YPC Featured on Transit Transit TV show on PBS

posted 12/10/04, 3:58 pm

During the month of December, The Young People's Chorus of New York City will be featured on PBS stations in the New York metropolitan area. To see the schedule for when Transit Transit airs in your neighborhood, please click here.

 

YPC Performance at Lincoln Center Annual Tree-Lighting November 29th

posted 11/05/04 4:44pm

On Monday November 29th at 5:30 pm, the YPC participated in a ceremony at Lincoln Center's Josie Robertson Plaza (Columbus & 64th) in celebration of its annual tree-lighting. The chorus premiered a piece written specifically for the event by acclaimed composer Jim Papoulis.

This wondrous celebration of music and dance is one of New York City's most anticipated holiday traditions. The Tree Lighting celebrates the rich cultural and artistic diversity of New York's finest community-based ensembles.

Read more at Lincoln Center's Website.

 

Uniforms designed by Holly Kristen premiered at Tree Lighting

posted 11/12/04 4:32 PM

The Young People's Chorus is pleased to announce a collaboration with young and innovative fashion designer Holly Kristen. Ms. Kristen has designed new outdoor uniforms for the YPC, that were premiered at the Lincoln Center Tree Lighting Ceremony on November 29th.

Holly Kristen has achieved elite recognition throughout her young life, working with the VH-1 Show "Band on the Run," as the only featured designer for a Fashion Show. In September of 2003, Sephora selected Holly Kristen as the sole designer to sponsor in Fashion Week New York to show her Spring 2004 line.

The Young People's Chorus would like to thank Holly for her excellent work, and is excited to have worn her design on November 29th.

read more about Holly Kristen on her website.

 

CBS performance November 18th

Posted 11/12/04 3:17 PM

At 7pm on Thursday, November 18, the Intermezzo Division of the Young People's Chorus participated in the lighting of the Unicef Snowflake. The event was broadcast in New York City on CBS 2.

From the UNICEF Snowflake website:

The Snowflake, which has been a mid-Manhattan holiday attraction for 19 years, was dedicated to UNICEF beginning in 2002 as a beacon of hope, peace and compassion for vulnerable children around the world.

...

But this New York icon is much more than a symbol or a tourist attraction. It is the centerpiece of an ambitious program to raise millions of dollars for UNICEF's programs providing immunization, education, health care, nutrition, clean water and sanitation to children in developing nations.

Read more about the event on the UNICEF website.

Coming soon! Pictures from this event...

 

Feature article in Selecciones Magazine

posted 11/16/04 4:00pm

Selecciones

Francisco J. Núñez and the YPC are featured in the new issue of Selecciones, the highest-circulating spanish language magazine in the United States. For the full article, please pick up a copy of the December 2004 issue at your local newsstand.

Read other articles about the YPC

 

The YPC Sings at the 9/11 Commemoration Ceremony at Ground Zero

posted September 12, 4:23pm

The YPC performing at
Ground Zero

Early in the morning on 9/11/04, the Young People's Chorus joined NYC Mayor George Pataki, former NYC Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, and New Jersey Governer James McGreevey at the World Trade Center Site to commemorate the third anniversery of the attacks on the Twin Towers. The Ceremony centered around the reading of the 2,749 names of victims, interspersed by music and moments of silence.

The ceremony was broadcast nationwide on CNN.

3 recent articles, including New York Times Feature Article

posted August 3rd, 8:45 pm

Celebrating a Statue, and a Different Kind of Cool

By ANTHONY TOMMASINI

Francisco J. Núñez conducting
the Young People's Chorus
of New York City.

When Francisco J. Núñez founded the Young People's Chorus of New York City in 1988, he had several passionate convictions. First, that if he could just coax urban children of different racial, economic and religious backgrounds into working together, barriers would fall and the youngsters would realize how much they had in common. He was also convinced that with proper training children could be excellent and enthusiastic musicians, and that singing choral music, of all things, could be cool.

