Our History

Philadelphia-based Commonwealth Youth Choir (“CYC”) was founded in 2001, and for many years thrived with two main programs, the Keystone State Boychoir and the Pennsylvania Girlchoir. In 2024, these programs and PBGC announced a joint venture, and the Keystone State Boychoir and Pennsylvania Girlchoir combined forces to become the all-gendered Commonwealth Youth Choir. Our programs empowers nearly 200 young singers from across the Greater Philadelphia region to find their voice – to express themselves boldly, and to strive for excellence – in rehearsal, on the stage and as a member of the community. Every week, young people between the ages of 6-18 from throughout the region come together to make music and share life experiences with highly skilled and experienced music educators. CYC has sung for Popes, Presidents, and Nobel Prize winners, both at home and across the globe, having performed on all seven continents!

The History of our Founding Ensembles

Keystone State Boychoir

Keystone State Boychoir (KSB) was founded in 2001 by Joseph P. Fitzmartin and Steven M. Fisher. Major choral works that KSB has performed include Orff’s Camina Burana, Handel’s Messiah, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Britten’s Ceremony of Carols, Rejoice in the Lamb, and St. Nicolas Cantata, Fauré Requiem and Rutter’s Mass of the Children. Keystone State Boychoir sang with the region’s most distinguished ensembles, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Opera Philadelphia, and Mendelssohn Chorus, and at the region’s most prominent venues, including Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, the Academy of Music, the Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Broadway, and Carnegie Hall. On its international tours, KSB sang at the Manaus Opera House in Brazil, the Hanoi Opera House in Vietnam, and the Petronas Philharmonik Hall in Malaysia, as well as in venues throughout Alaska, Canada, South Africa, Japan, Thailand, Cambodia, Australia, Monaco, France, Germany, Austria, and Bulgaria, Norway, England, India, New Zealand, and Tasmania. In December 2009, KSB embarked on a concert tour of Chile as an official part of the country’s 200th-anniversary celebrations. This tour included an excursion to Chile’s Frei Base on King George Island, Antarctica. There the boys sang for scientists from five countries, giving KSB the distinction of bringing the choral arts to the seventh continent for the first time.

Pennsylvania Girlchoir

Established in 2004, PG created a storied history of music education, collaboration, and artistic excellence. Past seasons’ notable collaborations have included prominent organizations such as the Philadelphia Orchestra, Mendelssohn Club, Opera Philadelphia, the Curtis Institute of Music, the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Lyric Fest, WHYY, the University of Pennsylvania and Network for New Music. In July 2016, PG hosted the Girlchoir National Convention, bringing together two young women delegates from each of the 50 states, and in 2020 performed virtually with Choir Across America for the Democratic National Convention.

PG participated in performances of major works including Tod Machover’s Philadelphia Voices with The Philadelphia Orchestra, Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Britten’s Ceremony of Carols, Rejoice in the Lamb, and St. Nicolas Cantata, John Rutter’s Mass of the Children and Joseph Fitzmartin’s Concert Mass. PG also joined hundreds of singers in performing Andrew Bleckner’s choral oratorio The Children’s March and hosted An Evening with Stephen Schwartz with the composer at the piano.