Highlights

2024

2023

2022

2021

  • Anne K. Hege Becomes PWC’s Artistic Director –After six months as interim director in fall 2020, leading a virtual choir during the pandemic, Anne K. Hege accepts the position of Artistic Director of the PWC.

2020

  • Ninth CD Released – Women Making Waves celebrates the centenary of the 19th Amendment, featuring three very special pieces that were commissioned by the PWC for our Trailblazers Project, honoring the achievements of three American women pioneers: abolitionist Harriet Tubman, transgender rights activist Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, and women’s suffrage leader Alice Paul. A powerful, beautiful collection that celebrates women—making waves.

2018-2020

  • Trailblazers Project – A multi-year commissioning project funded by Patricia Hennings New Music Fund. Three works by female composers, highlighting the achievements of three American women pioneers.
    • 2020: “Hands upon the Plow” by Jocelyn Hagen for women’s suffrage champion Alice Paul
    • 2019: “When the Dust Settles” by Mari Esabel Valverde for transgender rights leader Miss Major Griffin-Gracy
    • 2018: “Child of Impossibles” by Julia Adolphe for abolitionist and humanitarian Harriet Tubman

2016-2017

  • PWC’s 50th Anniversary Celebration – The PWC marked 50 years of music-making with an anniversary weekend and concert, where voices from PWC’s past and present came together as one. Three new pieces were commissioned in honor of this extraordinary milestone.

2017

  • Silicon Valley Creates 2017 X Factor Award – PWC was honored to be one of three Bay Area non-profit arts organizations selected by a team of judges to receive a $10,000 Silicon Valley Creates 2017 X Factor Award. We were one of over forty groups that “pitched” an arts project: ours involved the creation, production and performance of PWC’s second Trailblazers Commission, “When the Dust Settles,” celebrating the life and accomplishments of transgender and prison rights activist Miss Major Griffin-Gracy.

2016

  • ACDA Regional Conference in Pasadena, CA – In February 2016, the PWC was selected for the fourth time by audition to perform on the primary stages of this biennial convention.

2015

  • PWC Wins 1st Place for the American Prize, Community Chorus Category – The American Prize is a series of national competitions designed to recognize and reward performing artists based on submitted recordings. The PWC won based on the submission of our eighth CD Mostly Made in America. 
  • “San Juan Coral” International Choral Festival in Argentina – The PWC performed at the San Juan Festival and other prestigious venues throughout Argentina.
  • Concert Tour – Buenos Aires, Mendoza, San Juan (Argentina)
  • Eighth CD Released – Mostly Made in America is a homage to the musical heritage of America, giving voice to celebration, uncertainty, the spirit of struggle, as well as the tranquility and familiarity of the sounds of home.

2014

  • Sing and Play the Bing – PWC participated in this free concert series sponsored by Stanford Live, in the state-of-the-art Bing Concert Hall on Stanford campus.
  • PWC Hires Chorus Manager – The chorus hires its first ever part-time Chorus Manager, Diane Dragone.

2013

  • Artistic Director Benvenuto’s 10th Anniversary – PWC commissions and performs Songs of Night by Kirstina Rasmussen in honor of Artistic Director Martín Benvenuto’s 10th Anniversary with the chorus.

2011

  • PWC Awarded 2nd Place for the American Prize, Community Chorus Category – The American Prize is a series of national competitions designed to recognize and reward performing artists based on submitted recordings. The PWC won based on the submission of our seventh CD Nature Pictures.
  • Seghizzi 50th International Competition of Choral Singing – The PWC participated in the prestigious Seghizzi competition in Gorizia, Italy.
  • Concert Tour – Vienna (AT); Maribor, Gorizia, Venice (IT)

2010

Seventh CD Released
Nature Pictures celebrates a close relationship with prominent Estonian composer Veljo Tormis in this first American recording of his evocative song cycles, Looduspildid (Nature Pictures). 

