HISTORY & Past Collaborations

Pacific Edge Voices began life as the Pacific Mozart Ensemble (PME) in 1980. In 2020, PEV welcomed Ash Walker as Music Director, following the retirement of Dr. Lynne Morrow, who had served in that role since 2005. Prior to Dr. Morrow, the group’s founding director Richard Grant led the group for 25 years. In 2014, the Pacific Mozart Ensemble changed its name to Pacific Edge Voices (PEV) to reflect the group’s distinct and longstanding innovation — performing multiple musical genres, collaborating on new works by diverse composers and performing artists, and presenting courageous and innovative vocal music programs.

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, The Oakland East Bay Symphony, and many others.

The East Bay-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. We have 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.