History and Mission
The Philadelphia Singers was founded by Michael Korn in 1972 and is now under the dynamic leadership of Music Director David Hayes. The Philadelphia Singers is a professional choral ensemble that engages and inspires a broad range of audiences in the Philadelphia region with compelling concert experiences featuring performances of choral masterpieces and contemporary works. The Singers has a special commitment to preserve and strengthen America’s rich choral heritage through performances, commissions, and music education. The Philadelphia Singers also believes in the power of art to advance individuals and communities. It seeks to enrich the broader community through embodying the highest standards of classical musicianship and by providing a platform for its musicians to serve the community in a wide variety of forms.

The 2007/2008 Season marks The Philadelphia Singers 35th Anniversary Season and David Hayes’ 15th Anniversary as Music Director. This season’s programs include the Philadelphia Premiere of Morton Feldman’s Rothko Chapel, the annual performances of  “Christmas on Logan Square” and performances of Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass and Mozart’s Vesperae solennes de Confessore, K.339.  The Philadelphia Singers Chorale will appear several times with The Philadelphia Orchestra. Highlights include Orff’s Carmina Burana, the world premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s The Singing Rooms and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 (Symphony of a Thousand”).

The Singers concerts annually reach a live audience of over 40,000. For 35 years, The Singers has maintained its mission to present choral music of the highest caliber, offer challenging performance opportunities to professional singers and promote a knowledge and appreciation of the choral art to people of all ages. Praised for its "all-star quality," The Philadelphia Singers performs regularly with leading national and local performing arts organizations including: The Philadelphia Orchestra, The New York Philharmonic, The Curtis Institute of Music, The Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Kimmel Center Presents and The Mannes Orchestra.   Maestro Wolfgang Sawallisch has described the ensemble as, "one of the musical treasures of Philadelphia."

Members of the ensemble have trained at some of the best music schools in the country including The Curtis Institute of Music, Academy of Vocal Arts, Esther Boyer School of Music, Juilliard School, Peabody Conservatory, Westminster Choir College, Eastman School of Music, Indiana University School of Music and Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music, as well as vocal institutes in Austria, Italy and Switzerland. Many members of the ensemble perform with leading orchestras and former members now perform with major American and European opera companies including The Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the New York City and San Francisco Opera Companies.

The Philadelphia Singers is committed to ensuring that choral music maintains a vibrant present as well as a rich past and has presented an extensive array of Philadelphia, American and World Premieres.  The Philadelphia Singers also has a rich history of commissioning new works, which have enhanced the choral repertoire.  These commissioned works include: William Bolcom’s The Mask, Robert Capanna’s Day, Romeo Cascarino’s William Penn, Ezra Laderman’s Brotherly Love and Vincent Persichetti’s Flower Songs and most recently Babylon by Thomas Whitman as well as Deep in the Night, Sing Sing, O magnum mysterium and Southern Grace by Jennifer Higdon.

The Philadelphia Singers Chorale was founded in 1991 as the symphonic chorus of The Philadelphia Singers. The Chorale is composed of professional singers and talented volunteers. In 2001, The Philadelphia Singers Chorale was named Resident Chorus of The Philadelphia Orchestra, the first time in the orchestra’s history that a chorus has received this distinction. The Philadelphia Singers Chorale appears with The Orchestra in all choral subscription concerts as well as annual performances of Handel's Messiah and “The Glorious Sound of Christmas”.

The ensemble has twice performed American premieres with the New York Philharmonic under Kurt Masur at the Lincoln Center Festival: Seltzer's Lament for Yitzchak and Penderecki's Seven Gates of Jerusalem.

On September 16, 2001 The Chorale performed in the national PBS television broadcast of "A Tribute Concert: Music and Reflection on the Tragedies of September 11" with The Philadelphia Orchestra. This program was produced locally by WHYY.

On December 15, 2001, The Philadelphia Singers Chorale appeared with The Philadelphia Orchestra in The Kimmel Center Inaugural Gala. This concert was broadcast live via WHYY television and radio and broadcast nationally on the PBS television network.

In recent years, performances with The Philadelphia Orchestra included Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and “Choral” Fantasy, Kellogg’s Ben, Kodaly’s Missa Brevis, Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, Haydn’s Seasons Verdi’s Requiem, Macmillan’s Quickening, Wagner’s Parsifal Act III and excerpts from Tannhäuser and Berio’s Stanze, Liszt's Dante Symphony, Schubert's Mass in E-flat, Mahler's Second and Third Symphonies, Schoenberg's Gurrelieder, Thomas’ Chanting to Paradise Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe for the opening of the Kimmel Center, John Adams' Harmonium, Honegger's Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher, Rossini's Stabat Mater and Prokofiev's Ivan the Terrible.