National Children's Chorus
ABOUT
The GRAMMY® Award-winning National Children’s Chorus, under the leadership of Artistic Director Luke McEndarfer and Associate Artistic Director Dr. Pamela Blackstone, has quickly become one of the world’s leading children’s choirs. Among the most exciting and fastest-growing music institutions for youth in the nation, the chorus provides its unparalleled training to more than 1,400 students, comprising 40 choirs based in the chapter cities of Los Angeles, New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Austin, Dallas, Boston and Chicago. The NCC’s groundbreaking Season 2024/25, entitled Kaleidoscope, focuses on the impact of the chorus’ artistry, featuring an array of stunning repertoire that demonstrates the organization’s firm commitment to new music, world culture, and extraordinary collaborations.
Photos Courtesy of the National Children's Chorus
Performing locally and abroad, the National Children’s Chorus is one of few youth arts organizations in America to have its concert series presented at professional music halls, working with some of the finest conductors, composers and orchestras. Their Billboard-charting holiday album, Illumine, was recorded in London’s iconic Abbey Road Studios and AIR Studios with the London Symphony Orchestra during their tour of the United Kingdom.
Recent venues include Royce Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, and the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles; the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC; as well as Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, sharing the stage and studio with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Master Chorale, American Youth Symphony, VOCES8, Washington Bach Consort and New York City Master Chorale, among others.
Students of the National Children’s Chorus are represented by more than 350 schools throughout its cities and meet weekly for rehearsal and musicianship study. The extensive curriculum includes college-level conducting, composition, music theory, sight-singing in the Kodály Method, and voice training in the bel canto style. Through a holistic approach to cultivating the unique potential within each child, graduates from the program are regularly accepted at top conservatories, colleges and universities.
Each summer, Senior Division ensembles of the National Children’s Chorus travel internationally, expanding the students’ cultural awareness and worldly experience. Since 2015, the children have performed throughout the U.K. at the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford, St. John’s Smith Square in London, Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh, and the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff; the Great Wall of China in Beijing and the Ancient City Wall in Xi’an, China; St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, and St. Cecilia’s Music Conservatory in Rome, Italy; the Berlin Wall in Germany and Musikverein in Vienna, Austria, as well as sites in Prague, Czech Republic and Budapest, Hungary; the Korean Demilitarized Zone, Mapo Art Center in Seoul, South Korea, and in Japan, Kyoto Concert Hall and Tokyo’s Suntory Hall; the Basílica de la Sagrada Família in Barcelona, Auditorio Nacional de Música in Madrid, and other sites in Spain and Portugal; Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen, Denmark, Oseana Art Centre in Bergen, Norway, and the Oslo Opera House.
The National Children’s Chorus also hosts an annual summer Opera Academy. The initiative, designed to engage young singers in the art of opera, serves to promote the creation of new operatic works written specifically for young voices.
