Lynne Morrow Retiring from Pacific Edge Voices

After 15 years directing Pacific Edge Voices (formerly Pacific Mozart Ensemble, if I am remembering this correctly, Dr. Lynne Morrow is retiring at the end of this season. The chorus is looking for a new music director.

Here's the press release:

Berkeley, Calif. (September 12, 2019) – Pacific Edge Voices (PEV), the Berkeley-based chamber chorus known for its wide-ranging repertoire and artistic collaborations, today announced concert programs for its 40^th anniversary season. The group also announced the upcoming retirement of PEV’s longtime Music Director, Dr. Lynne Morrow, who will step down from her post at the close of this anniversary season. A search for her replacement is underway.

Pacific Edge Voices began life in 1980 as Pacific Mozart Ensemble (PME). The group’s rich history includes artistic collaborations with talented and inspiring composers and artists such as John Adams, Dave Brubeck, David Lang, Bobby McFerrin, Meredith Monk, Sufjan Stevens, Sweet Honey in the Rock, American Bach Soloists, Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, Coro Nacional de Cuba, Napa Valley Symphony, Oakland East Bay Symphony, and many others. The Berkeley-based ensemble was nominated for a “Best Choral Performance” Grammy® Award in 2006 for the Harmonia Mundi recording of Bernstein’s Mass with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester in Berlin under the direction of Kent Nagano. PEV has made four international tours and debuted at Carnegie Hall in November 2005, representing choral music for Meredith Monk’s 40th Anniversary Celebration; selections of those performances were broadcast on WNYC radio.

Dr. Morrow was named music director of the group in 2005, following its 25^th anniversary season and the retirement of founding director Richard Grant. Her involvement with PEV, however, started in 1989 as vocal coach and then singing and assistant conducting through the 1990s  “Forty years of survival for any small arts ensemble is a notable accomplishment,” said Dr. Morrow. “It has been one of my great personal and professional pleasures to have been a part of this unique, committed community of singers for so long. During PEV’s 40th anniversary year and my farewell season, I’m excited to highlight the amazing range of our music-making. I believe I can honestly say that no other group in the Bay Area can claim the range of music that we do each year, from straight-up classical to African-American spirituals, commissions from young composers, and an annual a cappella jazz and pop set.”

“We have so much to celebrate and share with Bay Area music lovers during this anniversary season,” said Polly Winograd Ikonen, president of PEV’s board. “PEV’s upcoming artistic leadership transition will mark the first time PEV has sought a new leader from outside the organization. We’ll be sad to bid farewell to Lynne, who has brought so much to the group over so many years. At the same time, we are excited to discover someone new, who shares our passion for engaging audiences in new musical experiences and who will both honor and build upon the distinctive artistic legacy that Lynne and Dick have built.”  Full details on the search are available at pacificedgevoices.org/music-director-search. Interested candidates are encouraged to apply before the November 1 deadline.