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 established itself as one of the world’s leading children’s choirs. As one of the largest music institutions for youth in the nation, the chorus provides its unparalleled training to talented singers around the country, with more than 35 choirs and 1,000 students based in the chapter cities of Los Angeles, New York City, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Austin, Dallas and Boston. Now in its second decade, the NCC’s groundbreaking Season 2022/23, entitled Resounding Voices, expands on the chorus’ recent success, featuring an array of stunning repertoire, demonstrating the organization’s firm commitment to new music, world culture and extraordinary collaborations.

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Performing locally and abroad, the National Children’s Chorus is one of few youth arts organizations in America to have its concert series presented by professional music halls, working with some of the finest conductors, composers, and orchestras from around the world.

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 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Master Chorale, American Youth Symphony and New York City Master Chorale, among others.

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Students of the National Children’s Chorus are represented by more than three hundred 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 individual voice training in the bel canto style. Through a holistic approach to cultivating the full potential within each child, recent graduates from the program have gone on to be accepted at top institutions around the country.

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These include USC’s Thornton School of Music, UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music, UC Berkeley, the Curtis Institute of Music, Northwestern University, Indiana University, Stanford University, Harvard University, Yale University, Carnegie Mellon University, New York University, Manhattan School of Music, and The Juilliard School, in addition to the Royal College of Music in London.

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 at the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford and St. John’s Smith Square in London, England; 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.