Our History

Our origins date to 1935, when a group of singers presented portions of Handel’s Messiah at a meeting of the Pensacola Music Study Club. The organization that grew out of that occasion called itself the Pensacola Choral Society (1940-1945) and, later, the Pensacola Oratorio Society (1946-1983). The group rehearsed in a variety of churches until 1963, when it found a home on the campus of what is now Pensacola State College (PSC). The school continues to provide vital in-kind support for the Society, including rehearsal, performance, office, meeting, and storage space, as well as the use of instruments and equipment. For many years, a PSC faculty member served as artistic director. The Society was incorporated in 1969 and received its 501(c)(3) status in 1970. In the following decades, the group experienced artistic growth, expanding its repertoire to include more secular music and, in 1983, changed its name to The Choral Society of Pensacola to reflect its broadening musical horizons.

We’re committed to choral music in a variety of styles. We’ve presented significant classical works that area audiences might not otherwise experience in concert, e.g., Orff’s Carmina Burana and Bach’s Magnificat (both in 2024). Without neglecting the established masterworks, we’ve expanded our repertoire to include works never performed regionally, e.g., The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, a multimedia symphony for chorus, orchestra, and video, by Jocelyn Hagen (2023); Lift Every Voice, a celebration of music by Black composers spanning five centuries (2024); and Suffrage Cantata by Andrea Ramsey (2025).

We also perform arrangements of pop, jazz, and musical theatre standards, as in our programs Stage and Screen and Jazz from Across the Pond (both 2022). In the past few years, we produced participatory events, encouraging community involvement, such as the events we’ve presented during Foo Foo Festival, such as Born to Hand Jive: A ‘Grease’ Sing-Along,  an interactive screening of the classic movie musical (2022) and, in conjunction with Pensacola Children’s Chorus, Singing in the Street, a family-friendly sing-along featuring songs from Disney movies and the Broadway stage (2023). For Foo Foo Festival 2024, we presented the a cappella sensation Voctave in The Corner of Broadway & Main Street.

Choral Society is grateful for the support of our sponsors