Hyde Park Neighborhood Choir
Conductor: Mollie Stone
Program Assistant: Donna Watts
Location: First Unitarian Church, 5650 S, Woodlawn Ave
Rehearsals: Mondays & Thursdays 4:00-6:15 pm
The Hyde Park Neighborhood Choir, the Choir's longest running neighborhood program, is still located at the Children's Choir's birthplace, the First Unitarian Church, 5650 South Woodlawn Avenue. This Choir currently serves 80 children from the Hyde Park, South Shore, Kenwood, Woodlawn and Washington Park areas. Singers start as early as 8 years old and many continue through age 16.
Over the past several years, the Hyde Park Neighborhood Choir has performed for Hyde Park's Art Fair and Book Fair, British Airways' international sales conference, the Chicago Park District's Washington Park Winter Wonderland, the Interfaith Thanksgiving Service at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, Lincoln Park Zoo's Caroling to the Animals, and many public programs at the Chicago Cultural Center.
They also have sung for UNICEF, University Bank, LaSalle Bank, the University of Chicago, the Renaissance Hotel, Urban Gateways, and the Chicago Christian Industrial League. The Choir has also performed with such groups as the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago for their presentation of the Nutcracker Ballet at the Auditorium Theatre and with the Hyde Park Youth Symphony both at the Museum of Science and Industry and also in celebration of the life and legacy of Paul Robeson at the South Shore Cultural Center.
In 1996 the Hyde Park Neighborhood Choir toured Indianapolis, Indiana where they performed at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis, the Galilee Missionary Baptist Church, and the Rock of Faith Baptist Church. They also appeared in concert with the Indianapolis Children's Choir Chamber Choir.
In May of 1997 the Choir visited Appleton, Wisconsin and performed with the Lawrence University Academy Choristers and at the Fox Valley Unitarian Universalist Church.
During the spring of 1998 they traveled to Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota where they performed in the Mall of America at the Wilderness Theatre, and the First Universalist Church of Minneapolis.
In May 1999, forty-one members of the Choir toured New Mexico, where they performed at the Chelwood Elementary School and First United Methodist Church and Redeemer Lutheran Church along with the Albuquerque Boy Choir. They also visited the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center.
Last year the Choir toured in the Chicagoland area on a service tour.
Support for the Neighborhood Choirs is provided by the
Lloyd A. Fry Foundation
Auditions for the Choir are held in September and January. For details on the audition process, enrollment and/or general information on the Choir, please contact Cece Hill at (312) 849-8300 x14 or chill@ ccchoir.org.