That he has met his goals was clear Thursday when some three dozen of his choristers met in the basement of Manhattan Church of Christ on the East Side to prepare a performance for the reopening ceremony this morning of the Statue of Liberty, which has been closed to the public since 9/11. African-American choristers from Harlem, Dominicans from Washington Heights, Jewish youngsters from the Upper East Side, Roman Catholics from Greenwich Village and other diverse young New Yorkers all greeted one another with uncommonly ardent squeals and hugs, since they typically do not meet during the midsummer weeks.

...read more

...read other articles about the YPC

Queens Chronicle, July 1, 2004

Queens Singers Warm Up For Choir Olympics in Germany

Sheldon Ogbourne

When Cambria Heights native Sheldon Ogbourne's voice changed during his sophomore year at Bayside High School, it would traditionally have meant the end of his singing career with they city's globetrotting Young People's Chorus.

But Ogbourne, now 19, loved singing too much to stop, so when his cousin told him that the YPC was forming a new Young Men's Chorus for singers with deeper voices, he became a founding member.

This week, the new chorus will embark on its international competing career quite auspiciously: by travelling to Bremen, Germany, to participate in the 2004 Choir Olympics...read more

Courier Life Publications, July 12, 2004

Young Brooklyn Voices Compete in Choir Olympics

YPC Brooklyn-ites

Brooklyn's brightest young songbirds have left their nests to represent the United States at the 2004 Choir Olympics.

Competing in Bremen, Germany, two separate divisions of the Young People's Chorus of New York City (YPC) are going head-to-head with the world's top choirs...read more

...see other articles about the YPC

 

The Young People's Chorus sings at Statue of Liberty Reopening

posted 8/3/04 6:23 pm

On August 3rd, The Young Peoples Chorus had the honor of performing in a nationally televised ceremony celebrating the reopening of the Statue of Liberty. Joined by the USO Liberty Belles and the 82nd Airborne All American Chorus, the YPC sang an arrangement of God Bless America. Later in the program, members of the chorus recited Emma Lazarus's famous poem "The New Colossus" and performed selections by composer Jim Papoulis. Also participating in the ceremony were Governer George Pataki and Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Immediately following the ceremony, the YPC became the first group to tour the inside of the Statue since it was closed on September 11, 2001.

See pictures from this event...

 

Two divisions of the YPC bring home the gold from the 2004 Choir Olympics in Bremen, Germany

posted 7/16/04 8:35 am

Concert Choir in Bremen

Both the Concert Chorus and the Young Men’s Chorus of the Young People’s Chorus of New York City (YPC) under founder and artistic director Francisco J. Núñez are bringing home Gold medals from the 2004 Choir Olympics, which took place from July 8 through 12 in Bremen, Germany.

Competing in two rounds of eliminations against 23 choirs from 15 different countries, the Concert Chorus was among seven choirs with a Gold-winning score in the Youth Choirs of Equal Voices category. The Young Men’s Chorus won one of two Gold Medals awarded in the Young Male Choirs division. See Pictures of the YPC on Tour.

 

The YPC performs at Freedom Tower Ceremony, July 4th

posted 04/23/04 2:12 pm

The YPC with Governer Pataki

The eyes of the world were on the World Trade Center Sunday July 4, at 10:30 a.m. for the groundbreaking ceremonies of the Freedom Tower, marking the historic rebuilding of the World Trade Center. There to sing the National Anthem and two musical interludes was the Young People's Chorus of New York City. Among the dignitaries on hand were New York Governor George Pataki, New Jersey Governor James McGreevey, and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. See pictures of the event.

 

The Concert Chorus and Young Men's Chorus Travel to Germany, July 4th

posted 04/23/04 2:15 pm

On July 4th, two divisions of the Young People's Chorus—the Concert Chorus and the Young Men's Chorus—will board a plane for Bremen, Germany, where they will compete in the 2004 Choir Olympics against choirs from countries on five continents. The members of the Concert Chorus are veterans on the international competition circuit, but this competition marks the first time the Young Men's Chorus has ever participated in an international competition.

