Pacific Boychoir Academy (PBA) is a GRAMMY-winning, independent choir school for boys in grades three through eight, with after-school choirs for boys and girls in pre-kindergarten through high school.
Founded in Oakland, California in 1998 by Artistic Director Kevin Fox, PBA serves over 150 choristers a season, has released nine independent albums, tours domestically and internationally, and has earned three GRAMMY Awards with the San Francisco Symphony. The only secular North American boychoir school outside of the East Coast, PBA offers unique and rigorous choral and academic programs, producing confident, engaged young artists. The Los Angeles Times calls PBA’s sound quality “astonishing,” while the New York Times hails PBA’s ability to perform music “far beyond the reach of most children’s choirs.”
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
PBA performed on television in simultaneous civic memorial services for Nelson Mandela, both at San Francisco City Hall and at the National Cathedral with Vice President Joe Biden, and has sung on NBC’s America’s Got Talent and The Blacklist. PBA has sung as the voice of the Yahoo yodel, and with comedian Zach Galifianakis. As part of its outreach efforts, PBA also performs for several Bay Area schools each year and serves as San Francisco Opera ARIA teaching artists.
Pacific Boychoir has developed a reputation for presenting challenging works such as Mozart’s Requiem, and Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil, performed for the first time in the United States with boy sopranos and altos. In addition to recordings of Mahler’s Symphonies No. 3 and 8 with the San Francisco Symphony, the choir’s own recordings feature Bach’s Cantata 150, Britten’s Ceremony of Carols, two of Bach’s Lutheran Masses, and two recordings of African-American spirituals, That Promised Land and Show Me the Way.
PBA HAS ALSO PERFORMED WITH ESTEEMED ARTISTS SUCH AS
- Kronos Quartet
- Omaha Symphony
- Oakland-East Bay Symphony
- Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra
- American Bach Soloists
- San Francisco Opera
- Youth Orchestra of the Americas
- National Symphony Orchestra of Brazil
- Moscow Chamber Orchestra
- Magik Magik Orchestra
- Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra
- Cantata Collective
- Lithuanian State Orchestra
- Ian Bostridge
- Tom Krell Midtown Social
- John Vanderslice
- University of Michigan
- Harvard Men’s Glee Clubs
- Yale Whiffenpoofs
- Vienna Boys Choir
- Drakensberg Boys Choir
- Choirs and orchestras of University of California, both at Berkeley and Davis
PBA ON TOUR
- the USA and to countries on six continents
- Davies Symphony Hall
- Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
- War Memorial Opera House
- Jackson Hall at Mondavi Center
- San Francisco Conservatory of Music
- Shanghai Oriental Arts Center
- Zellerbach Hall
- Yoshi’s Oakland
- The Vatican
- Grahamstown Arts Festival in South Africa
- Basilica San Marco
- Sala Saõ Paulo
- Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing
- Teatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro, Dvorak Hall in Prague
- Teatro Independencia in Mendoza
- Notre Dame Cathedral
- Chartres Cathedral
- International House of Music in Moscow
- Linder Auditorium in Johannesburg
Pacific Boychoir Academy also performs on Public Radio International, Danish National Radio, at community events such as the Bay Bridge Opening, the Oakland Athletics playoffs, Warriors games, and several self-produced concerts annually.
