Children's Choir
Grades: 5-6
Dates: January 13, 2024 (Registration 8:00am; Concert at 4:00pm)
Coordinator: Jill Lawson Ahrens childrensallstate@wischoral.org
Nominations: The All-State Children's Choir will consist of approximately 60 singers from grades 5 and 6. Each director may submit up to 8 names, keeping the voicing in SA duets and rating the duets 1-4, one being the best.
Cost: $95
Guest Conductor: Evan Bruno
Evan Bruno is an accomplished music educator and choral conductor who has spent the last decade working with youth from across Chicago to bring them together through music. Since 2022, Evan has served as Artistic Director for Anima – Glen Ellyn Children’s Chorus in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. From 2011 to 2022, Evan was with Uniting Voices (formerly Chicago Children's Choir), most recently serving as Faculty Director for the organization, overseeing an artistic staff of 13 conductors who work with nearly 5,000 young people across Chicago in 80 schools and 13 communities.
Born and raised in Williamsburg, VA, Evan Bruno began his professional music career at the age of 10 when he joined the Colonial Williamsburg Fifes and Drums as a fifer. Over eight years, Evan learned the importance of authenticity in music-making and the value of high-quality extracurricular music programs for youth. This unique experience continues to inform his teaching today.
While with Uniting Voices, Evan worked in over twenty schools, co-opened the Englewood Neighborhood Choir and opened the Bucktown Neighborhood Choir, and assisted in the preparation of choruses for performances with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Ravinia Music Festival, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. His choral tours have brought youth from Chicago to all regions of the country, including New York, New Orleans, Phoenix, and Portland, and he has built partnerships with youth and collegiate choirs across the nation. From 2014 to 2022, he served as the Conductor of the Lincoln Park/DePaul Neighborhood Choir, a SSAA program that nearly doubled in size under his direction and has more than 200 singers and three different choirs, including a national touring ensemble.
Evan’s choirs perform music from the Renaissance period to modern choral compositions. He is also passionate about the authentic performance of music outside the Western Classical Canon to help youth understand the world around them and be best prepared to become the next generation of just leaders.
As a teacher, Evan’s focus has been creating a space where each individual singer can express exactly who they are without concern or worry and he strives to create an inclusive rehearsal environment. His teaching and related research aim to optimize the social emotional impact of music education. Evan has been invited to present on his research and techniques to improve social emotional learning in the arts at the Kennedy Center for the Arts and to Grantmakers for Education. Evan was also a contributing author for the book “Winding It Back: Teaching to Individual Differences in Music Classroom and Ensemble Settings.”
He holds a Master of Arts in Teaching and a Bachelor of Music with a concentration in choral music education from Christopher Newport University in Newport News, VA. He also holds Level III Kodály Certification from Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, TX where he has also served as an instructor of ensemble and conducting.
Dates: January 13, 2024 (Registration 8:00am; Concert at 4:00pm)
Coordinator: Jill Lawson Ahrens childrensallstate@wischoral.org
Nominations: The All-State Children's Choir will consist of approximately 60 singers from grades 5 and 6. Each director may submit up to 8 names, keeping the voicing in SA duets and rating the duets 1-4, one being the best.
Cost: $95
Guest Conductor: Evan Bruno
Evan Bruno is an accomplished music educator and choral conductor who has spent the last decade working with youth from across Chicago to bring them together through music. Since 2022, Evan has served as Artistic Director for Anima – Glen Ellyn Children’s Chorus in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. From 2011 to 2022, Evan was with Uniting Voices (formerly Chicago Children's Choir), most recently serving as Faculty Director for the organization, overseeing an artistic staff of 13 conductors who work with nearly 5,000 young people across Chicago in 80 schools and 13 communities.
Born and raised in Williamsburg, VA, Evan Bruno began his professional music career at the age of 10 when he joined the Colonial Williamsburg Fifes and Drums as a fifer. Over eight years, Evan learned the importance of authenticity in music-making and the value of high-quality extracurricular music programs for youth. This unique experience continues to inform his teaching today.
While with Uniting Voices, Evan worked in over twenty schools, co-opened the Englewood Neighborhood Choir and opened the Bucktown Neighborhood Choir, and assisted in the preparation of choruses for performances with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Ravinia Music Festival, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. His choral tours have brought youth from Chicago to all regions of the country, including New York, New Orleans, Phoenix, and Portland, and he has built partnerships with youth and collegiate choirs across the nation. From 2014 to 2022, he served as the Conductor of the Lincoln Park/DePaul Neighborhood Choir, a SSAA program that nearly doubled in size under his direction and has more than 200 singers and three different choirs, including a national touring ensemble.
Evan’s choirs perform music from the Renaissance period to modern choral compositions. He is also passionate about the authentic performance of music outside the Western Classical Canon to help youth understand the world around them and be best prepared to become the next generation of just leaders.
As a teacher, Evan’s focus has been creating a space where each individual singer can express exactly who they are without concern or worry and he strives to create an inclusive rehearsal environment. His teaching and related research aim to optimize the social emotional impact of music education. Evan has been invited to present on his research and techniques to improve social emotional learning in the arts at the Kennedy Center for the Arts and to Grantmakers for Education. Evan was also a contributing author for the book “Winding It Back: Teaching to Individual Differences in Music Classroom and Ensemble Settings.”
He holds a Master of Arts in Teaching and a Bachelor of Music with a concentration in choral music education from Christopher Newport University in Newport News, VA. He also holds Level III Kodály Certification from Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, TX where he has also served as an instructor of ensemble and conducting.
