“Few American cities enjoy the choral music history that Portland Oregon boasts...”
Portland’s First Choir
The Portland Symphonic Choir has been Portland’s Choir since 1945. Founded and directed by C. Robert Zimmerman, its original 80 singers performed the major choral works throughout the city beginning with Handel’s Messiah in December of 1945.
PSC began an affiliation with the Oregon Symphony in 1947 when the orchestra was still known as the Portland Symphony Orchestra. The two ensembles evolved a critically-acclaimed and musically exciting relationship, performing choral music that spanned the ages and featured genres of all sorts, from masses and light operas to contemporary compositions.
Every season since 1945, thousands of regional singers have performed with Portland Symphonic Choir, offering regional audiences of all ages the unmatched opportunity to experience outstanding choral music while singing under some of the greatest choral conductors in the country. Zimmerman led the Choir until 1961, followed by Frank Holman (1963 — 1973), David Wilson (1974 — 1978), Bruce Browne (1979 — 2001), and Steven Zopfi (2003 — 2017). Our current Artistic Leader is Alissa Deeter.
To learn more about Portland Symphonic Choir, an in-depth history of the Choir, written by long-time PSC member Tom Hard, is available at the Oregon Encyclopedia, a project of the Oregon Historical Society and Portland State University.