Chestnut Street Singers

Chestnut Street Singers Chestnut Street Singers is Philadelphia's cooperative chamber chorus.

Unconventional conducting for this unconventional ensemble—we’ll take it!Mark your calendars for “We Hold These Truths” ...
09/16/2026

Unconventional conducting for this unconventional ensemble—we’ll take it!

Mark your calendars for “We Hold These Truths” on 11/14 to find out if we achieved nasty.

[ID: An orange and yellow gradient background overlaid with white text reading: “overheard at rehearsal: ‘I’m not particularly concerned about a perfectly tuned quarter-tone. Just make it nasty.’” The second sentence is emphasized!]

“No” is a complete sentence, as our Sop2s can attest in this accurate recreation of an actual moment from rehearsal.[ID:...
09/11/2026

“No” is a complete sentence, as our Sop2s can attest in this accurate recreation of an actual moment from rehearsal.

[ID: A photo of three singers making pronounced facial expressions: Erina looks disgusted, Julie looks aloof, and Michele looks stricken. Don’t worry: the Sop1s handled it.]

**No Sop2s or idea-having conductors were harmed in the making of this post.**

In a collaborative choir, the launch of a new season takes many voices—in leadership!We’re grateful to our volunteer boa...
09/10/2026

In a collaborative choir, the launch of a new season takes many voices—in leadership!

We’re grateful to our volunteer board, who share not only their musical but also administrative talents to keep the ensemble functioning. Seen here are the boards for both 2025–2026 and 2026–2027: from left, incoming leader Melinda Steffy, continuing leader Michael Blaakman, outgoing leader Matt Hall, and incoming leader Erina Pearlstein. (They also happen to be a balanced SATB quartet but that’s just a coincidence.)

Thank a board volunteer today—especially these wonderful ones!

[ID: A photograph of four grinning singers standing with their arms around each others’ shoulders. They look happy and very capable!]

Mark your calendars! Join us for another season of creative programming weaving together choral canon, diverse global tr...
09/09/2026

Mark your calendars! Join us for another season of creative programming weaving together choral canon, diverse global traditions, and new works.

Performances at Church of the Holy Trinity in Rittenhouse Square, 1904 Walnut Street. Sliding scale donation at the door. All are welcome!

Two powerful, irreverent, and beautiful programs coming your way:

⭐️ We Hold These Truths: 11/14 at 7pm
What do the promises of life and liberty mean in the face of great injustice? Through contemporary choral works, spirituals, and American folk songs, we explore themes of resistance, resilience, and the ongoing pursuit of liberation.
Works by Jeffrey Ames, Nicholas Cline, Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Ted Hearne, Jake Runestad, and others.

⭐️Beyond the Blue: 5/8 at 4pm
We travel across a vast sea toward a distant point on the horizon. What awaits on the other side? How will we change along the way? Our choral journey is anchored by Thomas LaVoy’s “O Great Beyond”, with additional works by Moses Hogan, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Diana Saez, Veljo Tormis, and Eva Ugalde, among others.

[ID: Two slides showing the promotional images for each concert, with photographs accented by an edge of torn paper across the horizontal center and concert info below. “We Hold These Truths” is a close-up of the crown and upraised torch on the Statue of Liberty; “Beyond the Blue” is a multi-masted ship on a placid sea.]

The Church of the Holy Trinity

So grateful today—and always—for Wendell Berry’s visionary, loving words. We sing “Great Trees,” composed by Malcolm Dal...
09/01/2026

So grateful today—and always—for Wendell Berry’s visionary, loving words.

We sing “Great Trees,” composed by Malcolm Dalglish with text by Berry, so often that it’s become an unofficial anthem. Conducted by Melinda Steffy, here’s our rendition from “We Build in Air” in November 2025: https://youtu.be/uTDusocNpas?is=mZFx52O0l6ApmJTf

Patient as stars, they build in air
Tier after tier a timbered choir,
Stout beams upholding weightless grace
Of song, a blessing on this place.

[ID: A still of the choir performing in a high-ceilinged church, overlaid with “Thank you, Wendell Berry, for your beautiful words.”]

We’re back, babyyyyyyy. Pro tip on making sight-reading fun: have a party and sight-read an entire concert of repertoire...
08/22/2026

We’re back, babyyyyyyy.

Pro tip on making sight-reading fun: have a party and sight-read an entire concert of repertoire!

We had a great time at our sing-through today as we get ready for our fall concert and our 17th (!!) season. Stay tuned for a full season announcement coming soon!

[ID: A group of singers gathered around the piano in a beautiful home. Folks are variously sitting and standing while holding music.]

Philly-area tenors and basses: we need you 🫵 to audition for our rad collaborative choir. Audition nights are August 3 &...
07/24/2026

Philly-area tenors and basses: we need you 🫵 to audition for our rad collaborative choir. Audition nights are August 3 & August 10. More info at the link in our bio!

While we set a high bar for ourselves musically, the Chestnuts ultimately get together to sing for the love of singing. Rehearsals are Monday evenings, leading up to one performance in November and another in May. (Stay tuned for an announcement about our 2026–2027 season soon!)

[ID: A photo of the choir posed playfully outside, with lots of big grins and goody gestures. A silhoutte is superimposed within the group and labeled “You?”]

Feeling a lot of this energy after our annual meeting tonight. The Chestnuts have always been a collaborative choir: you...
06/02/2026

Feeling a lot of this energy after our annual meeting tonight.

The Chestnuts have always been a collaborative choir: you can see this during our concerts, as singers step up to conduct, but it’s even more evident behind the scenes, as singers handle alllllll the administrative and artistic work of the ensemble. That encompasses everything from curating programs to setting up the post-concert receptions, facilitating group decision-making to negotiating contracts, managing budgets to creating social media content (oh hi!).

To be clear: this is not the easiest way to have a choir! It’s a joy to make music with people who are not only great musicians but also deeply committed to thoughtful, inclusive praxis.

[ID: Screenshot of two messages in a text thread from one person reading:
“UghHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
I LOVE COLLABORATIVE CHOIR”
“I spend one hour [redacted] and look back to find 30 messages of s**t getting HANDLED.

Now if only everyone could work together in my other jobs 😮‍💨”
There are heart and sparkle reactions to both messages.]

05/02/2026

If anything could convince us that birds are real, it’s Irina Rostomashvili’s gorgeous interpretation of “The Lark Ascending” by Vaughan Williams. The choir becomes the orchestra in this arrangement by Paul Drayton.

Hear the rest at 4pm TODAY!

[ID: A video of singers and a violinist rehearsing in an ornate church.]

.rrr_ost

05/02/2026

You KNOW you want to come hear the rest of this barbershop goodness: yes, the tenors and basses will be treating everyone to the Beatles’ “Blackbird,” arranged by Emanuel Roll.

“Birds Aren’t Real” is TOMORROW! Saturday, May 2 at 4pm at Church of the Holy Trinity in Rittenhouse Square.

Pro tip: give yourself extra time to get there to enjoy the Rittenhouse Row Spring Festival, or travel car-free as street parking will be very limited.

[ID: A video of group of singers singing on the chancel in an ornate sanctuary.]

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