PS22 Chorus sings for Paul Simon at 'New Yorker for New York' Gala

On Monday, the PS22 Chorus had the honor of singing for an army of celebrities (including Alec Baldwin, Lorne Michaels, Jimmy Fallon, Brian Williams, etc.) that were in attendance at the 2012 New Yorker For New York Gala at Gotham Hall in N.Y.C.! The kids tore it up and blew away the appreciative audience who gave the kids a well-deserved standing ovation! Most notably, the kids that night had the honor of singing their rendition of Bridge Over Troubled Water" for songwriting legend Paul Simon! Mr. Simon was incredibly gracious and in awe of our fifth graders, enough so to come backstage to meet the kids and congratulate them after their chilling performance! Check out some highlights below, including a PS22 Chorus debut of the song "Start Over" by Beyonce (featuring a tremendous solo delivery from Kiarah) that the kids rehearsed during their soundcheck!  UPDATE (9-3-12):  Just added --  a new version of "Edge of Glory" by Lady Glory also performed at soundcheck....

Thanks to Mr. Eberle for his guitar accompaniment, Ms. Lisa for the amazing videos, Ms. Laurie (and again Ms. Lisa) for the great pics featured on this post! (More below!)

Gym Class Heroes Shout Out to PS22 Chorus via YouTube!!

Humbled, honored, and completely stoked to see this!!

This video was also accompanied by an awesome second tweet from Travie McCoy (check out his first here), who just discovered the kids' version of "Stereo Hearts" with the incredible Ithacappella! Check out the tweet and the two covers that inspired these incredible gestures from Travie & the incredible Gym Class Heroes below! Biggest thanks to them for making our day and beyond!!

PS22 Chorus Slays At Sinead O'Connor Concert!

Last night the PS22 Chorus of 2012 had the privilege of opening Sinead O'Connor's concert at The Highline Ballroom in Manhattan! After seeing the kids' incredible rendition of her song "Jackie" we posted on YouTube a couple of months back, Sinead had blogged and tweeted about her wish to somehow meet up with PS22. Her manager Fachtna contacted me soon after, asking if we would open the show! Of course there was no way we could turn down this incredible invitation! The kids put on a spectacular show for an absolutely brilliant audience! But this was the definitive highlight of the night, when Sinead O'Connor surprised us and came onstage to join the kids on their rendition of "Jackie!" Sinead elected to take a backseat and let the kids do their thing, which is further testament to how truly gracious a performer and person she is.

BONUS: Check out Sinead's performance of "Jackie" from the night before (February 23 at the Highline Ballroom), in which she dedicates the song to PS22!

Thanks to Sinead and everyone at her camp (Fachtna, Mimi, and Lisa) for making this happen! It was a dream come true for all of us! Thanks to Mr. Eberle for joining in on the guitar, Ms. Lisa for her fabulous videos, and Mrs. Johnson for all the great pics on this post! See more below!

PS22 Chorus Performs "The Greatest Love of All" for Whitney Houston Tribute on CNN

On Wednesday afternoon, the PS22 Chorus was invited by the Piers Morgan Tonight show on CNN to sing a Whitney Houston song for a tribute to the amazing talent who was taken way too soon. With the show airing tonight, I was really hoping we would have time to do the song justice. I should know my chorus better than that by now.... The kids pulled off an absolutely ASTOUNDING version of "The Greatest Love of All" (written by Michael Masser and Linda Creed)! Major props to the chorus and soloists Kahlil & Kiarah for nailing this on such short notice and a minimal amount of rehearsal! Here is the truly touching version we recorded just hours before the filming.

And you MUST watch the equally amazing performance they gave on the Piers Morgan Show here!

Somebody That I Used To Know

Here is the ultra-cool song, "Somebody That I Used To Know" by indie artist Gotye (featuring Kimbra)! As the original version of this song has gotten countless plays on my iPod, I felt compelled to bring it (slightly edited) to the PS22 Chorus of 2012! And the kids certainly made the most of it! Kahlil is perfect on the leads and Daniel-san keeps raising his game on the drums! Big thanks to Mr. Eberle for joining in on the acoustic guitar and Ms. Lisa for filming!

