Colorado Springs Children’s Chorale
The Colorado Springs Children’s Chorale is now in its 31st season of sharing music and friendship in the Pikes Peak region. Founded in 1977 as a civic children’s choir, the Colorado Springs Children’s Chorale has grown from one choir of 25 children to five choirs with an enrollment of over 200 children from throughout the Pikes Peak Region. The five choirs of the Children’s Chorale include a training choir, an apprentice choir, a concert choir, a touring choir, and a choir for high school singers. These young people have sung with symphonies, chamber orchestras, and adult chorales, as well as other children’s choirs from all over the world. The Chorale’s musical excellence has earned them national recognition as one of the country’s outstanding children’s choirs and invitations to international choir festivals. Due to their personal dedication to excellence, the Chorale’s fine young singers have been honored with three first place Gold Medals in international competitions, competing with exceptional choirs from around the world including Russia, Taiwan, Canada, Denmark, and the Czech Republic. In the spirit of international exchange, in 1997, 1999, 2002, 2005 and 2007, the Colorado Springs Children’s Chorale traveled to Japan with performances in towns too many to list. In June, 2000 the touring choir embarked on a 23-day tour of Austria, Poland, Czech Republic, and Hungary, and brought back first place honors from the Prague International Choir Festival. In the United States, the choirs of the Children’s Chorale have been honored as guest performers at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Recently, the Colorado Springs Children’s Chorale was the recipient of the El Pomar Award for Excellence in the Arts and Humanities for the state of Colorado, and the Mayor’s International Award for International Outreach. During the summer of 2004, the Children’s Chorale pioneered the Pikes Peak International Music Festival - In Harmony, a traveling festival which has now been hosted in Colorado (2004), Japan (2005 & 2007) and Chicago (2006), including young singers from across the nation and around the world. During the summer of 2005, the Summit Ensemble toured in England, Scotland and Wales, where they were invited to compete in the prestigious Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod, one of only two American choirs to receive that honor. The Pikes Peak Singers visited Australia (where they performed at the Sydney Opera House), New Zealand and Japan, where they participated in the international music festival at the World Expo in Aichi.
Although the Colorado Springs Children’s Chorale has garnered an exceptional array of awards and recognitions abroad, its heart and spirit is firmly rooted in Colorado and the Colorado Springs community. A main focus is its outreach program within the state, including its Eastern Plains Youth Choir, Adopt-a-School program, School Blitz days, All City Boychoir Festival, an extensive Tuition Assistance Program, workshops in schools, and concerts all over the state for groups including Pikes Peak Hospice, Cancer Survivors, CASA, and nursing homes. The children of Colorado Springs Children’s Chorale have the ability to touch the emotions of their audiences through music and reinforce their mission of "sharing our dreams of a better world through song."
The Colorado Springs Children’s Chorale performances are noted for their purity of tone, beautiful harmonies, and lively choreography. They are goodwill ambassadors representing the positive contributions that the youth in the Pikes Peak Region have to offer.
