Uniting Voices

Last updated
Uniting Voices
Formation1956
Type Youth organization
Legal status Non-profit organization
Headquarters First Unitarian Church of Chicago, Chicago
Co-founders
Christopher Moore
Website

Uniting Voices (formerly the Chicago Children's Choir) is a non-profit organization, founded in 1956 at First Unitarian Church of Chicago.

Contents

Organization

Founded in Hyde Park in 1956, Uniting Voices has grown from one choir into a network of in-school and after-school programs serving nearly 5,000 students across the city of Chicago. Noteworthy faculty include Josephine Lee who currently serves as president and artistic director, Judy Hanson, senior associate artistic director, W Mitchell Owens, composer-in-residence, Lonnie Norwood, Director of Africana studies, and John Goodwin, principal pianist and resident conductor.

History

In 1956 during the Civil Rights Movement, the late Rev. Christopher Moore founded the multiracial, multicultural Chicago Children's Choir at Hyde Park's First Unitarian Church of Chicago. [1] He believed that youth from diverse backgrounds could better understand each other - and themselves - by learning to make beautiful music together. Today, the choir is fully independent and serves all of Chicago from its home in the Chicago Cultural Center.

Distinguished singers included David Edmonds, who performed with the choir from 1970 to 1977. He sang classical, folk and spiritual pieces as lead soloist in numerous concerts, both in Chicago and on national tours. He can be heard on the choir's 1972 album Chicago Children's Choir Sings at Orchestra Hall. Edmonds also performed with the Joffrey Ballet, the Rockefeller Chapel Orchestra and Chorus, and the Bretton Woods Boy Singers. He died from AIDS complications in 1990. [2]

Discography

Albums

Other appearances

Tours

Voice of Chicago (formerly Concert Choir) tours:

Concert Choir tours:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minnie Riperton</span> American singer (1947–1979)

Minnie Julia Riperton Rudolph was an American soul singer best known for her 1975 single "Lovin' You", her five-octave vocal range and her use of the whistle register.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lou Rawls</span> American singer, record producer, composer, and actor (1933–2006)

Louis Allen Rawls was an American singer, record producer, composer and actor. Rawls released more than 60 albums, sold more than 40 million records, and had numerous charting singles, most notably his song "You'll Never Find Another Love like Mine". He worked as a film, television, and voice actor. He was also a three-time Grammy-winner, all for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance.

Ella Jenkins is an American folk singer and actress. Dubbed "The First Lady of the Children's Folk Song" by the Wisconsin State Journal, she has been a leading performer of children's music for over 50 years. Her album, Multicultural Children's Songs (1995), has long been the most popular Smithsonian Folkways release. She has appeared on numerous children's television programs and in 2004, she received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">R. Murray Schafer</span> Canadian composer (1933–2021)

Raymond Murray Schafer was a Canadian composer, writer, music educator, and environmentalist perhaps best known for his World Soundscape Project, concern for acoustic ecology, and his book The Tuning of the World (1977). He was the first recipient of the Jules Léger Prize in 1978.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">La Julia Rhea</span> American operatic soprano

La Julia Rhea was an American operatic soprano.

George Mortimer Roberts was an American trombonist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Somebody to Love (Queen song)</span> 1976 single by Queen

"Somebody to Love" is a song by the British rock band Queen, written by the lead singer/pianist Freddie Mercury. It debuted on the band's 1976 album A Day at the Races and also appears on their 1981 compilation album Greatest Hits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cat Anderson</span> American jazz trumpeter

William Alonzo "Cat" Anderson was an American jazz trumpeter known for his long period as a member of Duke Ellington's orchestra and for his wide range, especially his ability to play in the altissimo register.

