JCC Lyric Choir members, 1997, outside of Carnegie Hall.

Our History

The Jacksonville Children's Chorus (JCC) was founded in 1995 at Jacksonville University to fill a need for a children’s music program in the area. Led by Dr. Frances B. Kinne, then Jacksonville University president, the plan to create a local choir was implemented by Dr. Jon O. Carlson and Jim Taylor, who served as the first conductor. In that first year, JCC had only 16 voices. Since then, it has grown to serve over 1000 singers annually through its programs.

JCC faced many challenges because it was a small arts organization with little financial support or visibility in the community. JCC gained name recognition in 2001 when it was named the designated children's chorus of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra (JSO). To ensure diversity among its members, JCC established a scholarship program in 1998 to provide financial assistance to those families who cannot afford tuition. Each year, more than one-third of singers receive full or partial scholarships.

In 2003, JCC created the annual First Coast Honors Choir Festival, a daylong event for area fourth through sixth-grade students. A guest clinician is invited to conduct the Honors Choir, which is assembled from students who have been recommended by their music teachers from Jacksonville’s 160 public and private schools. In conjunction with this event, JCC hosts a free Midwinter Music Workshop for area school music teachers. In the years since, this event has expanded to include high school voices and a free Winter Music Workshop for area school music teachers.

The JCC at the AGO Festival, 1998.

The Board of Directors appointed Darren Dailey as the Artistic and Executive Director in 2006. Since that time, JCC has expanded its choir programs and has developed self-produced, sold-out concerts including the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" event, the annual Cool Side of Yuletide holiday concert, and concerts featuring guest artists such as Amy Grant, Voca People, Kristin Chenoweth, and Audra McDonald. In his 10th Anniversary year of 2016, Darren Dailey was appointed as President and Artistic Director.

As JCC grows, it is creating new choirs and new opportunities for its singers. The Young Men's Chorus, established in 2011, was designed to meet the specific needs of young men who are experiencing voice expansion. The Touring Choir, established in 2011, travels nationally and internationally in the summer after a year of hard work and performances. From 16 singers in 1995, JCC has developed into one of the nation’s most important providers of music education, enriching the lives of singers and audiences around the globe.

Major Accomplishments Timeline

Since its inaugural season in 1995, The Chorus has grown to serve as many as 1,000 children annually, ages 18 months to 18 years. These gifted young singers represent not only 180 of our local schools, but also extend to 14 counties of Northeast Florida and Southeast Georgia. The Chorus draws from various racial, religious, and socio-economic backgrounds, transcending differences, and emphasizing similarities and common goals.

Touring Choir and Voices of Jacksonville Perform at St. Patricks Cathedral, December 2023

  • • Performing choirs premiere in a special episode of Florida Frontiers TV broadcasted statewide on PBS.

    • JCC presents The Annual Cool Side of Yuletide as a drive-in movie in 2020 and 2021

    • Touring Choir premieres "Hamilton: A Choral Medley" music video.

    • JCC celebrates its 25th anniversary.

    • Concert Choir participates in North Carolina Summer Institute in Choral Art.

    • Touring Choir tours Italy, Spain, and France.

    • JCC performs at the City of Jacksonville's Bicentennial Celebration.

    • Touring Choir wins the American Prize for Choral Performance in the youth/school division of 2022.

    • JCC receives Bronze Telly Award for the “Songs of the Sunshine State” episode with the Florida Historical Society.

    • JCC moves back downtown into a new state-of-the-art facility located in the Vystar Parking Garage.

    • Touring Choir attends the International Children’s Choir Festival in Canterbury and London.

    • JCC and Voices of Jacksonville are finalists for The American Prize 2023 and receive honorable mentions.

    • Touring Choir and Voices of Jacksonville head to NYC to perform in St. Patrick's Cathedral at The 24th Annual “A City Singing at Christmas” concert. They are the first non-NYC-based choirs to be invited.

    • Touring Choir is invited to perform at the American Choral Director's Association Southern Division Conference in Mobile, AL. The JCC is one of two children's choirs selected from 11 Southern states and one of three choirs from the State of Florida.

    • JCC received the 2020 Chorus America’s Brazeal Wayne Dennard Award, recognizing the organization’s commitment to embracing a wide range of cultural traditions and advancing African-American and other underrepresented choral traditions through performance, research, or the creation of significant new compositions.

    • The first year the Young Men's Chorus toured, joining JCC Concert Choir as the Choir in Residence at the North Carolina Summer Institute in Choral Art at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, North Carolina.

    • Voices of Jacksonville was established highlighting JCC alumni and local professional singers.

    • JCC President and Artistic Director, Darren Dailey, receives 2019 Alumni Merit Award from Westminster Choir College Alumni Board at Bristol Chapel in Princeton, New Jersey.

    • Expands educational offerings with a new Group Piano Keyboard Class.

    • Touring Choir is invited to participate in the 2018 Choir Festival in Rome, and to sing at the Vatican for the New Year’s Day Papal Mass on January 1, 2018.

    • Young Men’s Chorus is invited to participate in Savannah’s Invitational Youth Choir Festival for Boys, also known as “Savannah Sings,” and travels for the first time.

    • Collaborates with world-renowned composer, Dr. Michael John Trotta, to commission a multi-movement choral composition using the poetry of Sara Teasdale.

    • Premieres River City Choral Music Festival – a week-long summer music camp and festival for grades 4-12.

