Kids & Family

Hear Them Sing: Usdan Co-founds Wyandanch Youth Chorus

A partnership of Usdan Center and the Family Life Center/Wyandanch Youth Center, the chorus is sponsored by Russell Albanese, a new member of Usdan Center's Leadership Council.

A new 50-member youth chorus is now part of Long Island’s cultural arts scene.

The Wyandanch Youth Center Chorus is a children’s ensemble created this year by Wheatley Heights-based Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts. The program is part of Usdan’s initiative to support arts education on Long Island and in the boroughs.

Partnering with Usdan Center is the Family Life Center/Wyandanch Youth Center. They established the Wyandanch Youth Center Chorus to provide children with a positive choral experience. 

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Founded in January, the chorus rehearses twice a week. Its first concert was held on June 10 at the Wyandanch Family Life Center where the singers, ranging from first to fifth graders, performed classical, Broadway, folk and contemporary pop music. Composers included Rodgers and Hammerstein, Woody Guthrie, Bobby McFerrin and Pharrell Williams. 

Directed by Melody Hall, the assistant teacher for Usdan’s Junior Chorus, the chorus’ accompanying pianist at the June concert was Andres Maldonado.

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The program is sponsored by Russell Albanese, chairman of the Garden City-based Albanese Organization, and a new member of Usdan Center’s Leadership Council. The Albanese Organization is the master developer of Wyandanch Village, a 40-acre, $500 million sustainable, mixed income, transit oriented community.

Russell Albanese has also underwritten scholarships for selected chorus members to study music at Usdan during the 2014 summer season.

“We are enormously excited by this initiative which is enabling us to bring the arts into the lives of a new community of children,” said Dale Lewis, Usdan’s executive director. “We are grateful to Mr. Albanese for making it possible.”

Usdan Center has an established tradition of enriching children's lives with the arts. Since opening in 1968, Usdan has introduced the arts to more than 60,000 children in the tri-state area. Alumni include Natalie Portman and Mariah Carey.

The center's history seems a natural fit with the Wyandanch Family Life Center, focuses on the social and educational development of children, and on providing a safe place for children to learn and play. The organization also offers a variety of sports and social activities for children and their families.


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