David Pittsinger to Perform at Commonwealth Youthchoirs Gala Concert

Commonwealth Youthchoirs has announced their Seventh Annual Gala Concert featuring the premiere choirs in Keystone State Boychoir and Pennsylvania Girlchoir, with opera and Broadway star, bass-baritone David Pittsinger. The Gala will be held at the Kimmel Center on June 17, 2011.

International opera star, David Pittsinger, joins an impressive roster of CY Gala guests when he performs with the choirs this June. His appearances with the Metropolitan Opera have included broadcast performances as The Friar in Verdi's Don Carlo, Trulove in The Rake's Progress, Achilla in Giulio Cesare, Colline in La Bohème. Roles with Opera Company of Philadelphia have included the title role in Don Giovanni, Mephistopheles in Faust, Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte and the four Villains in Les Contes d'Hoffmann. Past guest performers on the CY Gala Concert include opera stars Frederica von Stade, Denyce Graves, Lauren Flanigan, and Broadway star Alison Fraser.

CY Executive Director Susan S. Ashbaker said, "We are thrilled to return to the Perelman once again and have many things to celebrate on this occasion." The choirs will present their fourth commission, by composer Thomas Pasatieri, entitled CONVERGENCE: A Charm of Moonlight. In correspondence to Ashbaker, Pasatieri, well known not only for his work in the classical field, but for his film orchestrations for Hollywood hits such as Shawshank Redemption, Little Mermaid, Fried Green Tomatoes, and Angels in America among others, wrote, "I have enjoyed writing this cycle very much and hope they bring you as much pleasure performing them as they have brought me in their writing." Mark Anderson, Music Director of Pennsylvania Girlchoir added: "Even if the listener understands not a word of French, the rise and fall of hope, loss, expectation, tension and regret are readily understood. The composition is a real gem."

Now in its tenth year, Commonwealth Youthchoirs provides exemplary choral music education and performance opportunities for over 300 young singers, aged seven through eighteen, representing five counties in the greater Philadelphia area, who sing with one of its two member-choirs, Keystone State Boychoir (www.keystonestateboychoir.org) and Pennsylvania Girlchoir (www.pagirlchoir.org). Tickets for the concert are on sale at the Kimmel Center Box Office, Broad & Spruce Streets, by calling 215-893-1999, or online at www.kimmelcenter.org.