    • Greatly expands pre-school music classes due to generous funding from the Chartrand Foundation.

    • Darren Dailey celebrates the 10th Anniversary of his appointment as the JCC’s President and Artistic Director.

    • Darren Dailey publishes a Choral Series featuring music compositions appropriate for children’s voices through Galaxy Music.

    • Touring Choir travels and performs in Croatia, Greece, Malta, and Slovenia.

    • The Chorus self-produces a fall concert with Kristin Chenoweth.

    • Premieres professional development workshops for music educators.

    • Hosts and collaborates with guest conductor Christina Kalliaridou of the Corfu Children’s Choir at the 13th Annual First Coast Honors Choir.

    • In celebration of its 20th Anniversary, the JCC commissions and performs a new choral work, "Friendship," adapted from a poem by Helen Steiner Rice with music by Rosephanye Powell

    • Established "Downtown Dazzle" a holiday compilation of synchronized JCC music and holiday lights

    • Celebrates 20th anniversary with a new logo and website design.

    • Makes JCC history with sold-out, standing-room-only Cool Side of Yuletide and Martin Luther King, Jr. concerts.

    • Dancing with the Stars event surpasses expectations with a record number of tickets and sponsorships sold ensuring JCC financial stability.

    • All choirs perform spring concert with Voca People, a unique and energetic Israeli-based a- cappella sensation.

    • Touring Choir performs at multiple venues in New York City; Halifax, Nova Scotia; Saint John, New Brunswick; Portland, Maine and aboard the Norwegian Gem cruise ship.

    • Guest conductors Dr. Rollo Dilworth of Temple University and Anne Purcell, Mairéad Déiseach and Órla Gillan of the National Children’s Chorus of Ireland conducted the 11th Annual Honors Choir Festival & Young Men’s Choral Festival.

    • Produces a spring concert with Amy Grant.

    • Partners with JSO for Mahler’s Third Symphony.

    • Travels to Italy and Greece aboard the Norwegian Jade, where they perform at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, St. Mark’s in Venice, St. Jacob’s Cathedral in Corfu, Greece with the Corfu Children’s Choir, and aboard the cruise ship in the Stardust Theater.

    • JCC YouTube video “Oye” receives over 37,000 hits.

    • Dr. Frances B. Kinne Scholarship Endowment Fund established.

    • Jon O. Carlson Memorial Scholarship Fund established.

    • Lindsay Joiner Keller Memorial Scholarship Fund is established.

    • Inaugurates a Young Men’s Choral Festival.

    • Performs Britten’s War Requiem with the JSO.

    • Touring Choir performs in Seattle, Washington, and Alaska.

    • Young Men’s Chorus for boys experiencing voice expansion begins.

    • Concert Choir performs at American Choral Directors Conference.

    • Performs at Spoleto Music Festival in Charleston, South Carolina.

    • Touring Choir performs in Ireland with the National Children’s Choir of Ireland.

    • Inauguration of a Vocal Exploration Class program for younger children who are not ready for the demands of a performing choir.

    • Free preschool music classes held for children ages 18 months through three years, using a Kindermusik format of parent and child participation.

    • More than 250 children enrolled in Training, Treble, Concert and Touring Choir programs.

    • JCC produces the second annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration in Jacoby Hall with Edward Waters College Concert Choir, Douglas Anderson School of the Arts Concert Chorale, University of North Florida’s Perfect Fifths, Bethel Baptist Institutional Church Choir, First Coast High School Men’s Chorale, and Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church Choir joining JCC on stage.

    • Touring Choir returns to New York for a June Lincoln Center performance.

    • Produces the first annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration in Jacoby Hall with guest choirs representing the community.

    • Satellite Training Choirs expanded to include four sites.

    • Concert Choir performs for Florida American Choral Directors Association and in JSO’s Turandot.

    • Two recordings, with Roseanne Cash in “How Many Christmases” and Voices for Voices holiday CD

    • Expands the Training Choir program with a satellite Training Choir at Brentwood Elementary.

    • Hosts and performs with the African Children’s Choir.

    • Touring Choir performs at Carnegie Hall with Darren Dailey conducting.

    • Inaugurates a Training Choir program at Hyde Park Elementary School.

    • A Scholarship Endowment Fund is established through a major donation from Wayne and Delores Weaver.

    • Adds preschool music classes weekly at the Children’s Commission’s new Don Brewer Center for Learning and the Sulzbacher Center, serving over 120 at-risk and disadvantaged children.

    • Performs in Carmina Burana and in the JSO’s first professional recording.

    • Announces the appointment of Darren Dailey as its new Artistic and Executive Director.

    • Expands Treble Choir in response to increased auditions and performance requests.

    • Featured as the lead chorus in the World’s Largest Concert broadcast nationally on PBS.

    • Concert Choir performs in its third opera, the JSO production of La Boheme.

    • Hosts a new outreach program: The First Coast Honors Choir Festival for 75 talented fourth and fifth graders nominated by their music educators.

    • Produces its first large-scale benefit concert in Jacoby Hall.

    • Concert Choir performs in the JSO production of Carmen earning excellent reviews.

    • Named “the designated children’s chorus of The Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra (JSO). Outreach programs are added with the Mid-Winter Music Workshop for area music educators. Concert Choir performs in its first opera, the JSO production of Tosca.

  • A chorus of 16 singers is founded at Jacksonville University.