Chicago Children's Choir
Founded in 1956 during the height of the Civil Rights Movement, Chicago Children's Choir is a non-profit organization committed to peacefully uniting a diverse world through education, musical expression and excellence.
Organization
Chicago Children's Choir is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that raises approximately $2 million each year in order to provide reduced tuition on a sliding scale according to family income. The choir serves more than 4,300 children annually through choirs in nearly 80 Chicago schools, after-school programs in 10 Chicago neighborhoods (Albany Park, Austin, Beverly, Englewood, Garfield Park, Hyde Park, Humboldt Park, Lincoln Park/DePaul, Pilsen/Little Village and Rogers Park), DiMension (an ensemble for boys with changing voices) and the internationally acclaimed Voice of Chicago. Of the children served, ages 8–18, the majority come from low-income homes[1] and would otherwise have no other access to music education.
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.[2] 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.
Recordings
Chicago Children’s Choir studio recordings include Open Up Your Heart (2004), Sita Ram (2006),Songs on the Road to Freedom (2008), and Holiday Harmony (2010). They are featured on a track alongside the rappers Kanye West and Chance the Rapper on Chance's 2016 mixtape Coloring Book.[3]
Tours
Voice of Chicago (formerly Concert Choir) tours: 2015 - New York City & Washington, DC 2014 - South Africa 2013 - India
Concert Choir tours: 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)
