, and the students will really benefit from that," he said. "It's going to be a source of new energies here."

Dean of Students Harry R. Lewis '68 wrote yesterday in an e-mail message that he thought the rotation of the conductors would help to keep choral activities at Harvard "lively and energetic."

The restructuring of the conductors generated some controversy among students and alumni last year when Taylor resigned after seventeen years of service.

"The circumstances surrounding Ms. Taylor's decision to leave include much bad management on the part of the University," Alan L. Rothschild wrote in a letter last year.

"Ms. Taylor's departure from the Harvard music arena will be damaging to that department," Rothschild wrote.

But many students said yesterday that replacing Taylor with a new position and conductor was no longer a concern for them.

"The transition was expected," said Patricia Chi-Yan Chui '98, manager of RCS. "The associate conductor search has been going on for a while."