The Oratorio Society of New York is a durable choir performing oratorios and other choral music. Its history is closely interwoven with that of New York City itself: it is one of New York's oldest musical organizations, and it was involved in the construction of one of the city's premier venues, Carnegie Hall.

The Oratorio Society of New York was founded in 1873 by Leopold Damrosch, a German conductor, composer, and violinist who had just immigrated to the U.S. On Christmas night of the following year, the Oratorio Society presented a performance of Handel's Messiah, HWV 56; that performance has been repeated yearly ever since. Industrialist Andrew Carnegie joined the Society's board of directors in 1884 and became its president from 1888 to 1919. Carnegie spearheaded fundraising for a new hall suited to choral music and other large works; what he called the Music Hall was named Carnegie Hall and opened in 1891, and the annual Messiah performances were moved there. The chorus has had illustrious conductors, including Leopold Damrosch's sons Walter and Frank. This group also includes famous composers who have conducted their own works, among them Tchaikovsky, Mahler, Elgar, and Rachmaninov. Several of the Society's music directors have had long tenures that have fundamentally shaped the choir's sound: Albert Stoessel held the baton from 1921 to 1943, T. Charles Lee from 1959 to 1973, and Lyndon Woodside from 1973 until his death in 2005. Since 2006, the Society's music director has been Kent Tritle.

The Oratorio Society of New York has presented the New York premieres of many famous pieces, including the Brahms Requiem, Op. 45 (1877), the standard version of The Star-Spangled Banner (1917), and Bach's Mass in B minor, BWV 232 (1927). In 1977, the Society established a competition and prize for oratorio solo singing, perhaps the only one of its kind worldwide; it was later renamed the Lyndon Woodside Oratorio-Solo Competition, dubbed the "Solo Comp." The Oratorio Society is large, containing more than 200 members, and presents several concerts annually. It has always been closely associated with New York and did not tour abroad until a European trip in 1982, but has since appeared in Asia and Latin America as well. The choir's recording catalog is sparse considering the group's renown and has involved mostly participation in collaborations rather than solo release. In 2020, the choir was heard on a recording of Paul Moravec's Sanctuary Road, an oratorio setting texts of reminiscences by ex-slaves about their travels on the Underground Railroad. ~ James Manheim, Rovi