Interior Top Region
bar

ABOUT THE PIEDMONT CHAMBER SINGERS

Established in 1977, the Piedmont Chamber Singers (PCS) have been providing exceptional choral performances in the Triad for thirty-one years. Concert repertoire ranges from perennial favorites by Bach, Handel, Mozart and Haydn to modern masters Benjamin Britten, Aaron Copland, Francis Poulenc and Libby 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 governed by an all-volunteer Board of Directors. PCS performs five formal concerts each season, and usually appears here and there in other events throughout the year. The ensemble consists of at most 32 members—also volunteers—and enlists numerous other friends and supporters to 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 practice, we feel we’re accomplishing our mission well; we consistently—and quite uniquely amongst funded arts council 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 can report the following achievements in 2008 and 2009:

  • PCS ended our 30th Anniversary Season in May 2008 with world premieres of works by three different composers: William Bolcom, William Stevens, and James Stewart. Mayor Allen Joines also honored PCS with an official proclamation.
  • PCS was invited to perform for the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools in a welcome-back-to-school meeting for music teachers, and we performed for them in August 2008.
  • In November 2008, PCS was invited to open the High School Honors Chorus Concert at Reynolds High School. We sang the National Anthem and sang an additional work to open the concert.
  • In February 2009, PCS performed the National Anthem at the Winston-Salem State Women’s Basketball game to highlight breast cancer awareness.
  • 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 the 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. There are other choirs in the Triad that may compete for our time or audience, but many perform a different musical genre such as barbershop or pop songs, while others do not offer the mixed chorus voicings that PCS does. Other mixed voice choirs, such as the Symphony Chorale or choirs associated with area colleges program concerts on a very limited basis, often just twice a year. PCS is fortunate to be able to offer a full season of quality choral chamber music.

Arts Education

PCS believes it's important for public school students exposure to different types of music being performed in the community around them. We strive to be part of local students' education in this area, although sometimes this can be difficult given the demands on their time from other extracurricular activities, and the already daunting workloads of their instructors. However, PCS has made great strides in this area lately, 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 planning a collaborative concert with North Forsyth High School Chorus in the spring of 2010.

Our work with young people extends into higher education as well. A community partnership between PCS and Salem College continues to give the school’s choral program extra variety by making it possible for Salem’s women’s chorus to perform mixed voice concerts. The educational opportunities offered by this partnership include working with guest conductors, performing with experienced professional and semi-professional singers and instrumentalists, and singing in a four-part choir. The exposure to many genres and styles of choral works cannot be understated. Because Dr. Schildkret is currently a visiting scholar at Salem College and will be working closely with the music department there, we expect our relationship to grow even further this season, and we are already planning potential joint concerts with their women’s chorus.

While PCS has offered complimentary tickets for students in grades K-12 for some time, PCS now also offers half-price tickets to an adult accompanying a student, to further encourage participation in community music by students and their families.
Bookmark and Share Follow us via email Follow Follow us on Twitter