Chicago Children's Choir

Chicago Children's Choir is a non-profit organization that inspires and unites youth from diverse backgrounds to become global citizens through music. Founded in 1956 at First Unitarian Church of Chicago in direct response to the Civil Rights Movement, CCC has grown from one choir into a vast network of in-school and after-school programs serving nearly 5,000 students across the city of Chicago.

Organization

Chicago Children’s Choir (Josephine Lee, President and Artistic Director) is a non-profit organization that inspires and unites youth from diverse backgrounds to become global citizens through music. Founded in Hyde Park in direct response to the Civil Rights Movement in 1956, CCC has grown from one choir into a vast network of in-school and after-school programs serving nearly 5,000 students across the city of Chicago.

CCC has impacted the lives of more than 50,000 diverse youth throughout its 64-year history. Since its founding, CCC has focused on building programs that reflect the racial and economic diversity of Chicago. Eighty percent of youth served are from low-to-moderate income homes, with over 4,000 students annually participating completely free of charge. All singers in CCC programs receive some level of subsidy. High school seniors enrolled in CCC have a 100% graduation rate, becoming global ambassadors who carry on CCC’s core values in a wide array of professional fields.

History

In 1956 during the Civil Rights Movement, the late Rev. Christopher Moore founded the multiracial, multicultural Chicago Children's Choir at Hyde Park's First Unitarian Church of Chicago.[1] He believed that youth from diverse backgrounds could better understand each other - and themselves - by learning to make beautiful music together. Today, the choir is fully independent and serves all of Chicago from its home in the Chicago Cultural Center. Christopher Moore's vision of a choir combining high artistic standards with a social purpose continues to define the choir's mission.

Distinguished singers included David Edmonds, who performed with the choir from 1970 to 1977. He sang classical, folk and spiritual pieces as lead soloist in numerous concerts, both in Chicago and on national tours. He can be heard on the choir's 1972 album Chicago Children's Choir Sings at Orchestra Hall. Edmonds also performed with the Joffrey Ballet, the Rockefeller Chapel Orchestra and Chorus, and the Bretton Woods Boy Singers. He died from AIDS complications in 1990.[2]

Discography

Albums
  • Jambo and Other Call and Response Songs and Chants (with Ella Jenkins) (1960s)
  • Behold This Star (1970s)
  • Chicago Children's Choir Sings at Orchestra Hall (1972)
  • 40 Years of Harmony (1997)
  • Songs of the Human Spirit (c.2000)
  • Spring Gala Concert (2001)
  • Chicago Children's Choir Live from Vienna (2001)
  • Open Up Your Heart (2004)
  • You Shall Have a Song (2004)
  • Sita Ram (2008)
  • Songs on the Road to Freedom (2008)
  • The Very Best Time of the Year: Music for the Holiday Season (c.2009)
  • Holiday Harmony (2009)
  • Holiday (2010)
  • We All Live Here (2016)

Other appearances

Tours

Voice of Chicago (formerly Concert Choir) tours: 2020 - California, USA —- CANCELLED due to Coronavirus 2019 — Spain 2018 - Israel & Palestine —- CANCELLED due to political unrest 2017 - Italy 2016 - Havana, Cuba (last tour organized by beloved tour coordinator Beth Kershner) 2015 - New York City & Washington, DC 2014 - South Africa

Concert Choir tours: 2013 - India 2012 - Italy 2011 - Baltic Tour: Estonia, Finland & Latvia w/ Bobby McFerrin 2010 - Alaska 2009 - South American Tour: Argentina and Uruguay 2008 - South Korea 2007 - "Freedom Tour": Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi & Louisiana 2006 - Czech Republic 2005 - Japan 2004 - Canada 2003 - Germany 2002 - Japan 2001 - Germany, Austria & Hungary 2000 - Colorado 1999 - England, Scotland & Wales 1998 - Pacific Northwest & British Columbia 1997 - Italy, Sicily & Sardinia 1997 - Ukraine 1996 - South Africa 1995 - Canada 1994 - Russia 1993 - Mexico 1992 - Japan 1991 - New Orleans, Atlanta, Alabama

1956-1981: After Chicago Children's Choir began tours (overnight concert trips) in the mid-1960s, touring continued annually through at least 1981. Trips below that lasted less than a week are marked *. Those below lasting more than 11 days, always in summer, were Montreal I (1967: 3 wks), Boston (1969: 2 wks), and Europe (1970: 6 wks). Tours listed here all involved members of the Choir's top performance unit, designated "Senior Tour Unit" during most of this period.

1974-81: list incomplete 1981: East Coast/Ontario (Toronto) 1978 - East Coast (April) 1978 - ? (March) 1977 - Ohio* (November) 1977 - East Coast/Canada (Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal) (April) and simultaneous trip in northern Illinois* 1977 - Southwest (March) 1976 - Madison*

1973 - East Coast (late April) 1973 - Tennessee (early April) 1973 - New England (March: "the blizzard tour") 1972 - New England (April) 1972 - Texas (March) 1971 - two simultaneous April tours to different parts of the East Coast 1970 - England, Denmark, West Germany (June–July) 1970 - New York III (April) 1970 - Colorado? (March) 1969 - Minnesota* (November) and another* simultaneously 1969 - Boston area 1969 - Washington, D.C. area (April) 1969 - New York II (March) 1968 - Kentucky-Tennessee* (autumn) 1968 - Iowa* (May) 1968 - New York I (April) 1968 - Madison WI* (March) 1967 - Montreal II (October: to Expo '67) 1967 - Montreal I (summer: to Expo '67) 1966 - Indianapolis* (November) 1965?- Madison* 1964?- Southwest (Tulsa OK)

References
  1. Heise, Kenan (July 7, 1987). "Christopher Moore, 57 (obituary)". Retrieved 2015-12-18.
  2. Heise, Kenan (October 19, 1990). "David Edmonds, Former Choir Soloist (obituary)," Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2016-07-22.
  3. "Tragic Boogie credits". Discogs.
  4. "Chance the Rapper Releases New Mixtape Coloring Book". Pitchfork.
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