CYC History and Alumni

Formerly the Charlotte Children’s Choir, CYC was founded in 1986 to provide education and performance opportunities for children in the Charlotte metro area. Thousands of students across the Charlotte region have benefitted from singing with CYC — experiencing new music and styles, building a connected community, and learning what it means to be an excellent musician and student.

Through the years, CYC has been fortunate to perform with a great number of musicians and in a multitude of locations around the nation and world. This includes unique performance opportunities with local, national, and international professional music organizations such as the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra, Opera Carolina, Carolina Voices, American Boychoir, One Voice Chorus, and Canadian Brass.

CYC has toured nationally and abroad, enjoying performances in landmark locations in Washington, D.C, New York City, France, Italy, and Scotland. CYC appeared on NPR’s “From the Top” and has even performed at the White House. CYC has performed at state, regional, and national music educators’ conferences, including the National Association for Music Education and the American Choral Directors Association.

At Arts+, we know that the skills and friendships students build in the Charlotte Youth Choir extend far past the confines of weekly rehearsals. Our goal is to keep our alumni engaged in our community, even when our singers have graduated and moved on!

As a force of positive and impactful music education in the Charlotte community since its founding in 1986, it is important for CYC to make sure that all members, past and present, are heard and active in the choir’s development. We also want to highlight the achievements of our singers as they go on to do incredible things.

If you are an alumnus of CYC, or a family member of a former CYC singer, please join our alumni group so that we can reconnect with you. We want to celebrate the accomplishments of our alumni as well as provide a more direct line of action between alumni and the growth of CYC in the future.