The Boston Children’s Chorus (BCC) appeared this past Tuesday, May 18th at the JFK Library and Museum, where they helped celebrate the presentation of the 14th Annual Rosoff Awards, which recognize companies that have meaningful diversity, mentoring, and inclusion programs. Now the multi-choir organization is getting ready for even bigger Dorchester appearance on Sunday, May 23 at 2pm.

For its free Season Finale Concert, all 9 BCC choirs will be performing music from the movies, and what better venue than that grand former movie palace, the Strand in Uphams Corner?

The BCC is a multi-racial, multi-ethnic arts education organization that purposefully unites area children ages 7-18 across differences of race, religion and economic status. Its singers transcend social barriers in a celebration of shared humanity and love of music.
Through intensive choral training and high-profile public performance experiences, they learn discipline, develop leadership skills, and proudly represent the city of Boston as “ambassadors of harmony.”

The BCC averages over 50 performances per season in a wide range of public and private events across the city of Boston and on regional, domestic and international tours. These performances have included the nationally televised Boston Pops July 4th 2007 Celebration on the Esplanade, tours to Mexico, Japan, Chicago and Oregon, the inauguration of singing the National Anthem for opening home games of the New England Patriots and the Boston Red Sox, and performances both for royalty and at local shelters, senior housing and religious institutions.

The organization was founded in 2003 by Hubie Jones, whose vision was to inspire diverse audiences with the power of children singing, both through their sound and in their message. The BCC’s mission is “to harness the power and joy of music as a catalyst to unite our city’s diverse communities and inspire social change.”
Artistic Director Anthony Trecek-King has picked a particularly accessible theme to showcase the area’s young vocal talent.  His selections for “This is the Sound of Music”  range from the instantly recognizable “Over the Rainbow” from “The Wizard of Oz” to Orff’s less-known “O Fortuna” from  Carmina Burana featured repeatedly in 1981’s “Excalibur.”

Out of the roughly 350 singers onstage at the Strand about 40 have Dorchester and Mattapan home addresses. Among them: Jillian Baker,  Gwendolyn Baptiste and Gabrielle Brutus, members of the Premier Chorus, who will be tackling Bach’s “Jesus Bleibet Meine Freund” (heard in “Minority Report”) and “Ave Maria (heard in “Fantasia.”) 
Nine other locals –Touraine Adams, Makayka Andre, Khamari Barnes, Nick Flores, Cyrine Kennedy, Cosette Newcomb, Rochelle St. James, Abigail Robinson, and Janaya Wright from the Dorchester House Intermediate Chorus –will be doing the more contemporary “Seasons of Love” from “Rent.”

For information on “This Is the Sound of Music,” the past season, auditions for the new one and scholarships, visit www.bostonchildrenschorus.org.