Budding singers can audition this month and next online for Phoenix Children’s Chorus, an ambitious group with several North Central youths in it.
The program features seven choirs with more than 300 students in grades kindergarten through 12th, said Cheryl Mollerup, executive director of the Phoenix Children’s Chorus. Rehearsals have been held with a hybrid option of singers coming in person at a Phoenix venue and participating via live stream due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Auditions are being conducted through Zoom this month and in early January for children and teens who want to participate in the chorus’ spring programming. Phoenix Children’s Chorus will premiere its holiday concert online on Friday, Dec. 18.
Started in 1984 with 35 children, the Phoenix Children’s Chorus has grown with its team of conductors, accompanists, music literary instructors and other staff members.
Aidan Briggs, 17, a North Central resident and senior at Arizona School for the Arts, has sung in the Phoenix Children’s Chorus for about five years. He sings in the Encore Choir, an advanced group for high school students. Aidan said he is glad the choir is holding rehearsals in person with students socially distanced.
“It’s definitely a breath of fresh air to see people and meet people,” he said. “I definitely have grown close with a lot of people in the choir. I want to pursue music as a career and the children’s chorus has made it as an actual possibility.”
Aidan said he likes singing classical music but also really enjoyed singing songs rooted in India last year. He said it is fun singing music in different languages including German and Hebrew.
Amelia Moore, 15, a North Central resident and sophomore at Arizona School for the Arts, is in her ninth year singing in the Phoenix Children’s Chorus.
“I really love singing very classical stuff so it’s like in Latin and it’s very melodic,” Amelia said. “I also really love singing like gospel and spiritual. I have a voice that I’m really good at those things. When I get singing, it’s so fun. It gives me that sense of community.”
Amelia said she loved going to New York City in sixth grade, when the choir performed at Carnegie Hall, and visiting Sydney, Australia as a seventh-grader, when the chorus sang at Sydney Opera House.
She said rehearsing at social distances and with masks during this Coronavirus crisis has helped train her and the other choir members to listen to each other and “be more confident in our singing.”
If your child or teen wants to audition for the Phoenix Children’s Chorus, you can visit phoenixchildrenschorus.org/join to schedule a virtual try-out. To learn more about upcoming events, including the online holiday concert, visit phoenixchildrenschorus.org/performances.
