There is something about young voices singing during the holidays that can stop a New Yorker in their tracks.
The city may be rushing. Shoppers may be carrying bags. Tourists may be trying to find their next destination. Everybody may have somewhere to be. And then suddenly, there is music.
This holiday season, the Harlem Boys Choir is bringing that moment to New York City.
The choir is preparing a season of holiday performances designed to put young Black and Brown male singers at the center of some of the city’s most exciting holiday experiences. One confirmed engagement will take the singers to Apple Fifth Avenue, where they will perform at Apple’s iconic Manhattan flagship at 767 Fifth Avenue.
But this is bigger than one performance.
Harlem Boys Choir is building a holiday season around the idea that young people should not simply watch New York’s cultural life happen around them. They should be part of it.
The Voices of Harlem, Out in the City
The Harlem Boys Choir is currently looking for 16 to 18 Black and Brown boys, ages 16 to 18, to participate in paid holiday performance opportunities.
That word matters: paid.
These young singers are not being asked to volunteer their talent simply because they love music. Harlem Boys Choir is creating opportunities for young artists to experience what it means to have their musical abilities valued.
They will rehearse. They will perform. They will work as an ensemble. They will meet audiences. And they will experience the responsibility and excitement that comes with representing a musical institution rooted in Harlem.
Then there is the holiday magic.
Picture a group of young Harlem singers bringing Christmas music into a major New York destination. Picture shoppers stopping. Families turning around. Someone pulling out a phone to capture the moment. A child hearing a choir and realizing that perhaps they want to sing too.
That is the experience Harlem Boys Choir wants to create.
And Schools Can Bring the Choir Home
The holiday season is also an opportunity for schools and educators.
Harlem Boys Choir is a certified New York City Public Schools vendor, creating a pathway for schools to work directly with the organization.
Teachers, principals, music departments and arts educators can invite the choir to their campuses for special performances, holiday celebrations, student programs and community events.
That means the experience does not have to happen only in a major Manhattan destination.
It can happen in a school auditorium.
It can happen during a student assembly.
It can happen at a holiday celebration where students who may never have attended a formal concert get to experience live choral music right in their own community.
For Harlem Boys Choir, that connection between professional performance and education is essential.
From Harlem to the City
Harlem has always understood the power of young people and music.
The neighborhood has produced generations of singers, musicians, dancers, writers and artists whose work traveled far beyond Harlem’s borders. The Harlem Boys Choir is part of that continuing tradition, but it is also looking toward the future.
The goal is not simply to recreate what Harlem’s musical institutions have done before.
It is to give today’s young people their own opportunities to make memories, develop their talents and become visible participants in the cultural life of New York.
This holiday season, those opportunities may happen at a school, a community event, a cultural venue or one of the city’s most recognizable commercial destinations.
Wherever the choir performs, the message is the same:
Harlem has something to sing about.
Young Singers Wanted
For boys ages 16 to 18 who love to sing, this could be more than another holiday activity.
It could be the beginning of something.
The Harlem Boys Choir is looking for young Black and Brown male singers who are ready to work, learn, perform and bring their voices into the city.
And for parents, teachers and arts educators, this is an opportunity to help connect young talent with an organization that is creating actual performance opportunities for them.
The holidays have always been about bringing people together.
This year, Harlem Boys Choir wants to do it with music.
Casting and school performance information:
Question of the Day
What is the first song that takes you straight back to the holidays, and where did you hear it?
Stay in the Mood
Sometimes the most memorable holiday moment isn’t something you planned.
It is the song you hear unexpectedly. The choir you stumble upon. The young singer who reminds you how powerful a voice can be.
This holiday season, leave a little room for the unexpected.
You never know where Harlem’s next great voice is going to find you.
