The Philadelphia Singers was a

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. The group was founded by Michael Korn in 1972 and later directed by David Hayes. In 2001, The Philadelphia Singers was named "Resident Chorus of The Philadelphia Orchestra" and was the only chorus to receive this distinction. The Philadelphia Singers appeared twice at the Lincoln Center Festival with Kurt Masur and the

New York Philharmonic The New York Philharmonic, officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., globally known as New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It is ...

, premiering for the first time in the United States works by Krysztof Penderecki and

Dov Seltzer Dov (Dubi) Seltzer ( he, דב (דובי) זלצר; born 26 January 1932) is a Romanian-born Israeli composer and conductor. Biography Dov (Dubi) Seltzer began studying music at an early age. He studied theory and harmony with professors Alfred ...

. The choir also appeared with The Philadelphia Orchestra, premiering in the United States works by Sir

James MacMillan Sir James Loy MacMillan, (born 16 July 1959) is a Scottish classical composer and conductor. Early life MacMillan was born at Kilwinning, in North Ayrshire, but lived in the East Ayrshire town of Cumnock until 1977. His father is James MacMi ...

Luciano Berio Luciano Berio (24 October 1925 – 27 May 2003) was an Italian composer noted for his experimental work (in particular his 1968 composition ''Sinfonia'' and his series of virtuosic solo pieces titled '' Sequenza''), and for his pioneering work ...

, and

Augusta Read Thomas Augusta Read Thomas (born April 24, 1964) is an American composer and professor. Biography Thomas studied composition with Oliver Knussen at Tanglewood; Jacob Druckman at Yale University; Alan Stout and Bill Karlins at Northwestern University ...

as well as world premieres of works by Daniel Kellogg and Jennifer Higdon. The Philadelphia Singers maintained its own annual subscription series and was the only Philadelphia ensemble to have a regular national radio broadcast on Public Radio International called "Christmas with The Philadelphia Singers". The program was a

live broadcast A live broadcast, also called a live transmission, generally refers to various types of media that are broadcast without a significant delay. The most common seen media example of the live transmission is a news program or a news broadcasting. Ot ...

of its annual concert, "Christmas on Logan Square", at St. Clement's Church. The ensemble was devoted to presenting choral music from all

period Period may refer to: Common uses * Era, a length or span of time * Full stop (or period), a punctuation mark Arts, entertainment, and media * Period (music), a concept in musical composition * Periodic sentence (or rhetorical period), a concept ...

s with a particular focus on American choral music. The group dissolved after its 2015 season citing rising costs and lack of funding sources.

References

Choirs in Pennsylvania Musical groups established in 1972 {{US-singing-group-stub