History and Mission
The Philadelphia Singers was founded by Michael Korn in 1972 and is now under the dynamic leadership of Music Director David Hayes. The Philadelphia Singers is a professional choral ensemble that engages and inspires a broad range of audiences in the Philadelphia region with compelling concert experiences featuring performances of choral masterpieces and contemporary works. The Singers has a special commitment to preserve and strengthen America’s rich choral heritage through performances, commissions, and music education. The Philadelphia Singers also believes in the power of art to advance individuals and communities. It seeks to enrich the broader community through embodying the highest standards of classical musicianship and by providing a platform for its musicians to serve the community in a wide variety of forms.

In the 2009/2010 Season, The Philadelphia Singers will present a four-concert season, provide educational enrichment opportunities for high school and college students and continue its prestigious role as Resident Chorus of The Philadelphia Orchestra. The season opens in November with “Bach and Beyond”, a quintessential Philadelphia Singers concert featuring Bach’s Jesu Meine Freude and Alberto Ginastera’s powerful Lamentations of Jeremiah. On December 12 and 19, The Singers’ presents Philadelphia’s holiday tradition, “Christmas on Logan Square” which includes Jennifer Higdon’s ethereal O Magnum Mysterium. In March, we will join forces with new music ensembles Relâche and Orchestra 2001 to present the world premiere of Persephone by Philip Glass, and the Philadelphia premieres of works by Steve Reich and Gavin Bryars. The season concludes in May with Rachmaninoff’s glorious Vespers (All-Night Vigil).

The 2008/2009 Season marked the return of a four-concert season and included collaborations with Tempesta di Mare and the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. The Season concluded with Bruckner’s Mass in E Minor presented at the Kimmel Center as the Centerpiece Concert for the 32nd annual national Chorus America conference.

The Singers concerts annually reach a live audience of over 40,000. The Philadelphia Singers performs regularly with leading national and local performing arts organizations including: the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Curtis Institute of Music, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Kimmel Center Presents and The Mannes Orchestra.   Maestro Wolfgang Sawallisch has described the ensemble as, "one of the musical treasures of Philadelphia."

Members of the ensemble have trained at some of the best music schools in the country including The Curtis Institute of Music, Academy of Vocal Arts, Esther Boyer School of Music, Juilliard School, Peabody Conservatory, Westminster Choir College, Eastman School of Music, Indiana University School of Music and Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, as well as vocal institutes in Austria, Italy and Switzerland. Many members of the ensemble perform with leading orchestras and former members now perform with major American and European opera companies including The Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the New York City and San Francisco Opera Companies.

The Philadelphia Singers is committed to ensuring that choral music maintains a vibrant present as well as a rich past and has presented an extensive array of Philadelphia, American and World Premieres.  The Philadelphia Singers also has a rich history of commissioning new works, which have enhanced the choral repertoire.  These commissioned works include: William Bolcom’s The Mask, Robert Capanna’s Day, Romeo Cascarino’s William Penn, Ezra Laderman’s Brotherly Love and Vincent Persichetti’s Flower Songs and most recently Babylon by Thomas Whitman as well as Deep in the Night, Sing Sing, O magnum mysterium and Southern Grace by Jennifer Higdon.

The Philadelphia Singers Chorale was founded in 1991 as the symphonic chorus of The Philadelphia Singers. The Chorale is composed of professional singers and talented volunteers. In 2001, The Philadelphia Singers Chorale was named Resident Chorus of The Philadelphia Orchestra, the first time in the orchestra’s history that a chorus has received this distinction. The Philadelphia Singers Chorale appears with The Orchestra in all choral subscription concerts as well as annual performances of Handel's Messiah and “The Glorious Sound of Christmas”.

The ensemble has twice performed American premieres with the New York Philharmonic under Kurt Masur at the Lincoln Center Festival: Seltzer's Lament for Yitzchak and Penderecki's Seven Gates of Jerusalem.

On September 16, 2001 The Chorale performed in the national PBS television broadcast of "A Tribute Concert: Music and Reflection on the Tragedies of September 11" with The Philadelphia Orchestra. This program was produced locally by WHYY.

On December 15, 2001, The Philadelphia Singers Chorale appeared with The Philadelphia Orchestra in The Kimmel Center Inaugural Gala. This concert was broadcast live via WHYY television and radio and broadcast nationally on the PBS television network.

In recent years, performances with The Philadelphia Orchestra included Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and “Choral” Fantasy, Kellogg’s Ben, Kodaly’s Missa Brevis, Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, Haydn’s Seasons Verdi’s Requiem, Macmillan’s Quickening, Wagner’s Parsifal Act III and excerpts from Tannhäuser and Berio’s Stanze, Liszt's Dante Symphony, Schubert's Mass in E-flat, Mahler's Second and Third Symphonies, Schoenberg's Gurrelieder, Thomas’ Chanting to Paradise Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe for the opening of the Kimmel Center, John Adams' Harmonium, Honegger's Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher, Rossini's Stabat Mater and Prokofiev's Ivan the Terrible.