High School Sophomores – Age 24
A Choral Home for Ambitious Singers, 16 to 24
Built for high school sophomores through age 24, Chamber is where advanced high school singers, college-age singers, and young adults sing demanding repertoire side by side — in the years when most young people stop singing entirely.
PYC’s Mission, Extended Into a Longer Arc
Pacific Youth Choir is a youth development organization. For 23 seasons, that work has happened through choral music — the rehearsals, the repertoire, the relationships, the rigor — and it has stopped at high school graduation.
It doesn’t need to. Some of the most formative years a young person navigates begin in high school and extend well past it, and for singers who stay local, PYC is now positioned to journey with them across the whole stretch. Chamber Choir is how we do that — a peer-based artistic home built around high school singers, sophomore year onward, and extending through age 24. The developmental work continues across the same transition that shapes who a singer becomes.
What unfolds inside that room is the most ambitious music PYC has ever made — demanding repertoire, an Oregon Symphony collaboration, an international competition tour. Advanced high school singers anchor the ensemble; college-age singers, recent alums, and young adults early in their careers sing alongside them, side by side. The mission hasn’t changed. The arc has.
Rehearsal Times
Chamber: Sundays 7:00–8:15 PM
Location
Trinity Episcopal Cathedral
147 NW 19th Avenue, Portland
Ambitious Repertoire
Chamber programs literature from the choral canon at a college and professional level — the music advanced young singers most want to sing.
Excellence Across Generations
High school singers anchor the ensemble alongside college-age singers, recent alums, and young adults early in their careers — a peer-based artistic home built around the mixed-age bridge.
Signature Artistic Opportunities
Beethoven’s 9th with the Oregon Symphony, the Kathaumixw International Choral Competition in Canada, and featured performances at the Winningstad Theatre.
A Season Worth Showing Up For
The 2026–27 season is the most ambitious in Chamber’s history. The repertoire is drawn from the choral canon at a college and professional level. The schedule reflects a real artistic year — three PYC concerts, a featured Oregon Symphony collaboration, the annual gala, and an international tour to close.
In December, Chamber joins the Oregon Symphony for two performances of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall — one of the choral canon’s most demanding works, performed on December 30 and 31 with the full OSO. Three weeks earlier, Chamber anchors PYC’s Winter Concert at Trinity. In February, Chamber returns to the Winningstad Theatre with Pacific for Illuminate, our high school spring concert. In April, Chamber performs at PYC’s annual gala — the centerpiece of our community fundraising year. In May, Chamber closes the PYC season at the spring concert.
The season concludes in July, when Chamber represents PYC at the Kathaumixw International Choral Competition in Powell River, British Columbia — one of North America’s most respected international choral festivals.
Where Chamber Will Be Singing
| Date | Performance |
|---|---|
| December 13, 2026 | Winter Concert · Trinity Episcopal Cathedral |
| December 30 & 31, 2026 | Beethoven’s 9th with the Oregon Symphony · Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall |
| February 27, 2027 | Illuminate · Winningstad Theatre |
| April 2027 | PYC Annual Gala |
| May 16, 2027 | Spring Concert · Trinity Episcopal Cathedral |
| July 5–11, 2027 | Kathaumixw International Choral Competition · Powell River, BC |
Audition for Chamber
Chamber auditions are designed for singers ready to take on the most challenging choral work PYC offers. High school singers audition into Chamber as an addition to their main PYC enrollment. Singers age 18 and older audition into Chamber as their PYC home.