‘We’re always there for each other.’ Miami Children’s Chorus helps students find their voice

After Liana Salinas first auditioned for Miami Children’s Chorus at 8 years old, she went home in tears. She thought she bombed.

But the chorus, a youth music education nonprofit, accepted her with open arms. Liana learned about music, sat next to a new friend named Annie Mendez and fell in love with singing in a group.

Today, Salinas is the artistic director of the Miami Children’s Chorus and works alongside Mendez, the executive director. Every day, the two alumni say they see the impact MCC has on young people in South Florida.

“The most satisfying part of what we offer to kids is the bond that they’re able to create with each other and the confidence that they’re able to gain through the program,” Mendez said. “They get to learn a lot about themselves, a lot about the world in general, how to interact with other people and how to find strength in their own voice — not just as a singer, but as a person.”

The chorus consists of about 100 students from across Miami-Dade and Broward counties. It welcomes children ages 8 to 18, from all schools and all socioeconomic backgrounds. Salinas said the chorus brings children of different life experiences together to foster a love of music in a safe and positive environment.

Many of the chorus’ students remain with the program until they graduate from high school and leave for college. For many children, even as they age and change schools, the chorus is a consistent part of their lives.

“They’re getting to experience all these moments of struggle and success through rehearsals and performances that they’re experiencing side by side with these people,” Salinas said. “These are also really impactful moments that they’re never going to forget.”

Performed at the Super Bowl

Though MCC is a staple in South Florida youth music programming today, the chorus has changed drastically since it was founded in 1965.

The organization was originally called the Miami Choral Society, which offered both adult and youth ensembles. In 1970, the adult chorus formed its own organization, The Civic Chorale.

Timothy Sharp, who was appointed as MCC’s music director in 1990, is credited with rebranding the children’s chorus into the robust institution it is today, Salinas said. After 30 years, Sharp retired in 2019 and tapped his mentees Salinas and Mendez to fill his shoes.

Over the years, MCC has performed with the Florida Grand Opera, the Cleveland Orchestra and Queen Latifah at the 44th Super Bowl. The chorus has flown around the world to sing for international audiences, from Argentina to Australia. Recently, the chorus performed at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts with a full band, Grammy award-winning musicians and a stage of dancers.

“The caliber of the performance experiences that we get to offer is truly life changing,” Salinas said. “It gives these children — for the first time through us — perspective, letting them know that they are capable of doing great things like this where they may not have had that experience through a school program.”

Pandemic opened up new pathways

But providing those experiences to South Florida youth has been especially challenging over the last two years.

About a year after Salinas and Mendez took over the helm, live performances and in-person rehearsals came to a grinding halt in 2020 due to the pandemic. By April, MCC had launched its free virtual choir open for any child to join for the first time. The learning curve was steep, but the MCC staff pulled it off, Salinas and Mendez said.

“Basically, everything takes 10 times longer than it would in person,” Salinas said.

A small group of teachers would go to a producer’s house to record themselves singing a song they wanted to teach. Then, they would send the students an edited version of the recording that played the teachers singing in one headphone and the chorister’s part in the other. That way, the students could feel like they were singing with a group, even while muted on a Zoom call.

The most complicated part was putting it all together, Salinas said. The students were sent specific guidelines — how to angle their cellphone, how far away to stand from the camera — to record themselves singing their parts of the song. MCC staff compiled the videos, moved them onto one screen and blended the audio together.

Despite the challenges, the chorus found a major silver lining. The group’s perfected sound engineering skills opened even more opportunities to collaborate with recording artists. Since last year, the chorus has worked with up-and-coming reggaeton artist Manuel Turizo, sang on Gloria Estefan’s Christmas album and recorded a single with América Viva Band and Grammy award-winning musician Paquito D’Rivera.

“I can’t even count,” Salinas said. “We did more recording projects last year than we’ve done in the past 10 years.”

‘We’re always there for each other’

This year, MCC is working with the Arsht Center to organize The Big Sing, an event that fills the concert hall with 2,000 children and their families to sing together on March 12. The chorus is raising money to arrange free transportation for participants. In April, MCC will host its first gala where community members can learn more about the organization and how to support it.

The chorus is able to take on even more students throughout the school year. Students who are interested can sign up for the chorus’ rolling auditions on its website. Since the pandemic, auditions have been held virtually, which makes the process easier and more accessible for students to participate, Mendez said.

Dorsa Sarab, a 16-year-old high school student, said joining the chorus eight years ago impacted her life so much she wrote about her MCC journey in her college application essay.

When Dorsa first auditioned for the chorus, she remembered feeling nervous. But when she saw Salinas smile, her nervousness melted away. Since then, she said she has grown as an artist, a team player and as a person.

Dorsa, who does home schooling, lives in Miami with her parents and sister while most of her family members live in Iran. For her, MCC is her “home away from home.”

“We ended up creating this unique community united by our love for singing,” she said. “We became a family, and I will say this, we’re always there for each other no matter what.”

HOW TO HELP

You can donate to Miami Children’s Chorus through its website, miamichildrenschorus.org/support-mcc.

This story was produced with financial support from The Pérez Family Foundation, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners, as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The Miami Herald maintains full editorial control of this work.