Five Nights At Freddy's

The kids literally hounded and haunted me until I agreed to do this little ode to their favorite video game.... They made quite a jolly romp of it too!

Comfortably Numb

The kids add a whole new dimension to my love for this Pink Floyd classic! A chilling performance in every which way, not the least of which is a fantastic display of talent from our new fourth grade drummer, Emmanuel!

Welcome To New York!

PS22 Chorus sings Taylor Swift's homage to the hometown, and does a rather spectacular job of it too!!

Celebrate Halloween with the "SCARECROW!"

Ms. Lisa requested this song a couple of weeks ago, and we decided it was the perfect choice for the PS22 Chorus of 2015 to sing on Halloween!! It's a PHENOMENAL performance of "Scarecrow" by Alex & Sierra! The new chorus members completely outdid themselves on this one, and were happy to welcome the incredible 4th grader Dapo (brother of "Boom Clap" soloist Aesha) in on the fun to help out with those really low notes on the solo parts!! Have I mentioned how much I'm loving this new 2015 crew???

UPDATE: Alex & Sierra posted the video on their Facebook page and want to "hug all of you little munchkins!"

Ariel Pink!

On October 14th, the PS22 Chorus of 2015 was treated to a visit from the king of indie music, Ariel Pink! (You may remember the PS22 Chorus of 2011 covered Ariel's amazing song, "Round and Round" to astounding effect! Ariel was amazing with the kids -- funny and demonstratively appreciative of the hard work they did tackling his music! The chorus teamed up with him on two of his new songs, "Picture Me Gone" and "Jell-o!" Check out both performances (which include some entertaining excerpts from the Q & A) below!

More great pics below, and even more can be found on our Facebook page!

PS22 Chorus of 2015 is GLORIOUS!!

PS22 Chorus of 2015 shows a soulful side with this performance of the new song, "Glorious," by David Archuleta! It's hard to believe sophisticated harmonies like these are coming out of this new group so early on in the school year! On his Twitter page, David Archuleta himself admitted he got the chills from this performance!

Cool Kids!

PS22 Chorus of 2015 tackles the breakout hit from one of our favorite new bands, Echosmith! Soloist Sierra gives a sensitive and thoroughly gorgeous performance on the leads, and the group proves the point with this performance that they don't have to wish.... they're the coolest!

The Swon Brothers visit PS22 Chorus!

On October 1, The Swon Brothers, who tore it up on NBC's The Voice and are now breaking into the country music scene big time, came to visit the PS22 Chorus of 2015! The guys were incredibly cool, answering questions from the kids and inviting them to join them for a special version of their song, "Pretty Beautiful" that lived up to its namesake! Our two groups also joined forces for one more special performance still to come!

We leave you with some more great pics from our afternoon with The Swons! For even more, visit our Facebook page!

Boom Clap! PS22 Chorus of 2015 Officially Arrives!!

PS22 Chorus of 2015 marks its official arrival in a big way with its first video of the year, and the new crew doesn't disappoint!! The kids bring their A-game to Charli XCX's energetic pop smash, "Boom Clap," with some beautifully executed harmonies, a dreamy unison, a sincere passionate performance, AND featuring a gorgeous solo from new member Aesha! If this is the caliber of performance we can expect from these kids on a regular basis, it's safe to say it's going to be quite a year!!

Jason Mraz!

The PS22 Chorus of 2015 takes the record for the earliest debut performance out of any of the previous years' groups! After Jason Mraz contacted us asking for the kids to back him up on a couple of songs at a concert he was giving at St. George Theater right here in Staten Island, we kicked things into high gear to make sure to be ready for the event! And before the full group was even finished being auditioned, the chorus was backing up Jason on two of his songs, "Back To The Earth" and "Plane," and received a well deserved standing ovation at the show!! Check out both amazing performances below and find more pics on our Facebook page!

Apollo 8.0!

The Apollo Theater celebrated it's 80th birthday on June 10th with an incredible all-star concert, and the PS22 Chorus was on hand to help mark the occasion!! The kids, with the help of former PS22 Chorus of 2012 member Kevin, brought down the house performing the classic, "O Happy Day," with none other than the song's creator, Edwin Hawkins, and child prodigy Matthew Whitaker on the keys!! But undoubtedly the most mind-blowing part of the experience took place at soundcheck, before the show even began! R & B legend Gladys Knight, who also happened to be a featured performer at the event, took the time to say hello to the kids while they were rehearsing, and joined them for a special performance of the song!! Fortunately Ms. Lisa had the video camera rolling, so make sure to watch this epic musical moment below!!!

