Elena Panchenko

PCS Accompanist

Elena Panchenko is originally from Ukraine and studied at the Moscow Conservatory, where she earned her degree in piano performance, music history, and music theory. She served as the musical director of the Penn State Opera for four years and performed the debut of two new operas, including Mrs. Satan, an opera about the life of the first woman presidential candidate, Victoria Woodhall. Working extensively as an accompanist and church musician, Elena has performed with groups as varied as a children’s dance group to such well-known musicians as Francis Orval and David Shifrin, clarinetist and Director of Chamber Music at the Lincoln Center. In addition to Elena’s duties with Palouse Choral Society, she is also the music director at St. James Episcopal Church in Pullman. Elena’s family includes her husband, Alex, WSU math professor and former Ukrainian rock star (as is Elena), and their son Ivan, an attorney.

Deborah Collins

Children’s Choir Accompanist

Dr. Deborah Collins was hired as the accompanist for the Children’s Choir in fall 2022 and enjoys singing with the Chorale and Chamber Choir as well. Dr. Collins comes from a musical family and has been singing and playing musical instruments since childhood. She studied piano performance at Iowa State University prior to deciding to go into medicine and has accompanied university choirs, church choirs, and voice students, directed a youth choir, and sung with multiple collegiate and community choirs in the past. Dr. Collins also obtained her MD from Duke University School of Medicine and Master of Science in Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to starting her current position as a physician at Cougar Health Services at WSU, she was a faculty member in the departments of family medicine at UNC-Chapel Hill and Georgetown University, medical director for a county health department, and physician in private practice in Moscow, Idaho. She lives in Pullman with her husband Brian and their three daughters Sophie, Lucy, and Violet, all of whom also sing with the Palouse Choral Society.