The Seattle Peace Chorus makes news.
| The Nuclear Resister reports “Nine people cited in Mother’s Day demonstration at Trident nuclear submarine base,” 7 May 2022 | 
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“Over 50 people were present on May 7, at the demonstration against Trident nuclear weapons at the Bangor submarine base. Nine demonstrators blocked the main highway entrance into the base for about 10 minutes and were cited by the Washington State Patrol. . . . Members of the Seattle Peace Chorus Action Ensemble performed throughout the day. A new and original song by Doug Balcom was performed for the first time: ‘If we can close each nuclear base, That imperils the human race, We’ll all be the lucky ones.’ The Action Ensemble also performed at the Main Gate to the submarine base.” |
| Ezvid Wiki has included Seattle Peace Chorus in their video wiki editorial of 12 January 2021, “5 Dedicated Groups & Individuals Striving For Peace.” |  |
An editorial on Ezvid Wiki, “the world’s first video wiki,” includes Seattle Peace Chorus in “5 Dedicated Groups & Individuals Striving For Peace,” along with Peace Action (the largest grassroots peace network in the U.S., promoting practical solutions for a more peaceful world), National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee, Peace Learning Center, and Dr. Scilla Elworthy (mentioning two organizations she founded and co-founded, Peace Direct and Rising Women Rising World). Ezvid Wiki is among the top 3,000 websites in the United States. Their YouTube channel has over 600,000 subscribers, with over 350 million views. The article accompanying their video links our performance of Courage My Soul on our YouTube channel. |
| KIRO7 reported on the Seattle Peace Chorus Action Ensemble video (written, directed, and produced by Doug Balcom) at 11 pm, 25 April 2020. |  |
The SPC Action Ensemble is on TV! Our Virtual Choir video was featured on KIRO-7’s 11 pm newscast on Saturday night. Here’s a link to that part of the program: https://www.kiro7.com/video/?id=4892953&anvt=1770 If you haven’t seen the Virtual Choir video yet, here’s the whole thing (2 minutes): https://bit.ly/SPC-AE-TogetherApart |
| The Titans of ‘Canto General,’ description of our concert in Town Hall’s Town Cryer by Jonathan Shipley, 28 May 2019 |  |
“What writer could possibly write a poetic history of the entire American Western Hemisphere from a Hispanic perspective? The Nobel Prize-winning Chilean writer Pablo Neruda. Who could possibly put Neruda’s poems appropriately to music? The Lenin Prize-winning Greek composer Mikis Theodorakis. . . . ” |
| North Stars on the Southwest Border: Choir on a Mission Finds Faith Communities on the Frontlines, audio story by Martha Baskin, with engineering by Daniel Guenther |
Having aired on KBCS, 91.3 FM, in the morning of Thursday 28 February 2019.
and uploaded on PRX, the Public Radio Exchange. 
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“The north stars on the southwest border are what drew the Seattle Peace Chorus to take its Music Crosses Borders concert on the road. Like the north star escaped slaves followed in search of the underground railroad, in this case the chorus found a constellation of faith communities providing shelter and support to refugees who survive the journey from Central America and detention and release by ICE. . . . ” |
| Seattle Peace Chorus presenting concert dedicated to free speech, by Tom Keogh, The Seattle Times |
Photo courtesy of Fred West
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Seattle Peace Chorus presented “Freedom of the Press/Freedom of Song,” dedicated to the importance of free speech and expression, and a mix of related themes, narration, instrumentals and singing, on 15 November 2017. |
| Composer sees falling debris from bridge crash, dedicates song to victims, by Christine Clarridge, The Seattle Times |
Photo by Sy Bean/The Seattle Times
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24 September 2015: Four international students lost their lives when a Ride the Ducks vehicle crashed into their bus on the Aurora bridge. At the time, our director, Fred West, was kayaking with his daughter below the bridge and picked out of the water debris from the accident, including a field-trip permission form. That night, Fred West composed a song dedicated to the victims. |
| Seattle Peace Chorus to tackle Neruda’s ‘Canto General’ June 1, by Joseph Sutton-Holcomb, The Seattle Times |
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1 & 8 June 2013: Concert: Canto General, pays homage to Pablo Neruda’s fantastic and controversial legacy by singing the Theodorakis adaptation of Canto General |
| Activism? Seattle chorus turns to Pablo Neruda, by Thomas May, Crosscut.com |
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28 May 2013: Interview with Fred West. “For decades Frederick N. West has been a charismatic figure in Seattle’s thriving choral scene. A conductor, teacher and composer, he has led the Seattle Peace Chorus since 2000. This weekend . . .” |
| Cris Williamson, Seattle Peace Chorus to perform at Town Hall, by Seattle Times staff | 
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3 November 2012: Concert: Sing Out for Women, celebrates women’s rights and features work by female composers |
| Forum examines Seattle’s gun violence, by Sara Jean Green, The Seattle Times |
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18 June 2012: City leaders held a meeting to address Seattle’s sharp rise
in homicides and increasing urban violence at Town Hall Seattle Monday night.
Before Monday’s forum, Fred West directs members of the Seattle Peace Chorus and friends as they sing honoring the city’s victims of violence outside Town Hall Seattle, near the memorial for Gloria Leonidas, who was killed by gunfire on May 30. |
| Seattle Peace Chorus offers rare performance of the Missa Luba to benefit a hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo, by Seattle Times staff | 20 & 21 November 2010: Concert: Songs Weave Together What War Tears Apart, featuring the Missa Luba, a highly rhythmic, irresistible fusion of the Latin mass and Congolese dance rhythms | |
| Seattle Peace Chorus plans 2 Earth Day-themed shows, by Seattle Times staff | 22 & 25 April 2010: Concert: Upon this Land, celebrates the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. | |
| Sing Us Home is music with a mission: making a better world, by Jerry Large, The Seattle Times | 28 March 2010: “First Baptist partnered with Bellevue’s First Congregational and the Seattle Peace Chorus to sing for peace on the sixth anniversary of the war in Iraq. That performance started a project called Singing For Social Justice. This event is a continuation of that.’ | |
| Seattle Peace Chorus builds a musical bridge across cultures, by Jonathan Zwickel, The Seattle Times |
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20 & 22 November 2009: Concert: Peace in Jerusalem, a multipart concert embracing Islamic, Jewish, and Christian musical traditions |
| Seattle Peace Chorus sings out against slavery, by Lynn Jacobson, The Seattle Times | 21 & 23 November 2008: Concert: Our America – Breaking Free, celebrates our 25th anniversary with a program of songs designed to bring attention to global human trafficking | |
| Singing Our Way to Truth: Peace Chorus Travels to Venezuela, by Good News Network |
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2 September 2007: “The Seattle Peace Chorus accepted the invitation to sing at Venezuela’s 5th Annual International Choral Festival. They were the sole U.S. representatives and took their mission seriously: to engage in peaceful communication through song. Their signature piece, ‘Si Somos Americanos’ (We Are All Americans), won the award for Best Song.” (Read the article, “First Person: Singing your way to truth,” by Martha Baskin, guest columnist, published 26 August 2007, Seattle Post-Intelligencer.) |
| Reaching for the soul of Cuba; Seattle chorus builds bridges with song, by Marc Ramirez, The Seattle Times | 16 January 2000: “On the dusty outskirts of Santiago de Cuba, a chorus from the United States descends unannounced on the tiny José Martí primary school. Children in bright red uniforms emerge from classes, a proud splash of color against the barrio’s bleached exteriors. . . .” |