Highlights

2025

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.

    After a year of learning and adapting to rehearsing and performing virtually with interim artistic directors, we would like to warmly welcome our new permanent Artistic Director, Dr. Anne K. Hege as we return to being an in-person chorus. Anne strives to create music that “keeps us human” by supporting listening, attention, presence, and awareness of the body in her work as a conductor, composer, singer, performer, instrument builder, and scholar. She is currently on the voice faculty of Mills College and is the director of Level IV of the San Francisco Girls Chorus. We loved working with Anne in the virtual setting and can’t wait to get started in person this coming August!

    From Anne: 
    I am honored to begin my tenure as the Artistic Director of the Peninsula Women’s Chorus. I had a magical experience leading PWC this past fall, creating our radio play together and finding space to be creative, musical, and thoughtful amidst the chaos of a worldwide pandemic, presidential election, historic wildfires, and many unknowns. PWC’s commitment to music making and their vision of the power of women together that unfolded through the creation of “Singing a Path to Dawn: A Radio Play” was profoundly inspiring. It is a privilege to have the opportunity to continue to lead PWC and work with an organization dedicated to things that I have spent my career supporting and creating – new music, women in music, and community. I am eager to share my vision of all that choral music can be as we re-enter a world with live rehearsal and live performance this fall. 
  • Virtual concert: “We Have a Voice” (5/2021) led by Interim AD Dr. Corie Brown
  • Interim AD for Spring 2021 Dr. Corie Brown:
    Dear PWC Community,

    With a new year comes fresh perspectives, a brighter light at the end of a long tunnel, and a new season with another amazing Interim Artistic Director! We are excited to welcome Dr. Corie Brown, who is also currently Assistant Professor of Choral Music Education at San Jose State University. She brings an impressive array of experience from her work as a clinician and guest conductor nationally and internationally, to her diverse conducting experience working with treble ensembles. You can learn more about Corie here.

    Here are some words from Corie:
    “It is with enthusiasm that I join the talented singers of the Peninsula Women’s Chorus this spring as Interim Artistic Director! I am honored to be a part of such a strong representation of the dedication and determination found in the marrow of this ensemble. Now, more than ever, focusing on the vision of creating transcendent musical experiences resonates with me, as we continue to raise (and record) our voices amidst uncertainty. To get to do this with a group of women who are equally committed to both the musical and the community is an absolute joy! 

    This season, we have the chance to do what creatives have done throughout the ages: to respond to our current time through our art. We weave together music from six quintessential American composers, including Caroline Shaw, Randall Thompson, and Moira Smiley, so that we might respond to and heal from our isolation, and reaffirm our value of community. I very much look forward to our upcoming rehearsals, with the goal of not only honing our recording skills, opening up our vocal potential, and diving into exciting music together, but more importantly finding solace and respite in the process of singing alone, together each week!”

2020

  • Virtual concert: “Singing a Path to Dawn” (12/2020) led by Interim AD Dr. Anne K. Hege
  • Virtual concert: “Hands upon the Plow” (10/2020) led by Dr. Martín Benvenuto as part of PWC’s 3-year Trailblazers Project honoring pioneering women.
  • Interim AD for Fall 2020 Dr. Anne K. Hege:

    Dear PWC family,

    We would like to warmly welcome our new interim Artistic Director for the Fall 2020 season, which just kicked off earlier this week with our first virtual rehearsal. Dr. Anne K. Hege strives to create music that “keeps us human” by supporting listening, attention, presence, and awareness of the body in her work as a composer, singer, performer, conductor, instrument builder, and scholar. She is currently on the voice faculty of Mills College and is the director of Level IV of the San Francisco Girls Chorus. 

    Here are some words from Anne:
    I am thrilled to be leading the Peninsula Women’s Chorus as Interim Artistic Director this fall. It is a historic moment for all of us as we try to recognize what we love about choral music and attempt to find ways to make “the music” happen virtually. It is a time of change, deep introspection, and renewal and a unique moment to be making music together in this new form. It is a privilege to have this opportunity to work with an organization dedicated to things that I have spent my career supporting and creating — new music, women in music, and community. I am eager to share my skills and talents, combining the choral arts with technology through the collaborative creation of a radio play, where we can learn and record beautiful music together and playfully build a story in response to this moment in time. It is the perfect opportunity for a project I have wanted to try for a long time. I can’t wait to see where this leads! 
  • 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.
  • Artistic Director Martín Benvenuto steps down
    Dear PWC Friends and Family,

