Special Performances
Special Performances
Auditions and Membership in the PCC
Auditions and Membership in the PCC
Auditions and Membership in the PCC
Auditions and Membership in the PCC
Our Festival of Choirs
Sunday, November 5, 2023, 4:00pm
Join the PCC and area high schools Allderdice and Carrick, Burrell, and Quaker Valley in this special celebration of choral music! Enjoy a wide variety of choral repertoire as each choir presents an individual set. The grand finale brings all on stage together to perform the world premiere of this year’s Carol and Robert Woody Choral Commission, composed by Shawn Kirchner. This year, the PCC is honored to partner with Violins of Hope Greater Pittsburgh, which showcases violins played by Jewish musicians during the Holocaust. Several of these instruments will be played in the Festival finale.
About the Festival
Pittsburgh Concert Chorale’s Festival of Choirs was established in fall 2012 by Dr. Susan Medley. She became Music Director of the PCC in January 2011 and quickly gained the support of the Board of Directors to establish an event that serves as the primary educational outreach program for the Chorale.
All of our Festivals have been presented in the beautiful Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland, PA. In addition to the members of the PCC and the professional instrumentalists who joined us for many of our concerts, almost 1200 guest singers have performed in this event.
The purpose of the Festival of Choirs is to encourage and support singing as a lifelong passion, to provide underserved high school students with the opportunity to perform in a memorable venue, and to provide tangible support for young singers to continue singing through its scholarship program.
The Festival includes performances by guest high school choirs and the PCC and culminates in a grand finale of a choral work performed by the combined choirs.
Bedford and Klimcheck Scholarships
In 2023 the Board established the Clark W. Bedford Scholarship in the amount of $1,500 in honor of PCC's founder. This award is supported through donations at our annual Festival concert.
The Nancy Moser Klimcheck Scholarships were established by anonymous donors to honor Mrs. Klimcheck, whose life's work has been dedicated to teaching and encouraging singers, particularly young developing singers. These scholarships are $1,000 and are awarded to a student from each participating high school.
The scholarships are awarded by PCC according to the guidelines established by its scholarship committee and Board.
The Carol and Robert Woody Choral Commissioning Fund
Carol and Robert Woody made a generous gift to the Pittsburgh Concert Chorale (PCC) during its 2021-2022 season to establish the Carol and Robert Woody Choral Commissioning Fund. The purpose of the Fund is to underwrite the cost of commissioning a new choral work annually for PCC’s Festival of Choirs.
The gift of Carol and Robert Woody elevates the Festival of Choirs significantly. It provides the resources to engage a nationally-known composer to write a choral composition that can be published and enter the choral repertoire, thus benefiting the larger community of choirs. It provides singers the opportunity to meet the composer personally and bring his/her artistic vision to life, and it gives the singers a once-in-a-lifetime experience of singing the world premiere of a new choral work.
Click here to learn more about our commissioned works and composers.