Artistic Director Benvenuto initiated as Distinguished Member into Sigma Alpha Iota
Artistic Director Martín Benvenuto is initiated as a Distinguished Member into the SF Peninsula Alumnae chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota. 

2009

Grant from the Aaron Copland Fund for Music 
This grant is given to performing organizations “whose artistic excellence encourages and improves public knowledge and appreciation of serious contemporary American music.” 

PWC Mentorship Program Inaugurated
The PWC introduced its Mentorship Program (PWCMP) open to young women with choral experience and currently enrolled in high school. This exciting community outreach program gives qualified applicants a unique opportunity to work with the PWC and continues our dedication to supporting music programs for our local youth.

2008

Alla Breve is Formed
PWC’s small ensemble is created in the fall of 2008, and is featured in each concert singing a unique set of music for chamber choir.

PWC’s Poetry and Music 2008
Building on the success of the first Poetry and Music project from 2000, the PWC joined with Tapestry Arts in San Jose and Cantabile Youth Singers of Los Altos to expand on the ideas of the first project. Children at Escuela Popular created poetry in a program organized by Tapestry Arts. Then, guided by former PWC conductor Karen Robinson, children from Cantabile composed their own songs set to these poems, which were then performed by the PWC in spring of 2008.

First New Music for Treble Voices Festival
This annual event, now hosted by the PWC, began in the spring of 2008 with a concert in San Francisco featuring Volti, Piedmont Choirs Ensemble and Ancora, and the PWC.

2007

PWC’s 40th Anniversary Celebration
The PWC celebrates its 40th anniversary by commissioning four new pieces for women’s voices.

2006

Sixth CD Released
Winter Patterns, a holiday-themed CD, is the first release with Martí­n Benvenuto as executive producer.

Béla Bartók 22nd International Choir Competition
Third prize winner, women’s choir division.

2005

First Gala Fundraiser
The PWC holds its first annual gala fundraiser “Champagne and Roses” at The Woman’s Club of Palo Alto.

2004

Fifth CD Released
EarthTones includes a wide range of 20th-century pieces that take the listener on a musical journey through nature and spirituality.

Martin Benvenuto Becomes PWC’s Artistic Director
After six months as interim director, Martin Benvenuto accepts the position of artistic director of the PWC.

2003

Book About PWC Published
The PWC and late artistic director Patricia Hennings are the subject of an inspirational new book — Take Up the Song.

Festival 500
PWC traveled to St. John’s, Newfoundland, for this biennial world music festival, performing solo concerts and joining the massed choirs from around the world to sing Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana under the baton of Bobby McFerrin.

ASCAP Award
June 2003, honored with the 2002 American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Award for Adventurous Programming in the category for choruses with budgets of $90,000 or less.

2001

AmericaFest International Festival of Women’s Singing
PWC one of four international founding choirs for this first-ever, weeklong festival, performing 3 times as a solo choir, once in a joint performance with Elektra Women’s Choir from Canada, and as part of the festival’s massed choirs. Artistic Director Hennings led a multimedia interest session on PWC’s Poetry and Music Project as well as conducting the massed choirs in the finale piece of the festival. Pianist Josephine Gandolfi was the official accompanist of massed choir pieces for the festival.

ACDA National Convention, San Antonio
Selected for the third time by audition to perform on the primary stages of this biennial convention, the only community women’s chorus in the U.S. to receive this honor.

2000

Artistic Director Hennings’ 25th Anniversary Concerts
To celebrate Hennings’ 25 years with PWC, the chorus commissioned “Psalm 121” by composer Libby Larsen, based on text from the Bible and by Patricia Hennings and John Muir. A preconcert composers’ panel discussion featured six composers whose works written for PWC were featured in the concerts.

Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence 
Awarded second place ($500).

Fourth CD Released
Carols and Lullabies takes its title from the collection of Southwest Christmas pieces of the same name by Bay Area composer Conrad Susa featured in this CD.

Grant from David and Lucile Packard Foundation
PWC awarded $10,000 to hire an administrative assistant.

