Piedmont Chamber Singers Inc

Piedmont Chamber Singers Overview

 

www.piedmontchambersingers.org

Established in 1977, Piedmont Chamber Singers (PCS) has been providing exceptional choral performances in the Triad for thirty-five years. Our concert repertoire ranges from perennial favorites by Bach, Handel, Mozart, and Haydn, to modern masters such as Britten, Copland, Poulenc, and Larsen, and to Winston-Salem's own resident composers Dan Locklair, Kenneth Frazelle, William Stevens, Margaret Sandresky, and Doug Borwick.

PCS is a 501(c)(3) organization that performs three subscription concerts and one free concert at Historic Bethabara Park each season. The ensemble consists of at most 32 members and enlists numerous volunteers who help produce our concerts over the course of each season. PCS has been a funded partner of the Arts Council of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County since 1984.

The mission of PCS is to perform vocal chamber music, to train musicians in vocal music performance practice, to encourage the composition of new music for the small vocal ensemble, and to broaden interest in choral music as a whole through education and performance.

In short, our mission is to enrich the community through innovative, engaging, and compelling choral performances.

We feel we accomplish our mission in each and every performance and outreach event. We also consistently, and quite uniquely among Arts Council funded partners, commission and perform choral pieces by regional composers or with some regional flavor.

Recent Accomplishments

While there are accomplishments too numerous to mention over a thirty-year span, PCS is proud to share the following achievements:

• In April 2012, PCS partnered with Guilford College and the Guilford College Chamber Singers to present a joint program that reached out to the Winston-Salem and Greensboro communities.
• In November 2011, PCS performed at the Festival of Trees benefit for Brenner Children's Hospital.
• In May, 2011 PCS successfully partnered with Reagan High School's premier choral ensemble Bella Voce, performing Requiem, Op. 48 by Gabriel Faure and intriguing choral gems by Camille Saint-Saens and Maurice Ravel. 
• In April 2009, at the invitation of the River Run International Film Festival, PCS performed an original work by Winston-Salem composer William Stevens, providing a creative request for festival audience members to Turn Off Your Cell Phones.

 

Programming and Performance Goals

PCS has a fortunate reputation in our community as a top-notch ensemble with a long history of quality performances. Over the past three decades, PCS has performed with local guest soloists and various instrumental musicians. While other choral ensembles in the area offer differing musical styles, PCS offers a full season of quality choral chamber repertoire focusing on baroque, classical, and a capella works. 

Arts Education

PCS strives to be a part of the musical education of students in our area because we believe in the importance of music in their lives. PCS has made strides in this area by performing for the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County music instructors in the summer of 2008, joining the High School Honors Chorus students in their 2008 concert, and performing collaborative concerts with local high schools in 2010 and 2011.

PCS offers complimentary tickets for students in grades K-12. We also offer half-price tickets to any adult accompanying a student, further encouraging participation in community music by students and their families.

Our work with students also extends into higher education through our Choral Scholar Program, which provides scholarship and valuable experience, both practical and artistic, to qualified music students passionate about choral singing.