    When Dr. Martín Benvenuto, Artistic Director of the Peninsula Women’s Chorus since 2003, informed us in February that the 2019-2020 season will mark the end of his tenure as Artistic Director of the PWC, we had hoped to bid him a fond farewell at the conclusion of PWC’s May 2020 Spring Concerts. Although these concerts were cancelled due to COVID-19, Martín continued to conduct us in virtual rehearsals and directed our virtual choir version of the third and final piece of PWC’s iconic Trailblazers Project, Hands upon the Plow, which will be premiered at our online concert on October 3, 2020.

    Martín’s most significant contributions to PWC over the past sixteen years have included the commissioning and performance of outstanding new repertoire for treble voices, often by female composers and centered on socially relevant themes. In his time with us, Martín has planned and directed many memorable PWC performances, hosted the New Music for Treble Voices festivals featuring some of the Bay Area’s finest treble choirs, led numerous successful domestic and international tours, and led the PWC in achieving multiple prizes and honors, including First Place for the American Prize in Choral Performance in 2015, as well as the selection of the PWC to perform at the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) Western Division Conference in 2016.

    Most recently, Martín has been instrumental in orchestrating PWC’s upcoming inaugural live-streamed concert on October 3, featuring all three amazing Trailblazers Project pieces honoring women who championed significant social progress, as well as other recent performances. Before his departure, Martín will also complete the production of PWC’s newest CD, Women Making Waves, to be released at the end of 2020. 

    Beyond the awards and recognition that made us proud, Martín comments that “the most cherished moments have been the musical ones, particularly when we’ve attained our highest level of performance. The ACDA performance in February 2016 of the ‘Gloria Kajoniensis’, the sound of the music of Veljo Tormis at Bing Concert Hall, and the feeling of exhilaration when we nailed Alberto Grau’s ‘Como tú’ come to mind.” 
    One of Martín’s favorite phrases, when describing upcoming seasons or events, is “Who’s excited?” For Martín, “A very exciting moment was to find out, just before a rehearsal was starting, that Harriet Tubman’s great-great-grandniece Judith Bryant would be joining us for the world premiere of ‘Child of Impossibles’. Real-life connections such as this always immeasurably enhance our music making.”
    Martín shares some of his future plans by saying: “I’m on a path of exploration, musically and otherwise, including the development of 21V, a project-based, select ensemble of soprano and alto voices with a focus on music of the 21st century of the Americas.  Stay tuned!”
    We will certainly miss Martín and are grateful for the many beautiful concerts PWC performed under his direction. Here are a few comments from singers and Board members expressing our appreciation:
    “Personally, my favorite memory of our time together in PWC is of our 2015 tour of Argentina under his leadership. Performing in an international festival choir under one of Martín’s musical mentors and getting to meet Martín’s parents were treasured highlights of a fabulous tour.”
    “Martín’s rehearsals were a joy — a magical marvel of meticulous, masterly methodology!”
    “I enjoyed working with Martín to secure funding for many of his innovative PWC endeavors, including the Silicon Valley Creates’ $10,000 “X Factor Grant” competition in 2018, supporting a new work in honor of transgender rights advocate Miss Major Griffin-Gracy. For this and so many other reasons, I will miss Martín’s talents and personal warmth.”
    “I am most grateful for the memories of the everyday — the meticulous rehearsal notes, the thoroughly researched backstories behind the music, the name cards on our chairs waiting for us every Monday, the gentle guidance at voice checks, the thoughtful care packages at our year-end potlucks. These everyday moments — during and between rehearsals — are the mosaic tiles that shape us as singers and as a PWC community.”
    “Martín, thank you for making us better. I hope you will always know and take with you the knowledge of how much you have expanded our horizons and inspired us to build the world you envision. Thank you for your years of helping us grow, trusting us, conspiring with us to cast a spell on our audience, and enabling us to finish each other’s thoughts with song. We miss you now, and will miss you in the years to come.”

    Please stay tuned for information on our upcoming seasons’ plans with our new Interim Artistic Directors. We hope that you will join us at our virtual concert on October 3 to bid Martín a fond farewell.
    In harmony,
    PWC Board of Directors

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.