Gotye and Kimbra tweeted and Facebooked (is this an acceptable verb??) about our latest vid! Gotye calls PS22 "the coolest kids on the block," and Kimbra exclaims it "a wonderful cover!"

UPDATE: Thanks to our best bud and fan, Perez Hilton, for posting a fantastic review of the video on his blog!

UPDATE: Ryan Seacrest also tweeted and blogged about our latest cover! So cool!!

Denise Is Right On Target!

Congrats to PS22 Chorus of 2011 member Denise, who is slated to appear/sing on tonight's Grammys broadcast during a Target commercial! Denise's lead performance on our video for "Rolling in the Deep" has just earned itself over 1,000,000 views, becoming the sixth PS22 Chorus video to achieve such an honor!

UPDATE: Check out the ad and the original performance from PS22 Chorus featuring Denise that caught the eye of Target! And make sure you click here to stay updated on our upcoming PS22 Chorus Documentary, in which Denise has a prominent role!

And here are is an amazing previously unseen improv performance from the incredible Denise, called "Remember"!"

UPDATE: More congrats to Denise for getting rave reviews from so many amazing internet sites including, Jezebel.com, PopCrush.com, TheDailyWh.at, TheFw.com and BrooklynVegan.com! And thanks to our friends at Elvis Duran's morning show on Z100 for all the kind words this morning!

Bridge Over Troubled Water

Here is "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Paul Simon (#47 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs Ever Written), which the PS22 Chorus of 2012 sings in perfect harmony. Surely this will go down as one of my personal favorite performances from this year's group (or any other's)!

We Found Love

The PS22 Chorus of 2012 takes on "We Found Love" by Rihanna! Our resident spitfire Zyasia does a fantastic job on the leads, and Daniel-san demonstrates his skills on the pencils....

PS22 Chorus Ushers in Groundhog's Day with Mayor Bloomberg and Chuck!

Yesterday, the PS22 Chorus of 2012 performed at the opening ceremonies for Groundhog's Day at the Staten Island Zoo, that saw Mayor Bloomberg and of course our resident groundhog, Chuck, in attendance! And no offense to Philadelphia Phil, but we stand by our Chuck's prediction for an early spring! Thanks to Kenneth Mitchell for inviting us and Ms. Lisa for the great pic at the title of the post! Two more pics below courtesy of Gothamist.

PS22 Does Justice to Susan Justice!

On Friday, the PS22 Chorus was visited by the amazing new artist, Susan Justice, as she invited the chorus to join her on some songs from her forthcoming debut album, Eat Dirt! Susan is an incredible singer/songwriter, just recently signed to EMI. Truly a unique talent and person, we can expect big things from her judging by the caliber of the performances she's laid out with PS22!

Here is the amazingly catchy "Forbidden Fruits" and the favorite of most of the chorus! And how about that Daniel-san stepping it up a notch on the drums!

This is the first song Susan wrote called, "I Wonder," and it's both stunning and catchy!

Here the kids join Susan on the title track of her upcoming album, "Eat Dirt." The message of this song really resonated with us, which basically says that often you have to go against the grain to carve your own life path, emphasized in the repeated lyric of the chorus, "so I figure that it pays to cross the line and eat a little dirt sometimes."

Here Susan sings her song, "Born Bob Dylan," with a little help from PS22. (Love the way the kids nail that harmony, particularly the major second -- NOT easy for 10 year olds!)

This is the final song from our collaboration with Susan, and it's a cover of Bob Dylan's classic, "I'll Keep It With Mine" (which was covered most notably by Nico, and this version also owes a lot to Susanna Hoffs's rendition of the song.) PS22 Chorus covered this a couple of weeks back, after we found out we'd be singing with Susan, and the selection was inspired by her song, "Born Bob Dylan." Now we present the complete version of the song, the last verse courtesy of Susan!

All our thanks to Susan for sharing her wonderful music and soul with us, Tara Chiari for working this out, Mr. Eberle for his guitar accompaniment, Mrs. Johnson for filming the videos, and Ms. Laurie for all the great pics on this post! (More below!)