World-Renowned Choir VOICE OF CHICAGO Kicks Off Concert Season Nov 7
VOICE OF CHICAGO -Photographed by Todd Rosenberg
The world-renowned Voice of Chicago, Chicago Children’s Choir’s top-level mixed-voice performance ensemble, kicks off its concert season on Thursday, November 7 at 7:30 p.m. at Studebaker Theater (410 S Michigan Ave., Chicago). The top 100 high school singers enrolled in Chicago Children’s Choir – from all parts of the city – are eligible to join Voice of Chicago. General admission tickets to the Nov. 7 concert are $15 and are available for purchase through the Studebaker Theater box office: studebakertheater.
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 5,200 students across the city of Chicago
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CCC has impacted the lives of more than 50,000 diverse youth throughout its 63-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-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 and college acceptance rate, becoming global ambassadors who carry on CCC’s core values in a wide array of professional fields.
Under the leadership of President and Artistic Director Josephine Lee, Chicago Children’s Choir has achieved new heights and revolutionized the youth choral arts through innovative creative partnerships and new artistic endeavors. Recent projects include the world-premiere hip-hop musical Long Way Home, written and directed by the renowned Q Brothers Collective, which played to five sold-out houses in 2018; performance in a new staged production of Leonard Bernstein’s MASS under the direction of Marin Alsop in July 2018 and 2019 with two frequent creative partners: the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Ravinia Festival; and collaboration on Chance the Rapper’s debut studio album The Big Day (2019) as well as a collaboration on his GRAMMY Award-winning Coloring Book (2016) studio recording and tour performances. CCC has served as a model for youth choirs across the country including Boston Children’s Chorus, Denver Children’s Choir and Indianapolis Children’s Choir.
As a national and international touring ensemble, Chicago Children’s Choir has performed throughout the United States, in Cuba, South Africa, India, Argentina, Uruguay, Korea, Canada, Japan and Europe and for dignitaries such as former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama, former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, former Chinese President Hu Jintao, former South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak, Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and His Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso.
CCC has performed with or for acclaimed artists such as Renée Fleming, Denyce Graves, Kathleen Battle, Luciano Pavarotti, Samuel Ramey, Yo-Yo Ma, Andrea Bocelli, Josh Groban, Enrique Iglesias, Quincy Jones, Al Green, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Bobby McFerrin, Kurt Elling, Celine Dion, Eddie Vedder and Beyoncé. CCC has recorded on multiple labels including James Ginsburg’s Cedille Records (Songs from Spoon River, 2009) and has released six studio recordings under its own label– Harmony Anew (2018), We All Live Here (2016), Holiday Harmony (2010), Songs on the Road to Freedom (2008), Sita Ram (2006) and Open Up Your Heart (2004).