A Community of Voices

The Bucks County Choral Society, founded in 1973 in Doylestown, PA is recognized as one of the leading symphonic choirs in the greater Philadelphia area. The 100-voice auditioned choir performs an extensive repertoire of music in several distinctive program genres in its annual four-program subscription series. Dr. Thomas Lloyd has served as Artistic Director since 2000.  Under Lloyd’s leadership, the choir has collaborated with over 30 choral and instrumental ensembles encompassing a full range of cultural, generational, and stylistic diversity both regionally and in tours to Europe and Latin America.

The Choral Society presents not only the standard choral/orchestral repertoire, but rare performances of neglected masterworks by major composers such as Elgar’s The Apostles, Franck’s The Beatitudes, and Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony. The choir has also developed a following for performances of recent works by living composers and special programs devoted to the African-American Spirituals and sacred jazz in the tradition of Ellington.

The Choral Society also engages with our community through our Voices of the Future and Singing for Seniors programs, under the leadership of Assistant Conductor Susan Johnson.

OUR MISSION

The mission of the Bucks County Choral Society is to foster cultural enrichment within the community and to create connection through the shared enjoyment of live choral music.

BCCS fulfills this mission by:

• being formed as a select auditioned vocal ensemble, reflecting the highest aspirations of our community for artistic expression and providing an important creative outlet for community singers from all walks of life;

• presenting an annual series of varied subscription concerts in broadly accessible Bucks County venues;

• collaborating with varied instrumental ensembles, youth and children’s choirs, and other choirs and soloists who represent the diversity of our region;

• supporting the creative environment of our community by working with local composers through performances and special commissions;

• giving special attention to the support of aspiring young performers, composers and teachers in our community's outstanding school choral programs;

• reaching out to our significant and ever-growing population of seniors, especially those for whom singing or listening to choral music might otherwise be inaccessible.

It is our vision to share the great choral music we love with the broadest audience possible at the highest collective level of performance of which we are capable.

Our History

In early 1973, seven singers met in the choral music room at Central Bucks West High School in response to a newspaper ad about starting a community chorus. The group was led by the late David Johns, and within weeks had grown to forty voices with the official identity - Bucks County Choral Society. The first concert was given on June 3, 1973; that December the Choral Society performed its first major choral work, Handel's Messiah, at Lenape Junior High School in Doylestown.

In its early years, the newly organized BCCS grew musically and organizationally under the leadership of interim directors Bill Moore and Ruth Sauter. The choir became incorporated, and began the search for a permanent music director. In the fall of 1977, Elma Heckler of Hatfield was named director of the group, giving the Choral Society the stability of artistic leadership it had been seeking.

This more detailed account of the first 10 years of the choir was written by choir members Fran Waite and Kingdon Swayne for the 1983 anniversary winter performance, also of Mendelssohn’s Elijah.

Elma led BCCS for an inspired 23 years, establishing it as the premier choral ensemble in the area. Elma greatly expanded the choir's repertoire to include many of the major works in the choral/orchestral literature. She revolutionized the choir's approach to music fundamentals, and instituted a demanding audition process for membership in the choir. Elma and a small army of singing and non-singing volunteers helped the choir grow administratively as well, forming of a board of directors, establishing tax-exempt status, and recruiting individual and business patrons as well as government and foundation grants. She retired after the 1999-2000 season and was succeeded by current Artistic Director, Thomas Lloyd. Elma was posthumously awarded the Elaine Brown Award for Choral Excellence for 2001 by the Pennsylvania chapter of the ACDA.

Throughout the years, the Bucks County Choral Society has performed with a wide range of musical organizations including both professional and volunteer orchestras and many other local choirs. BCCS continued to build on its proud heritage under Tom's direction, reaching new levels of musical excellence and administrative maturity. The choir has developed an innovative regular season program schedule with several distinctive types of recurring programs over multiple seasons: not only the annual Festival of Christmas Music and an annual concert for chorus and orchestra, but programs devoted to the African-American Spiritual and Sacred Jazz in collaboration with Philadelphia choirs, programs of international repertoire with choirs and artists of a wide range of cultures, and innovative programs of opera and American musical theater with leading soloists from the Academy of Vocal Arts and Philadelphia’s rich theater scene. Under Lloyd’s leadership, the choir has presented regional premieres unfamiliar late romantic works like Elgar’s The Apostles and Franck’s The Beatitudes alongside compelling interpretations of the familiar masterworks of Bach, Mozart, Brahms, Verdi, and Vaughan Williams. He has also built new outreach programs achieving national recognition, including Singing for Seniors (created in partnership with the late Helen Kemp) and Voices of the Future, bring thousands of dollars in scholarship awards to outstanding local student artists. The Choral Society looks to future with strong dedication to its mission - to bring memorable performances of outstanding choral music to the people of Bucks County, thereby celebrating and strengthening the social fabric of the wider community. For more about Thomas Lloyd go to his personal website.