For Grades 5 and Up, the Performing Department challenges the student further through advanced music theory, ear training, and sight singing, along with foreign language diction, healthy vocal technique, resonance, breathing, vowel formation, performance, and storytelling.

The four Performing Department choirs - Concert Choir, Ensemble, Ecco, and Ancora - represent the pinnacle of children’s choral training and performance. Singers in these groups have studied music for several years, and are admitted following a vocal placement. In Performing Department Choirs, promising young singers reach new heights of personal expression; their relationship with music deepens and gains new subtlety. Singers begin to form their own musical personalities and identities, and they make deep, lifelong bonds with like-minded friends. They become proud ambassadors of the Choir and the East Bay through local performances, professional collaborations, and on tour at international competitions and festivals.

All Performing Department choirs perform in the Candlelight Concert in December, the Winter Concert in late January, the Making History Concert mid-spring, and Spring Sing! in late spring. Additional opportunities including Jazz and Beyond, Ancora Recital, Tour Bon Voyage Concerts, collaborations and workshops, and/or working with a living composer on a new work are often undertaken by individual choirs throughout the season.

Tours

International touring and competition has been a centerpiece of the PEBCC programs since 1984. We believe choir tours provide unparalleled opportunities for young people to learn about themselves and broaden and deepen their understanding of the world. Since its founding, PEBCC ensembles have toured and performed throughout 13 states and 26 foreign countries, participating in nineteen choral competitions in Europe, Asia, and North America and bringing home twenty-five awards, including Gold Medals and Grand Prizes. Tour destinations are selected primarily on the basis of their potential for providing enriching musical experiences and secondarily for their cultural and geographical interest. While on tour, singers may participate in music festivals, community concerts, and cultural and recreational activities, and have been selected to perform for the most discerning audiences.