About
Our Mission
The mission of the Durham Children’s Choir is to provide an opportunity for outstanding young singers in the Durham North Carolina community to learn a wide variety of high quality choral music, both sacred and secular, and to share that music with the community through public performances.
Our History
The Durham Children’s Choir is a singing group of students from the Durham, North Carolina area. The first auditions were held for the choir May 17-19, 2004. Over 134 children came to the auditions; they represented most of the Durham Public elementary and middle schools, private and church schools, and home schooled children. 100 children were selected for the choir. The Choir was originally directed by Scott Hill, retired teacher with the Durham Public Schools. The choir is currently directed by Dena Byers, the music teacher at Hillandale Elementary School. The accompanist is Jeff Whicker, organist at Emerywood Baptist Church.
The choir performed with Bobby McFerrin at Duke University during their Inaugural Season. More recently, the choir opened for Lauren Daigle when she performed at DPAC in 2021.
The Durham Children’s Choir studies and performs a wide variety of choral music, including sacred and secular music, world music, gospel, Broadway and American popular songs. Music theory and appreciation are included in the weekly rehearsals.
Financial support for the Durham Children’s Choir for its inaugural season came from the Durham Arts Council in the form of an Emerging Artists Grant, a grant from Duke University Chapel, and gifts from the community. The choir is grateful for the continued annual support from all of those sources.
The Durham Children's Choir is supported by generous grants from:
