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
2023 Festival Highlights
2023 Festival of Choirs Highlights
What an AMAZING afternoon, and in such an amazing space! Our 2023 Festival of Choirs took place in the marble foyer of the Carnegie Music Hall and the PCC was joined by choirs from Allderdice and Carrick, Burrell and Quaker Valley high schools. Both the high school and Concert Chorale singers got to witness music composition happening in real time as they worked with composer Shawn Kirchner and conductor Susan Medley to perfect the piece before its world premier. Click the button below to listen to a recording of the combined choirs' world-premier performance of "Branches of One Great Tree" by Shawn Kirchner.
The culmination of the concert was the world premier of this year’s Carol and Robert Woody Choral Commission, Branches of One Great Tree, composed by LA-based composer Shawn Kirchner. Working in partnership with Violins of Hope Greater Pittsburgh, which showcases violins played by Jewish musicians during the Holocaust, several of the instruments from the exhibit were played in the Festival finale. Mr. Kirchner flew in from Los Angeles to accompany the choir on the piano for its premier and it was thrilling to watch him hear his composition come to life for the first time.
CONGRATULATIONS TO THIS YEAR'S SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS! Pictured from left to right, Olivia Berry of Quaker Valley HS who was awarded the $1,500 Clark Bedford Scholarship, and Ava Stoner of Allderdice HS, Isabella Soderstrom of Quaker Valley HS, and Jenna Rusiewicz of Burrell HS who were each awarded a $1,000 Nancy Moser Klimcheck Scholarship.
This year's concert exemplified everything the PCC's Festival of Choirs is meant to be: a world premier of a new piece of music especially commissioned by the PCC, an opportunity for high school singers and PCC members to sing together and learn from each other in a memorable venue, and a chance to provide tangible support for young singers to continue singing through its scholarship program.
