PACS is not only one of the top rated community orchestras in the country, they have been a great supporter of music education since their inception. Through their benefit performances at such venues as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully and Lincoln Center's Avery Fischer Hall, they have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for charities including Julliard Pre-College, the Trickle Up Foundation and the MS Society. Though their support of the Harmony Foundation, hundreds of underprivileged children have been afforded free music lessons and instruments, raising both their music awareness and self esteem. In addition to their fantastic charity work, PACS was recently awarded the American Prize for the top community based orchestra in the nation, winning this award for the second year in a row. In awarding the prize the committee wrote, "This ensemble is good enough to surpass many professional orchestras I have heard....it is almost impossible to believe it is a community orchestra."
The Park Avenue Chamber Symphony (PACS) is a community orchestra composed of members who, in many cases, studied music at the conservatory level but went on to pursue careers in other areas rather than becoming professional musicians. The result is a group of highly trained and devoted musicians who play because they love music. The orchestra is fortunate to be led by David Bernard, our conductor, who also trained to be a professional musician but ultimately chose a different career path. Clearly his heart has never left music and he has repeatedly drawn the best music performances from the musicians in PACS. In fact, PACS and Maestro Bernard recently won first place in a competition through The American Prize which noted in it's evaluation, "This ensemble is good enough to surpass many professional orchestras I have heard, and it has a first-rate conductor. It is almost impossible to believe that this is a community orchestra." As a non-profit organization, seeking to serve the community by creating and performing beautiful music, PACS should be rated as highly as possible and be recognized as a 2012 Top-Rated Nonprofit.
This is a very strong orchestra, with a wonderful conductor and friendly, dedicated musicians. I am honored to be a part of it.
PACS is among the best non-professional orchestras in New York City. It provides first-rate orchestral repertoire to the community, while at the same time striving to support music education in the schools. PACS is a leading supporter of The Harmony Program, which is modeled on the "El Sistema" program and trains graduate music students to teach music to kids in NYC schools. PACS' music director and its musicians are committed to delivering high-quality performances of the most sublime music of the classical repertoire.