1999-2000

PWC’s Poetry and Music Project
Funded by a private donation and separate Meet the Composer grants, PWC initiated an outreach project in Peninsula elementary schools to encourage children to write poems that would then be presented to three composers to produce music based on the children’s poems for PWC to perform. The project involved children in 17 classrooms at 5 schools and included several teachers who sing in PWC as well as poets from the California Poets in the Schools program. A special performance in March 2000 featured the children reading or performing their poems and the chorus singing the six pieces composed for the project.

1999

Tour to Vancouver, B.C. 
Joint performances with Elektra, Canada’s premier women’s chorus, conducted by Diane Loomer and Morna Edmondson, Elektra’s directors, and Patricia Hennings of PWC.

ASCAP Award
June 1999, honored with the 1998 American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) Award for Adventurous Programming in the category for choruses with budgets of $90,000 or less.

1998-1999

Partially funded by a grant from the Arts Council Silicon Valley. Spring concerts featured selections from the “Song of Survival” music, presented with speaker Helen Colijn, a survivor of the World War II internment camp where the music originated.

1998

Third CD Released
Songs of the Spirit features selections from the vocal orchestra music written in a World War II women’s internment camp in Sumatra. These historically significant works were performed by PWC with camp survivor and speaker Helen Colijn in performances during the 1980s, culminating in a special performance with the film, Song of Survival, at the ACDA National Convention in 1987. PWC presented a similar performance with Helen Colijn in the spring 1998 concerts. CD partially funded by a grant from the Peery Foundation.

1997

Second CD Released
Alleluia Psallat features music for the holiday season.

Mission San Juan Bautista Bicentennial
Invited to present performance of music of the California mission period researched by Dr. Hennings and music from the San Juan Bautista Mission archives.

1996

America Basketball League (ABL)
National anthem performed at inaugural game of country’s first professional women’s basketball game.

1995

First CD Released
Treasures showcases unusual music written for women’s choirs.

PWC singers in West Bay Opera (1995)

West Bay Opera
PWC and Director Patricia Hennings made their operatic debut in West Bay Opera’s performance of Puccini’s Suor Angelica.

1994

Tallinn International Choral Competition 
Second prize winner.

Concert Tour
Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Estonia, and Latvia.

1993

ACDA National Convention
Selected by jury to perform on the main venue at the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) National Convention in San Antonio.

1992

ACDA Western Division Convention
Represented California women’s choirs at regional convention in Honolulu, Hawaii.

1989

Davies Hall, San Francisco 
Performed with the Dzintars, a 90-women’s choir from Latvia.

1987

ACDA National Convention, San Antonio 
Invited to perform selections from “Song of Survival,” music of a women’s vocal orchestra formed in a Sumatran prison camp during World War II. Presented compositions for women’s voices by composer Kirke Mechem during a special interest session with him.

1984

Concert Tour
Great Britain

International Eisteddfod Competition in Llangollen, Wales
Participated by invitation.

BBC Television appearance

1982-1997

“Song of Survival” 
Played a significant role in introducing the world to the music of a women’s vocal orchestra formed in a Sumatran prison camp during World War II through concerts and participation in the documentary film Song of Survival. The prisoners’ story was eventually made into the 1997 motion picture Paradise Road.

1981

First overseas Concert Tour: Austria, Germany and Switzerland

1975

Patricia (Patty) Hennings was chosen as the 2nd director at age 25, having just completed her doctoral degree in conducting from Stanford University. She continued her tenure for 26 years until her passing in 2001.

1966-1975

Established memorizing music, singing in many languages with challenging music. The chorus voted to be self-supporting, paying $3.00 per season in the beginning.

1966

With nineteen members, the Chorus was founded in the fall of 1966 through the mid-peninsula group of American Association of University Women. The first director was Marjorie Rawlins, who continued to lead the group until 1975. Renamed the University Women’s Chorus with association of Foothill College in the spring of 1970. Skits, which included music from the spring season were included at the chorus potluck celebrations.