The German tour by the Young People's Chorus of New York City is sponsored in part by Continental Airlines.

The YPC is inducted into Thirteen/WNET's "Community Hall of Fame" June 23rd.

The Young People's Chorus of New York City will be inducted into the Thirteen/WNET's Tri-State Community Advisory Board's "Community Hall of Fame" on June 23rd.

In this inaugural year of the Community Hall of Fame, the Advisory Board selected five nominees that they felt best exemplified Thirteen's mission to educate, enlighten and inform in interesting and creative ways. This year, they also gave special consideration to nominees that were innovative, as well as those who were addressing unmet needs, serving an underserved constituency, and reflective of the diversity of our area and its geographic reach.

This year's inductees include: The Young People's Chorus of New York City, Alpha Workshops, the Museum of Chinese in the Americas, and the Link Community Schools.

The award ceremony and reception, hosted by WNET/Thirteen, will feature a performance by the Young People's Chorus.

 

New York Times Review of Transient glory concert

posted 04/28/04 7:18 PM

 

Excerpted from Critic's Diary, April 28th, 2004

Generations and Traditions Intersect in a Musical Week

By ANTHONY TOMMASINI

 

Talk about premieres, the Young People's Chorus of New York City presented a program at the Ethical Culture Society of New York with seven new works, all written for the ensemble, six world premieres and one New York premiere. The concert was titled "Transient Glory," which signifies that children's voices, though glorious, are fleeting, and before long become adult voices. For proof you only needed to see the makeup of this choir of soprano and alto adolescents (the chorus fields several constituent groups): 44 singers, all but seven of them girls.

If you wonder why a musician as accomplished as Francisco J. Núñez, who founded the chorus 15 years ago, is so gratified to work with children, you should have been there. The young choristers performed demanding new works by Samuel Adler, Richard Rodney Bennett, Benjamin Lees, Judith Weir, Tod Machover, Bright Sheng and Jim Papoulis, as well a 1996 work by Morton Gould (composed with the songwriter Phil Galdston), and performed them all with impeccable pitch, luminous sound and palpable energy: and all from memory, including texts in Chinese and Greek. I was most struck by Ms. Weir's wistful, harmonically tart "Little Tree" (to texts of E. E. Cummings) and Mr. Sheng's exuberant "Boatman's Song," a setting of a Chinese poem, for which many of the choristers had to shout, clap hands and smack sticks together as they sang. It's a rare night that a major professional orchestra performs with such engrossing involvement.

Read other articles about Transient Glory...

 

The Young People's Chorus of New York City has been invited to represent the United States at the 7th World Symposium on Choral Music in Kyoto, Japan

posted 02/10/04 10:39 AM

"Congratulations to you and your choir on being chosen to perform at the 7th World Symposium on Choral Music in Kyoto, Japan during the period of July 27 to August 3, 2005. On the recommendation of Artistic Committee, the Executive Committee is pleased to announce that you have been accepted as an Invited Choir and looks forward to having you and your singers participate.

Sincerely yours,

Nobuyoshi Yoshimura
Chairman, Executive Committee"

This is one of the highest honors granted to choirs worldwide where only a select group of choirs is invited by a group of international peers. The trip is funded in part by the World Symposium.

To learn more, go to The 7th World Symposium Homepage

 

Visions of Peace

Featuring the Orchestra of St. Luke's, internationally acclaimed Irish singer Noirin Ni Riain and seven outstanding youth choirs in the American premiere of Daniel Brewbaker's Orchestral Suite and Irish Cantata: Out of the Mist, Above the Real, and Roger Bergs' Be Thou My Vision at the beautiful and historic St. Stephen's Church.

BRUNDIBAR: a Performance and Discussion

posted 09/04/03 10:20 AM

with Tony Kushner, Maurice Sendak, and The Young People's Chorus of New York City

On Sunday, November 2, at 7:30 p.m., at the 92nd Street Y, playwright Tony Kushner and illustrator Maurice Sendak share the sad and inspiring history of Brundibar, an opera by the Czech-Jewish composer Hans Krása.