Eric Weissberg was an American singer, banjo player, and multi-instrumentalist, whose most commercially successful recording was his banjo solo in "Dueling Banjos", featured as the theme of the film Deliverance (1972) and released as a single that reached number 2 in the United States and Canada in 1973.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian Chamber Choir</span>

The Canadian Chamber Choir 's mission is to build community through choral singing. The CCC is a national ensemble that provides a professional choral environment for Canadian singers, conductors and composers, and travels across Canada promoting Canadian choral music. Under the artistic direction of Julia Davids, the CCC convenes in different regions of Canada twice a year, offering concerts and mentoring choral practitioners of all ages and stages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus</span> Worlds first openly gay mens chorus, credited with creating the LGBT choral movement

The San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus (SFGMC) is the world's first openly gay chorus, one of the world's largest male choruses and the group most often credited with creating the LGBT choral movement.

Melbourne Gay and Lesbian Chorus (MGLC) was founded in Australia in 1990 by a gay performer and activist, Lawrence Emanuel (1966). The chorus was first named 'AL sounds', due to its part affiliation with the Foundation. In April 1994, the name was changed to Melbourne Gay and Lesbian Chorus, reflecting the chorus's organizational independence and a desire to further challenge stereotypes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jimmy Woode</span> American jazz bassist

James Bryant Woode was an American jazz bassist. He played and/or recorded in bands with Flip Phillips, Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Coleman Hawkins, Nat Pierce, Sidney Bechet, Billie Holiday, Jaki Byard, Earl Hines, Jimmy Witherspoon, Clark Terry and Miles Davis.

Lawrence Benjamin Bunker was an American jazz drummer, vibraphonist, and percussionist. A member of the Bill Evans Trio in the mid-1960s, he also played timpani with the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra.

Diverse Harmony is an American youth chorus based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 2002, it is the first Gay-Straight Alliance youth chorus in the United States. Today, Diverse Harmony is an LGBTQ-Ally youth chorus, and their stated mission is "to create a safe, affirming environment where everyone is accepted for who they are." In addition to singing members, the chorus has an extensive support network of volunteers, subscribers, and donors; they are also a non-profit organization. Diverse Harmony is a member of the Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses, and was the first youth chorus to participate in a GALA Choruses Festival. The chorus appeared in the independent film Why We Sing, which has been screened at LGBT film festivals and on PBS stations across the United States.

This is the discography of recordings by Duke Ellington, including those nominally led by his sidemen, and his later collaborations with musicians with whom Ellington had generally not previously recorded.

"Day Dream" is a jazz standard composed by Billy Strayhorn with lyrics by John Latouche and written in 1939. It was first recorded by saxophonist Johnny Hodges and his ensemble on November 2, 1940. Duke Ellington was credited as co-composer on the label of the original 78 RPM release, though he is not generally considered to be one of the song's creators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Christopher</span> American journalist

Robert Collins Christopher was an American journalist who specialized in coverage of Japanese business and culture. From 1981 until his death, he served as administrator of the Pulitzer Prizes.

Rolnička Praha is a children's choir based in Prague, Czech Republic. It was founded in 1978 by its director, Karel Virgler. Choral Study Rolnicka has about 200 young singers from 5 to 19 years in 5 choir levels. Rolnicka's Touring Choir has 45 singers aged 10 to 19 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anna Crusis Women's Choir</span>

The Anna Crusis Feminist Choir is the longest-running feminist choir in the United States, founded in 1975 by Dr. Catherine Roma, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ANNA Crusis is known for its dedication to social justice, focusing on a wide range of repertoire including feminist and LGBTQ+ themes, celebrating the strength, resilience, and solidarity of marginalized communities.

References

  1. Heise, Kenan (July 7, 1987). "Christopher Moore, 57 (obituary)" . Retrieved 2015-12-18.
  2. Heise, Kenan (October 19, 1990). "David Edmonds, Former Choir Soloist (obituary)," Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2016-07-22.
  3. https://www.unitingvoiceschicago.org/stream
  4. https://www.unitingvoiceschicago.org/long-way-home
  5. "Tragic Boogie credits". Discogs.
  6. "Chance the Rapper Releases New Mixtape Coloring Book". Pitchfork. 13 May 2016.