The chorus was founded in 1992 by their Artistic Director, Dianne Berkun who wanted to help children of all backgrounds realize their music potential. It started with 45 children in a donated space in downtown Brooklyn and moved to its own building in Cobble Hill in 2002.
The chorus is made up of members of the Brooklyn Youth Chorus Academy who go through three training divisions to the advanced Concert Chorus. The Academy is an after-school music education program that is performance based and serves 250 children from New York City. They perform at concerts regularly and present their on annual concert series.
The Concert Chorus itself has toured in Europe and Canada and has performed in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall, Madison Square Garden, Lincoln Center and the White House with many major artists and orchestras.
They performed on the Grammy Award winning On The Transmigration of Souls by John Adams which won the 2005 Best Classical Album. Other memorable performances are the premiere of Philip Glass’ Symphony No. 5, Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 3, Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem and Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana.
James Coolidge Adams recordings
On the Transmigration of Souls
Nonesuch 79816 (CD: On The Transmigration of Souls)
New York Philharmonic
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