SOAR! Youth & Adult Choir is a Colorado Based Non-Profit in the Metro Denver area. We serve diverse youth, including those in adoptive families, foster homes, in kinship placement, and youth from single parent families.
We are here to SOAR! bridging the gap between youth and adults in song.
We know that the last few years have been challenging for many and know that music can improve mental health.
This is just one of the many reasons that SOAR choir welcomes all people.
We embrace our varied backgrounds, races & ethnicities, faith traditions and belief systems, gender identities and expressions, neurodiversity and physical differences.
We cultivate and teach respect for every individual, knowing that our diversity is our strength.
For more information or to join us, please contact us!
We are here to SOAR! bridging the gap between youth and adults in song.
We know that the last few years have been challenging for many and know that music can improve mental health.
This is just one of the many reasons that SOAR choir welcomes all people.
We embrace our varied backgrounds, races & ethnicities, faith traditions and belief systems, gender identities and expressions, neurodiversity and physical differences.
We cultivate and teach respect for every individual, knowing that our diversity is our strength.
For more information or to join us, please contact us!
SOAR! Youth and Adult choir is an intergenerational community of singers, with a special emphasis on serving and including youth who are in foster or kinship care and adoptive families. Our purpose is to serve as stable adult mentors to young people, many of whom are considered at-risk, through the universal language of music. Our musical repertoire is multi-cultural and multi-lingual, as we know that music is "the universal language." We find ways to create new connections to our collective and personal histories through the stories told in the songs we sing.
We create a community that is emotionally supportive to all members—creating human connection, authenticity, and the opportunity for each to use their own voice. SOAR! strives to provide this in many ways: We reflect to our youth the beauty inherent in each of them; we come together to create beautiful sounds and to build healthy relationships; we lift our youth up and help them realize that have more potential and the ability to find more fulfillment than they may currently believe they do. Our adult mentors will tell you that they get back just as much as they give.
We create a community that is emotionally supportive to all members—creating human connection, authenticity, and the opportunity for each to use their own voice. SOAR! strives to provide this in many ways: We reflect to our youth the beauty inherent in each of them; we come together to create beautiful sounds and to build healthy relationships; we lift our youth up and help them realize that have more potential and the ability to find more fulfillment than they may currently believe they do. Our adult mentors will tell you that they get back just as much as they give.
2022 SOAR! Successes
2021 SOAR! Successes (Annual Report of Activities)
- In March, we welcomed Dr. Rollo Dilworth, who facilitated a workshop for our choir. We were fortunate to spend time working on his arrangement of the spiritual Take Me To The Water. He also spoke to us about the piece and about the role of spirituals in the American ethos.
- In April, we performed at the Kempe Foundation's 50th Birthday Celebration.
- In October, we performed at Stories of Identity: The Healing Power of the Spoken Word, an evening celebrating diverse lived experiences through a poetic journey at Unity Spiritual Center Denver.
2021 SOAR! Successes (Annual Report of Activities)
- The board worked diligently to build out the members section of our website, facilitating easier access to rehearsal information, music, and practice tracks for choir members. This created the foundation for us to streamline operations without needing to be in-person.
- Annual summer picnic was held in July, an opportunity for many of us to reconnect after over a year of not being together face to face.
- In the fall we were able to resume in-person rehearsals, with the proper precautions and safety measures in place.
- In September, internationally renowned choral conductor and scholar, Dr. Anthony Trecek-King, joined SOAR! Youth and Adult Choir Music Director Emily Martin for an hour long conversation about The Silent Canon, the history and musical influence of spirituals, and the legacy of Black music in American culture.
- In October, our very own accompanist and collaborative pianist, Romaine Anderson, spoke with us about his personal musical background, musical exposure starting at a young age, and the importance of bringing classical and other musical opportunities to underserved/underrepresented populations to diversify professional music.
- With mask mandates in place, to improve the singing experience during our in-person rehearsal, we provided singing-friendly masks to all choir members.
- Provided an opportunity for youth attending rehearsals in 2021 to see The Lion King at the Denver Performing Arts Complex in January 2022.