The inspiration for creating the Detroit Children’s Choir came from an extremely exciting performance of the Chicago Children’s Choir at the American Choral Directors Regional Conference in February of 2004. After having heard MANY very fine choirs over the three-day event, this choir of 120 young people brought me to my feet well before the end of its program.

What was so special about this group? Three things: 1. They represented the ‘face’ of Chicago, 2. They sang with incredible, dynamic energy, 3. EACH SINGER demonstrated a PERSONAL connection with all of the music he/she sang, which included the music from other parts of the world. The collective effect of that connection was powerful! The voice in my head asked, ‘Why don’t we have this in Detroit – a city with such a rich musical heritage?’

In May, 2005, after completing my graduate work at Oakland University, I set out to find out. After spending 1 ½ years researching the history of children’s choirs in Detroit and studying the Chicago Children’s Choir, I decided it was time to start a pilot program, patterned after the Chicago model (see www.ccchoir.org) Ultimately, there will be three tiers to the choir program: In-school choirs, Neighborhood Choirs and the Concert Choir.

The Detroit Children’s Choir program started in SW Detroit, with a very successful collaborative summer arts camp, in partnership with SW Dance combining dance, singing and visual art, in June, 2006. This led to the offering of SW Neighborhood Children’s Choir, beginning in September 2006, though Visual Arts Detroit.

At the end of the first year, there were four In-school choirs: Carstens Elementary, Guyton Elementary, Stark School of Technology and the Academy of the Americas – all DPS schools - which rehearse once a week during the school day; as well as the SW Neighborhood Choir, which rehearses at Messiah Church on Toledo and W. Grand Blvd. on Thursday evenings.

The Detroit Children’s Choir, a combination of all of the 2006-2007 groups, had its official launch concert on May 12th, 2007 when they hosted the Chicago Children’s Choir’s Off the Street Club Choir in a collaborative performance presented by the Junior League of Detroit. More about this concert can be found at http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007108080002

On May 4th, we held our 2nd annual Detroit Children’s Choir Spring Concert, which was a collaborative one with the 50 members of the Chicago Children’s Choir’s Neighborhood Choirs at the prestigious Music Hall. Click here to download the concert program.