Check out more great pics (which include shots with Gladys Knight, Edwin Hawkins, Wayne Brady & Doug E Fresh) from the event below!!

Summer Stock 2014!

Check out these previously unposted goodies that we debuted during the summer of the PS22 Chorus of 2014! Some pretty amazing bonus treats here....

Rise Like A Phoenix!

You need to watch this truly astounding cover of "Rise Like A Phoenix" by Conchita Wurst, truly one of the greatest PS22 Chorus performances of all time!

Also check out the kind words we got from Conchita in response!

Bleachers!

On June 9, the PS22 Chorus was visited by Jack Antonoff (best known as the guitarist from FUN.) and his current band, Bleachers! The kids had a great time singing a couple of the band's songs with Jack, and finding out more about him and his music! Check out the videos below!

More great pics below!

O.A.R.

Last month, O.A.R. came to jam with PS22 Chorus and it was an epic collaboration! The kids joined in on three of their songs with some magnificent harmonies and the band even joined in with us on a couple of our songs as well! Check out four of the highlights from the amazing afternoon with O.A.R.!!!

Thanks to Marc and Jerry from O.A.R. for a memorable afternoon! Big thanks also to Stephanie and Lauren from O.A.R's team for putting this together and, with Marc's wife Nasim, sending the kids CDs, stickers, and shirts!  The kids made a special thank you video to the band for all the goodies and for the wonderful afternoon with the help of 2004 PS22 Chorus alum, Clive!  Check it out below!

We leave you with some great pics, courtesy of Victor Breinberg! (For more pics with O.A.R., check out our Facebook page!

All Of Me

Another song done at the kids' insistence, and the result speaks for itself. Simply beautiful....

Oysters

PS22 Chorus pays tribute to the enormous talent of Tori Amos with this cover of the beautiful song, "Oysters," from her latest album, "Unrepentant Geraldines!" The kids give an epic performance on a difficult piece of music, and the duet of Alyssa & Janiya is simply out of this world!

Best Day Of My Life

Hard to believe there's only about a month and a half left before the class of 2014 moves on to intermediate school! Some of my colleagues requested "Best Day Of My Life" by American Authors to be sung as the theme to this year's graduation ceremony. PS22 Chorus (and the extraordinary Juan on lead vocals) demonstrates that this was indeed a wise suggestion.... The kids already got some great feedback from American Authors via Twitter & Facebook, saying, "You all KILLED IT!"

Digital Witness

Love this acoustic PS22-ified version of the bizarrely beautiful new single, "Digital Witness," by the brilliant St. Vincent! The kids got some amazing praise for this rendition from St. Vincent (via Twitter & Facebook) and many online publications including SPIN Magazine, Stereogum, and Huffington Post!

Sour Times

PS22 Chorus goes old school, bringing back "Sour Times," a 90s trip hop classic from Portishead! We weren't really expecting to film this as it was only our first rehearsal upon return from the spring break, but the kids gave such a bravura performance on this difficult song, we decided to record and post it in our original one-camera format.

Innovative Charms!

On Monday, April 21, the PS22 Chorus was honored Saturday at the Innovation Cities Tour NYC! Former 2004 member, Clive, helped represent by reprising his amazing performance of "Me And My Charms" by the brilliant Kristen Hersh!  Thanks to Julie Anixter & Craig Hatkoff for an amazing night!

Check out some more great pics from the event from Andrew Federman!

Lanterns

And yet again, the PS22 Chorus of 2014 outdoes itself with this high octane cover of "Lanterns" by the amazing Birds of Tokyo! Third grade prodigy Malcolm returns to supply the beats, and soloist Gabriel does an absolutely brilliant job on the leads! The chorus's harmonies are spot on and the kids truly give - one of their most thrilling performances! Thanks to Ms. Lisa for bringing this song to my attention and, of course, for her always beautiful filming of the kids!!

Also a huge honor to see this posted on Birds of Tokyo's Facebook page, proclaiming "This is beautiful!"