HISTORY

On November 3, 2019 the Troubadors had the rare opportunity to perform for TEDx Oakland. The recently promoted varsity choristers from the fifth and sixth grade sang alongside our Changed Voice high schoolers, exemplifying the talent, teamwork, focus, and choral brilliance that is at the core of our PBA value system.

Cadence Strange, PBA’s first African-American Head Boy, takes to the TEDx stage to share his story. He commanded a world-wide audience to share the power of using his passions as a guide through adversity, and how his gifts and dedication help him attain his goals, to fulfill his wildest dreams.

On November 11, 2019 PBA performed the National Anthem for the Golden State Warriors, at the newly opened CHASE Arena in San Francisco CA.

On February 26, 2019 the City of Oakland honored Pacific Boychoir Academy’s 20th Anniversary and its dedication to excellence with a special proclamation. Click here to watch the facebook live video feed.

Galapagos Island and Ecuador!
PBA’s International Tour for the Galapagos departed on July 10, 2018.  This archipelago of volcanic islands is part of the Republic of Ecuador and located 563 miles west of continental Ecuador in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The islands are known for their vast number of endemic species and were studied by Charles Darwin during the voyage of the Beagle. His fundamental observations and collections contributed to the inception of Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection.

Fall 2017, PBA starts a Girls Chorus, Sorella (Sister in Italian)

PBA started our ‘Tea, Talk & Treasures series, featuring Mads Tolling, on October 17, 2017.

Oliver Ranch – Nov. 4, 2017. Selection by Steve Oliver is the only way to tour the art installations at Oliver Ranch in Sonoma County, a sheep-ranch-turned-outdoor-art-museum. Pacific Boychoir Academy was selected as one of the beneficiaries of this unique and interesting fundraising opportunity.

PBA performs at the Fox Theater in Oakland for the Magik*Magik Orchestra’s fifth birthday party, with indie rock groups such as Geographer, John Vanderslice, How to Dress Well, Zöe Keating, Rogue Wave, and The Lonely Forest.

PBA records and performs “Homeless” as part of the UnderCover Presents Graceland concerts.

PBA performs Bach Magnificat (Oakland-East Bay Symphony), Rachmaninoff’s Vespers, and Mozart’s Requiem in the span of three months. PBA provides all choral parts and soloists for Mozart’s Requiem with the National Symphony Orchestra of Brazil.

PBA is asked to appear on America’s Got Talent on NBC.

PBA performs Mozart’s Requiem in its entirely, with soloists from the choir, with the Orquestra Sinfonica Brasiliera in Rio de Janiero.

PBA performs the National Anthem and God Bless America for the A’s-Tigers MBL playoff series.

With the Young Women’s Choral Projects of San Francisco, PBA performs Terry Riley’s Another Secret eQuation with the Kronos Quartet for their 40th birthday party concert at Zellerbach Hall.

PBA performs for the Nelson Mandela memorial services in Washington, DC, and San Francisco.

Choristers perform with Maestro Gustavo Dudamel for the first time, at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley.

The PBA hosts the Drakensberg Boys Choir from South Africa in May, in a concert featuring a guest appearance by Yale’s Whiffenpoofs.

PBA sends its first exchange student to the Drakensberg Boys Choir School.

Grammys!!
This time the CD being honored is Mahler’s 8th Symphony, by the same team that received the Grammy for Mahler’s 3rd in 2004. On behalf of the San Francisco Symphony, Mr. Fox accepts the awards for Best Classical Album and (the boys’ favorite) Best Choral Performance.

The PBA performs Rachmaninoff’s Vespers for the second time, with concerts in San Francisco and Oakland.

The PBA leases a long-term campus in north Oakland, conveniently accessible by public transport. PBA is the sole occupant of this campus, which includes a small theater as well as outdoor play space for the boys.

The PBA travels to Africa for the first time, joining up with South Africa’s choir school, the Drakensberg Boys Choir.

The PBA collaborates with the Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra for the first time, in a concert of music by Duke Ellington and Marcus Shelby.

The PBA performs Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil (“Vespers”) in its entirety, for the first time in America as the piece was premiered: with an all-male choir including boy sopranos and boy altos.

The PBA performs Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil (“Vespers”) in its entirety, for the first time in America as the piece was premiered: with an all-male choir including boy sopranos and boy altos.

That Promised Land, the PBA’s first Spirituals CD, receives the Academy of Gospel Music Award as well as the Friends of Negro Spirituals Award for Mr. Fox.

Grammy!
The award for Best Classical Album goes to Mahler’s 3rd Symphony, recorded by the San Francisco
Symphony and Symphony Chorus under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas, with the Pacific Boychoir
and the San Francisco Girls Chorus

The PBA opens a fully academic school for boys in Grades 4 through 8, with class sizes limited to 15, and
daily singing classes complementing the academics. It is the first all-boys school in the East Bay, and the only
choir school in the western United States. The academic program is rigorous, lively, and global in its outlook.
From the first graduating class onwards, PBA’s boys are recruited into the most selective high schools in the area.

The choir travels to Australia on its first international tour. This is the start of a touring program that has taken the boys overseas each year; by now the choir has sung in every continent, most recently in Russia, China, South Africa, and Argentina. The choir creates quite possibly the world’s first tour “blog” while on tour, updating the PBA website via AOL dialup numbers from across the Pacific.

Along with local experts and interested community members, Artistic Director Kevin Fox, then 23 years old, creates the Pacific Boychoir Academy (PBA), a non-denominational after-school choral program in Oakland. Mr. Fox starts with no financial capital, just six boys, and a vision for creating a world-class boychoir.