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Milwaukee Children’s Choir (MCC) is a professional children’s choir based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin founded in 1994 by Emily Holt Crocker.

About

MCC offers rehearsal locations throughout the Milwaukee area, enabling the organization to incorporate children from throughout Southeastern Wisconsin.

Apart from its 6 current choir levels, MCC’s Harmony Program brings grant-funded music instruction and performance experiences to more than 270 children who attend Milwaukee Public Schools. While maintaining a collaborative relationship with Milwaukee Public Schools, MCC also supports area music educators through clinics, workshops, and open rehearsals.

The choir regularly performs with other distinguished performing arts groups that include Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Present Music, and Milwaukee Ballet.

MCC has toured regionally, nationally, and internationally including: New York, Indiana, Canada, England, the Czech Republic, Austria, Italy, and Japan.

This nonprofit arts organization is a member of United Performing Arts Fund (UPAF), Milwaukee Youth Arts Center (MYAC), American Choral Directors Association, and Chorus America.

Mission Statement

MCC’s mission is to provide exceptional choral music instruction and performance experiences that foster creativity, personal expression, and social growth for children in grades K4-12.

History

MCC was founded by Emily Holt Crocker in 1994 in order to provide choral music instruction to students with no access to such in their schools. Prior to founding MCC, Crocker taught public school music for 15 years in Texas and joined the music publishing industry as Vice President of Vocal Publications at Hal Leonard Corporation. Crocker’s extensive background in composition and musical education helped MCC develop. Under Crocker’s guidance, MCC grew from 35 members to 400 members by 2004.

In 2009, Carol Storck succeeded Crocker as the organization’s first full-time Artistic Director. Storck then incorporated the Kodaly method into the organization’s curriculum. The Kodaly method emphasizes singing as the basis for a sequenced musical curriculum. For this reason, MCC singers were placed into divisions that were specialized to meet the needs and abilities of different age groups.

During Storck’s direction, MCC also began its Harmony Program. The Harmony Program offers choral instruction and performance experiences to children living and attending schools within the inner city of Milwaukee. Children in the Harmony Program receive weekly musical education, in and out of the classroom, that would otherwise be unavailable to them. Since then, the Harmony Program continues to ensure that students in the Milwaukee community have access to vocal music education.

In 2012, Marco Antonio Melendez took on Storck’s position and now resides as the current Artistic Director. Melendez currently overlooks a team of choir directors who instruct children placed into 6 different choir divisions within the organization and introduced the “Voice For Life” program into the MCC curriculum in 2013, which currently structures the choir levels.

Choirs

The “Voice For Life” choral curriculum provides extensive training for students before entering performance-level choirs. This structure takes into consideration a student’s age, musical ability, and knowledge when being placed into the choir. Auditions are held in order to place students in the appropriate ensemble.

•	Songbirds: Early childhood music program for grades K4-K5 •	Prelude: MCC’s beginner choir for grades 1-2 •	Boychoirs & Girlchoirs: Intermediate ensembles for grades 3-4 •	Resident Choirs: Advanced training choral ensembles for grades 5-8 •	Concert Choir: MCC’s premier performing ensemble for grades 5-9 •	Milwaukee Youth Chorale (MYC): Experienced mixed choir for grades 9-12

Tours

•	1999 - Japan Chiba People’s Day Festival •	2001 - England (Canterbury and London) Fifth Annual International Children’s Choir Festival •	2004 - Italy (Rome) Mass at St. Peter’s Balisca, Rome •	2005 - Ames, Iowa Guest choir appearance for a bi-annual choir festival •	2005 - New York (New York City) Music Festival at Carnegie Hall •	2007 - Toronto Toronto International Choir Festival •	2007 - Prague, Vienna, and Salzburg Rhapsody International Childrens’ Music Festival • 2013 - Ft. Wayne, Indiana  Appleseed Children’s Choir Festival

Recordings

•	“A Mid-Winter Night’s Dream” (2000) •	“Winter’s Night” (2002) •	“The Christmas Suite” by Mark Brymer (2003) •	“Hansel and Gretel” by Humperdinck (2004) •	“Wind, Water, Clouds, and Fire” by Brant (2005) •	“Climbing Higher” (2008) •	McMillian McGraw-Hill’s “Spotlight On Music”

External Links/Sources

www.milwaukeechildrenschoir.org http://www.vocalarts.us/emily.html