YPSO Community Partners

Pacific Boychoir Academy

Founded in Oakland, California in 1998 by Artistic Director Kevin Fox, Pacific Boychoir Academy is the only secular North American boychoir school outside of the East Coast, PBA offers unique and rigorous choral and academic programs that produce confident, engaged young artists.

Their mission is to develop curious, creative, and empathetic young men through a rigorous, individualized, and immersive academic and musical education.

Their vision is to build a community where every young man is challenged and inspired toward exceptional academic, musical, and personal growth.

On Apr 26 & 27, 2025, YPSO collaborated with a string ensemble as part of their Spring Serenade Concert - celebrating nature, sustainability, and renewal.

Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute

The Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute (SLMath), formerly known as the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSRI), is a landmark of U.S. and world collaborative mathematical research. Located in the hills above the campus of the University of California, Berkeley, SLMath is an independent non-profit that has served the mathematical sciences community for 40 years.

The mission of the Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute (SLMath) is to:

• Foster and communicate mathematical research in a broad range of fundamental topics and applications,

• Develop mathematical talent and cultivate a sense of belonging and engagement, and

• Inspire an appreciation of the power, beauty, and joy of mathematics.

On Apr 30, 2025, SL Math hosted a Community Chamber Concert featuring YPSO musicians, in the Eisenbud Auditorium, “specially designed to accommodate lectures, workshops, classes, and even concerts”. The hall was designed by architect William R. Glass of Glass Associates in Oakland.

Berkeley Community Chorus & Orchestra

BCCO is a non-auditioned, symphonic chorus that inspires audiences and challenges singers at all levels of ability to sing major choral works and pieces of artistic distinction. by presenting free concerts, offering creative opportunities for young and emerging singers, conductors and composers, and collaborating with other artistic groups, we enrich the life of the greater community.

BCCO was founded by Eugene Jones in 1966, under the auspices of the Berkeley Adult Education Program. With persistence, charisma, talent, and devotion he realized his dream of creating a chorus of non-auditioned singers and an orchestra drawn from the community that together would perform choral masterworks in free concerts for the general public.

On Jan 27th, 2024, YPSO is participated in a collaboration of Poulenc’s Gloria, with BCCO, at the Walnut Creek Presbyterian Church.

Bay Area Music Project

Bay Area Music Project (BAMP) is a non-profit, social change through music in- and after-school program serving the social, emotional, cultural and academic needs of children in grades K-12 in under-resourced communities throughout Alameda and Oakland, California.

This year, YPSO students volunteered at BAMP to mentor students in music.

YPSO supported BAMP through their performance at the BAYOF Benefit Concert at Davies Symphony Hall on Jan 14th, 2024.

Crowden Music School

When violinist Anne Crowden founded the Crowden School in 1983, she called it her “Grand Experiment.” She was entering unknown territory, and she certainly never imagined that her dreams of a supportive educational environment for musical children would develop into a thriving, established Bay Area cultural institution. Anne succeeded because of the quality of her vision and musical standards, and the force of her personality. Like Anne herself, Crowden inspires unusual dedication and passion.

Today, Crowden is a home for all to explore, to learn, to rehearse, to perform, and to listen to music. Between the rich array of music education offerings for the general public, day school for grades 3 to 8, public school outreach initiative, concerts and events, and community partnerships, Crowden serves roughly 8,000 individuals each year. Anne’s unique stamp—the commitment to musical excellence, the intimate family atmosphere, the particular passion for chamber and new music, the deep experience of interdisciplinary and creative learning—still combine into that tangible Crowden magic.