National Children's Chorus
SINGER
Bio:
The GRAMMY® Award-winning National Children’s Chorus (NCC), one of the world’s leading youth choirs, has quickly earned a global reputation for superb artistry and preeminent education. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Luke McEndarfer and Associate Artistic Director Dr. Pamela Blackstone, the NCC offers unparalleled training to over 1,400 students across the country, with 40 ensembles based in the chapter cities of Los Angeles, New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Austin, Dallas, Boston, and Chicago.
Represented by more than 350 schools throughout its cities, students meet weekly for rehearsal and musicianship study. The extensive curriculum includes college-level conducting, composition, music theory, sight-singing in the Kodály Method, and vocal training in the bel canto style. Through a holistic approach to cultivating the unique potential within each child, graduates are annually accepted at top conservatories, colleges, and universities.
Celebrated for its diverse programming and commitment to new music, world culture, and extraordinary artistic projects, the NCC regularly performs at venues such as Walt Disney Concert Hall, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Kennedy Center. Each season features key collaborations with renowned conductors, composers, and ensembles, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra, Kronos String Quartet, Washington Bach Consort, Los Angeles Master Chorale, VOCES8, Tonality, Gustavo Dudamel, Grant Gershon, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Eric Whitacre, Nico Muhly, Tan Dun, Morten Lauridsen, Meredith Monk, Ibrahim Maalouf, and Rufus Wainwright. NCC’s impactful national reach has made the chorus a prominent force in the classical music world, both locally and abroad.
Praised by Grant Gershon as "one of the finest children's choirs in the world today," the NCC tours internationally each summer, with a debut performance at the Sydney Opera House this coming July. Recent projects in Europe include singing at the Oslo Opera House with Ola Gjeilo, recording their Billboard-charting holiday album Illumine at the iconic Abbey Road Studios (garnering nearly one million streams), and performing at Barcelona's Basílica de la Sagrada Família. In addition, the choir appeared this past year on NBC's Today Show, CBS Sunday Morning, SiriusXM Radio, and sang on their second GRAMMY®-nominated album, Impossible Dream by Aaron Lazar, which featured a star-studded cast of Broadway luminaries.
