The Chicago Children's Choir is a choir founded in 1956. It was founded in the neighborhood of Hyde Park in Chicago by the late Rev. Christopher Moore. The choir is located at the Cultural Center at 78 E. Washington Street. The President and Artistic Director is now Josephine Lee.
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The Choir currently serves 2,700 children aged 8–18 through choirs in 40 schools, afterschool programs in 8 Chicago neighborhoods and the top-level Concert Choir. The Choir collaborates regularly with choral, orchestral, opera, theatre and dance organizations, including the Lyric Opera of Chicago and Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The 8 after school programs are Hyde Park, Lincoln Park/DePaul, Rogers Park, Pilsen/Little Village, Humbolt Park, Garfield Park, Beverly and now Albany Park. The Choir also has a program called DiMension for boys with changing voices.
Under President and Artistic Director Josephine Lee, the Concert Choir has undertaken national and international tours, performed for such dignitaries as Bill and Hillary Clinton, Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama, was featured on the 2007 PBS series From the Top: Live from Carnegie Hall, and received a Chicago/Midwest Emmy Award for the 2008 documentary Songs on the Road to Freedom.
The mission of Chicago Children's Choir is to be a "multiracial, multicultural choral music education organization, shaping the future by making a difference in the lives of children and youth through musical excellence." This is based on the founder's belief that by bringing children of differing races, creeds and socioeconomic backgrounds together through music, he could help them better understand themselves, each other and the world around them. As a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, the Choir raises approximately $1.5 million each year in order to provide reduced tuition on a sliding scale according to family income.
Chicago Children’s Choir has four studio-recordings: Open Up Your Heart (2004), Sita Ram (2006), Songs on the Road to Freedom (2008) (featuring music from and inspired by the Civil Rights Movement) and Holiday Harmony (2009). These recordings are available from Amazon.com, iTunes and www.ccchoir.org.
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
1978 - East Coast (April) 1978 - ? (March) 1977 - Ohio* (November) 1977 - East Coast (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)