“Wolcum Yole!”

We wish those celebrating today a happy Christmas,
and we wish all our families the gifts of peace, love and beautiful music.

Listen to our KSB Trainers and Apprentices

Commonwealth Youthchoirs honors all faiths and traditions by having singers perform songs from around the world. This diverse repertoire helps transform young lives, one song at a time. On the first night of Chanukah, we wish all of our Jewish families the blessings of the miracle of the light and a joyful time with friends and family.

Take a moment to listen to our youngest Keystone State Boychoir singers, our trainers and apprentices, performing Valerie Shields’s arrangement of “S’vivon”, a traditional song about a spinning dreidel.

And if you would like to hear over 300 singers from CY perform Jason Robert Brown’s Chanukah Suite, please join us at 5:00 pm Sunday, December 17 for CY’s Holiday on the Square. Learn more here.

Happy first night of Chanukah!

Holiday Concert on the Square

Sunday, December 17, 2017 | 5:00 pm

Featuring Benjamin Britten’s Ceremony of Carols
with KSB alumnus and harpist Jordan Thomas ’09
and Jason Robert Brown’s Chanukah Suite

Church of the Holy Trinity
Rittenhouse Square, 19th and Walnut Streets | Philadelphia

Tickets on sale now through the Online Box Office

We take our girls and their potential seriously by transforming their lives through the power of making music together.

Know that when you give to the CY Annual Fund, you are helping to create strong, empowered women ready to take on a world and demand that they be treated with the respect, seriousness, and honor they deserve.

Hear for yourself: Listen to our exceptional girls making exceptional music with Beth Willer of Lorelei Ensemble.

Make your gift today!

Want to hear more? Come to one of our upcoming concerts!

Pennsylvania Girlchoir
Holiday Concerts
Presbyterian Church in Chestnut Hill
Sunday, December 3 | 3:00 & 6:00 pm

Buy tickets here!

See one of the world’s premier collections of racing cars. Help benefit the 700 young people who are part of Commonwealth Youthchoirs. The monies raised at this fundraiser will benefit the 700 children from all walks of life who are involved in one of our six choral programs.

Saturday, November 25, 2017
7:30 – 10:30 PM

Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum

6825-31 Norwitch Drive, Philadelphia, PA 19153 – convenient to the Philadelphia Airport

Buy Tickets Here

Regular – $65
VIP – $125
Alumni – $20

Fabulous Racecars! KSB and PG Alumni!
Live Music, Dancing, Live Auction, Table Games, Great Food and FUN!

Buy Tickets and Bingo Balls NOW!

Do you know a girl or boy who loves to sing?

Come to one of our fall Open Houses!

Keystone State Boychoir – Download flyer with locations and times.

• Thursday, September 21
• Thursday, September 28
• Saturday, September 23

Pennsylvania Girlchoir – Download flyer with locations and times.

• Monday, September 18
• Monday, September 25
• Wednesday, September 20
• Wednesday, September 27

New Jersey Boychoir – Download flyer with locations and times.

• Tuesday, September 19
• Tuesday, September 26
• Saturday, September 30

Garden State Girlchoir – Download flyer for both locations.

Garden State Girlchoir rehearses in two convenient locations:

• Wednesday, September 20 (Cherry Hill location)
• Wednesday, September 27 (Cherry Hill location)
• Friday, September 22 (Rowan University location)
• Friday, September 29 (Rowan University location)
• Saturday, September 30 (Rowan University location)

With 30 singers in Grades 3-8, the founding members of Garden State Girlchoir (GSG) held their first Spring Concert on June 10 at Unitarian Universalist Church in Cherry Hill. The concert featured confident singers and soloists, GSG member Lydia on flute, and repertoire that included a few Stephen Schwartz favorites. Not surprisingly, GSG Music Director Lauren Canna noted that “Popular,” from Stephen Schwartz’s Wicked, was very popular with the girls!! Garden State Girlchoir singers will be joining Keystone State Boychoir and Pennsylvania Girlchoir as they celebrate Stephen Schwartz at the Kimmel Center, Philadelphia, in Verizon Hall on Saturday, June 17, 2017, during An Evening with Stephen Schwartz, #SchwartzEvening. At the spring concert, Commonwealth Youthchoirs’ Artistic Director Steve Fisher announced that next year both Garden State Girlchoir and New Jersey Boychoir will be in residence at Rowan University!

