PS22's YouTube Channel Hits 50 Million Views!

Who would have guessed when the first PS22 video appeared on YouTube back in 2006, that an elementary school chorus could become a bona fide "internet sensation" AND maintain that celebrated status for over five years?! Well today, the group reached another milestone -- the PS22 Chorus YouTube channel has surpassed fifty million views of its videos!!

We hope every child who has ever been part of the chorus throughout the years is exceptionally proud to have had the opportunity to bring joy and inspiration to such a mind-blowing number of people, simply through a love of and dedication to music-making! Super huge thanks to Perez Hilton who first helped the group reach a mass audience (and to this day continues to support the program and our students), and to all of you who have been with us throughout the years....   It has meant so much to us and changed so many lives here at PS22 -- we are beyond grateful.

Do You Hear What I Hear?

The PS22 Chorus of 2013 ushers in the holiday season with this beautiful version of the Christmas song, "Do You Hear What I Hear?" written by Gloria Shayne and (appropriately named) Noël Regney. We at PS22 wish all of our friends, family, and supporters the happiest of holidays!!

PS22 Chorus At Thanksgiving Day Parade!

Here are the kids of the PS22 Chorus of 2013 having the time of their lives at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!! You can see them getting love from The Wanted (whose song "Chasing The Sun" the chorus recently covered!) who were in the float directly behind us, and an amazing crowd that filled the streets of New York like none of us have ever seen!! The kids did an amazing performance of "Home" by Phillip Phillips to put the finishing touch on an such a wonderful day! We wish all of our supporters an equally wonderful Thanksgiving!! Thanks to you guys for all the love throughout the years....

More thanks go to everyone at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade for having the PS22 Chorus represent Staten Island at today's parade! Special thanks to Wesley Watling, Amy Kule, and Sara Flores! Also thanks to the wonderful staff members at PS22 that came along and helped make this experience possible!  Here are some more wonderful pics provided by Mrs. Panzella and Mrs. Johnson....

A PS22 Chorus Tribute To Amy Winehouse

After Amy Winehouse passed away, I knew immediately that this was a song the PS22 Chorus was going to cover, though admittedly wasn't quite sure how we were going to pull this off. I taught the chorus of the song to soloist Alicea at our very first rehearsal in September, as we embarked upon our first performance of the year, "Titanium." When she was instantly able to pick up the tricky melody, I knew this was going to be something special.... She and the chorus did not let me down! This is our tribute to truly one of the most talented vocalists of our generation. With that in mind, it seemed fitting to change the lyric from "Ava was the morning" to "Amy was the morning" for our rendition. So sad that her illness took Amy away from us before her time, as she clearly had so much more to bring. Here we honor that devastating loss with a song she co-wrote with Stefan Skarbek called "October Song." Rest in peace, Amy Winehouse....

A NYCE Day for PS22 Chorus!

pic by BenHider.com

To help mark the coming of the holiday season, three of our PS22 Chorus members helped ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street this morning with the help of Santa and Amy Kule, the executive producer of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, at which the entire chorus will be singing tomorrow morning! Choristers Aaron, Vanecia, and Kelvin all had a blast being part of an amazing historic tradition, and you can see the video of the kids doing the honors below!

Also check out more fantastic pics, courtesy of BenHider.com!

Phillip Phillips Joins PS22 Chorus!

On Thursday, American Idol winner Phillip Phillips joined forces with the PS22 Chorus of 2013 for an amazing half hour concert that streamed online on Stageit.com! Our mutual goal was to raise as much money as we could for victims of Hurricane Sandy, and all proceeds from ticket-buyers were donated to The Red Cross & The Siller Foundation! We are still waiting for the final tally of how much was raised but we're proud to announce it was a substantial amount of money that was raised! The concert was amazing, and so was the rehearsal before the fact! Phillip was in awe of the kids, and we all certainly were of him as well. He was truly one of the most fun and gracious guests we've ever had the pleasure of making music with! You can check out the good vibes and some great tunes below!

In addition to raising money for a great cause the concert has gotten rave reviews from the online community and major entertainment media! The Hollywood Reporter, Inside Edition, and many more major entertainment news media covered the event!  Below you can see the livestream in its entirety (in lo-fi with some minor glitches) and the Fox5 News piece that aired later on that evening below!

Big thanks to Phillip Phillips, his management, and Stageit.com for all doing their part in helping our kids have this amazing opportunity to give back to the community after Sandy's devastating blow. Also thanks go to Scott Vollweiler for his beautiful pics and Ms. Lisa for her incredible job filming the event! We leave you with some more of Scott's great pics below!

Phillip Phillips & PS22 Chorus Preparing Online Benefit Performance!

Tomorrow (Thursday, November 15), the PS22 Chorus of 2013 will be performing an online concert with American Idol winner Phillip Phillips right on our home turf!  You can catch it live anywhere in the world by making a donation of any denomination that will go towards the victims of Hurricane Sandy via The Siller Foundation and The Red Cross! The concert will be broadcast live tomorrow at 6pm (ET) on Stageit.com. Here is the direct link to make your donation and see the show! Hope you'll join us tomorrow on the internet for a really special one-of-a-kind performance!!

Chasing The Sun

Happy to finally get back to business with the chorus yesterday after not seeing them for two weeks in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. I thought this song, "Chasing The Sun" by The Wanted was the perfect choice with which to begin again after our unwanted hiatus. Thanks to chorus members Jianna and Dorian for their help in teaching it to the group. (As I had only heard the song a couple of times prior to the rehearsal, the kids knew it way better than I did) Love the harmonies on this one, and Dorian sounds phenomenal on the solo!

To echo the sentiments expressed in the video, many thanks to all of you who were checking up on the PS22 Chorus after Hurricane Sandy hit, via comments on the videos, tweets, Facebook messages, and e-mails. It really means a lot to us to know that we are in your thoughts during this difficult time for Staten Island and our surrounding areas.

UPDATE (11-11-12): Thanks to Perez Hilton for posting PS22's "Chasing The Sun" cover on his blog with some extremely kind words! The kids also got props from Thomas Parker of The Wanted who exclaimed, "so good!" on his Twitter page!
 

Blown Away

Above is the awesome tweet from Carrie Underwood after the PS22 Chorus of 2013 covered her #1 country hit "Blown Away" two weeks back! The timing of the cover was unintended but eerily coincided with the arrival of Hurricane Sandy.  It just happened that former 2009 PS22 Chorus soloist extraordinaire Allie had requested we do this song before she came to visit. Regardless, she and the chorus did a brilliant job, and that can be verified by watching the video below!