The St. Louis Children's Choirs

For 45 years, The St. Louis Children's Choirs (SLCC) has powerfully impacted the lives of thousands of children. Our mission of "shaping young lives through musical excellence" is built upon the hallmarks of character education, musical excellence, and world-class performance. We foster an environment for young people to gather regardless of social or economic background and rehearse/perform classical and contemporary choral works by master composers, as well as connect with peers, express themselves emotionally, and develop as young professionals. SLCC is the official children's choir of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Other partners include Bach Society of St. Louis, Ambassadors of Harmony, and the Des Lee Fine Arts Collaborative. SLCC has performed at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the White House, and in 14 countries around the world. This season (2022-2023), SLCC enrolls 338 students ages 6 to 18 from over 100 different schools and 55 zip codes in MO and IL to sing in seven ensembles.

The St. Louis Children's Choirs includes 338 talented young singers (ages 6 to 18) from more than 100 schools and 55 zip codes in Missouri and Illinois who bring their artistry and love of classical, sacred, contemporary, and world music to the concert stage for everyone to enjoy. We develop excellent musicians and excellent people!

The 2022-2023 season marks SLCC's 45th anniversary and Barbara Berner's 25th anniversary as Artistic Director. Our season of concerts is themed "Be a Force for Good." Our musical selections celebrate and lift up the guiding principles of the Choirs: 1) Love and respect the music; 2) Do our best; 3) Love and respect one another, as well as our shared values of integrity, hard work, focused concentration, humility, and joy. vibrant diversity of our St. Louis community and the diversity among our own SLCC families. The 45th Anniversary Concert at Powell Hall on April 22, 2023 will feature eight world premiere choral works written specifically for our young singers by master composers around the U.S. and the world.

The retirement of Barbara Berner is a major turning point in the history of evolution of the Choirs and indeed, for the children's choir community in the United States. Passionate about helping each child find the voice and artist within, Berner is committed to the pursuit of excellence that requires a loving demand for discipline, focus, and attention to detail while teaching students the finest choral literature. She leads with humility, joy, compassion, and an unwavering commitment to the Choirs' mission statement of "shaping young lives through musical excellence," working to achieve the Choirs' vision of "a world united by children who love music and each other." Mrs. Berner has been named the 2023 recipient of the Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award by the Arts & Education Council of St. Louis. She is the 2017 Missouri Arts Council Award recipient for Arts Educator of the Year. She has prepared Concert Choir for 96 performances with the St. Louis Symphony and has toured with Concert Choir to 10 international destinations and will travel with the Choirs once again to Ireland in June 2023.

In the spring of 2022, a search committee comprised of SLCC's executive committee and three respected music education professionals was formed to conduct an extensive, formal search for the fourth Artistic Director in SLCC's history. In November of 2022, the board of directors officially accepted the search committee's unanimous recommendation to hire Dr. Alyson Moore of Clovis, CA. We are thrilled with the selection of Dr. Moore, confident with the knowledge that she will expertly carry on the Choirs' values and mission while bringing fresh, new ideas to organizational leadership, pedagogy, repertoire, strategy, and community outreach.