Guest PG percussionist Erin helped accompany several songs and the KSB Grads joined in for the final set. GSG Parents provided a wonderful reception for all involved. Thanks to Lauren Canna, GSG Program Manager, Carli Visconti, and accompanists Christina Luscotova and Natasha Steinmacher for making this inaugural season such a success! A special thank you to Keystone State Boychoir founding member David Huntsinger, who has been regularly helping with rehearsals.

On Thursday, May 4, members of the Graduate and Motet choirs participated in the launch of a collaborative work by composer Tod Machover commissioned by the Philadelphia Orchestra, Philadelphia Voices.

MIT’s Media Lab was at the event, demonstrating the mobile recording app that will help create the piece. Calvin Wamser, a member of the Grad Choir, observed, “Philadelphia Voices is the future of music; it especially interests me because it takes technology that people often say is a waste of time (like cell phones) and combines it with the community building power of music.” Anyone in the city can take part by downloading the Philadelphia Voices app to submit their own recordings of the “voice of Philadelphia.” Learn more here from the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Members from the Philadelphia Orchestra — violinists Yiying Li and Daniel Han, violist Marvin Moon; cellist Gloria dePasquale,  and bassist David Fay ― performed works by Machover, and KSB and PG singers took part in improvisatory experiences. “It was an incredible experience to collaborate with the Philadelphia Orchestra and a composer as respected as Tod Machover,” noted KSB singer Matthew Flynn, “Especially when the piece is inspired by my home!”

Keystone State Boychoir and Pennsylvania Girlchoir are proud to be part of the collaboration along with the choir from the High School of the Creative and Performing Arts (CAPA), Sister Cities Girlchoir, and Al Bustan Seeds of Culture and others. A period of discovery will include in-depth discussions, workshops, interactive music sessions, recording “safaris,” and vocal explorations, all of which will inform the final composition.

Sound, voice collection, and community workshops will continue through the fall of 2017. The world premiere of the finished composition takes place April 6-8, 2018, in Philadelphia, followed by its New York premiere at Carnegie Hall on April 10, 2018.

On Tuesday, May 2, 2017, fifty-four years to the day after the Children’s’ Crusade of Birmingham, Alabama, began, hundreds of young singers from Find Your Instrument! Choir, Keystone State Boychoir, and Pennsylvania Girlchoir continued the message of heroism and hope when they performed The Children’s March at Girard College in Philadelphia. In the 1960s, the Children’s Crusade was a pivotal event in the Civil Rights Movement that exemplified bravery by hundreds of children who used non-violent protest in the face arrests and fire hoses. 

The Children’s March was written by two Philadelphia artists: composer Andrew Bleckner and internationally renowned storyteller and librettist Charlotte Blake Alston. A grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) helped fund this performance of The Children’s March, which was originally commissioned by Singing City in 2013. Many remember news reports and TV footage of the heroic actions of hundreds of children in the face of police dogs, fire hoses and batons which brought national attention to the Civil Rights Movement and helped end segregation in Birmingham. The youngest marcher, who was jailed for a week, was only 9 years old.

Some of the singers performing at Girard College are the same age as the protesters were at the time. “The message of this piece is powerful,” said Steven Fisher, founder and artistic director of Keystone State Boychoir. He added, “We want our singers to know that they matter, that their voices matter, and that by singing together, they have the power to change the world.”

The Children’s March garnered public attention including articles in The Philadelphia Citizen, The Philadelphia Tribune, and coverage by 6ABC.

“This work reminds our children of the power of standing up for something they believe in,” says Fisher. “It also reminds the adults that children have a lot of power. We tend to say kids are too idealistic or say, ‘You don’t understand how the world works,’ but back in 1963, when those kids marched against segregation, their idealism worked to everyone’s advantage.”

Read full article.