The Grammy Award-winning Pacific Boychoir Academy (PBA) will be holding auditions for its extensive after school choir program at the Academy’s new campus located at 215 Ridgeway Avenue in Oakland, CA on Wednesday September 29, 2010 between 4 PM and 6 PM.  Interested families are invited to call 510-652-4722 to make an audition appointment or to learn more about the PBA after school and day school programs.

 

As economic conditions are shrinking arts education budgets more than ever before, the PBA remains deeply committed to its mission of bringing quality music education to its community.   To meet this commitment, the PBA offers exceptional after school music programs consisting of seven separate choirs for boys ranging in age from five to eighteen.   In addition, the PBA offers a school choir for boys who attend the Academy’s day school.

 

A young boy's treble voice normally lasts only a few years. By the age of thirteen or fourteen, most boys will never again in their lives be able to make the sounds that typify a well-trained boys’ choir. The PBA gives boys with potential the opportunity to become professional singers, to sing with other choirs, to record, to perform with orchestras, and appear in front of audiences across the country and around the world.

 

The positive aspects of music education are well documented. With music as the vehicle, boys will also learn responsibility, how to work as a vital member of a team, how to present themselves, and the value of striving for excellence. Though it takes some hard work, singing in the Boychoir is of course fun and provides once-in-a-lifetime opportunities.

 

Though a musical background is helpful, the PBA does not require auditionees to have previous musical experience. The purpose of the audition is to determine an ability to match pitch, identify musical elements, level of joy in music and a willingness to learn.

 

Founded in 1998 by Kevin Fox, Stella Brown, Marcia Roy and six original choristers, the PBA has grown to include over 150 boys aged five to thirteen, and is now a 4th through 8th-grade academic and arts Academy serving Alameda, San Francisco, Contra Costa and Marin counties.  The PBA’s reputation for excellence has paved the way for performances with the San Francisco Symphony, the San Francisco Opera, the UC Berkeley and UC Davis Symphonies, and the American Bach Soloists, along with multiple national and international appearances; the PBA received Grammy Awards (Best Choral Performance, Best Classical Album) in 2003 and 2010 for its work with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony.