(NEW PROVIDENCE, NJ) -- The New Jersey Youth Chorus (NJYC), a program of Wharton Arts, will have 30 choristers from its premier ensembles, Coriste directed by Trish Joyce and Camerata directed by Dan Malloy, tour Germany, Belgium, and The Netherlands, from June 27 to July 6, 2025.
The tour includes performances in historic and iconic venues, including Bonn Cathedral, a mid-day prayer service at Cologne Cathedral, the Last Post Ceremony at the Menin Gate in Ypres (a moving World War I tribute), Bruges Cathedral, and the Westerkerk in Amsterdam. Two of the concerts will feature collaborative performances with local choirs, offering a rich opportunity for cultural exchange through music.
In addition to their performances, the high school choristers will immerse themselves in the culture and history of the region with visits to the Beethoven Haus, Cologne Chocolate Museum, the European Parliament in Belgium, Bruges’ Volkskundemuseum (Folk Museum), St. Bavo Church—including a demonstration on the historic Christian Müller organ played by Mendelssohn, Handel, and Mozart—walking tours, a chocolate demonstration and tasting, a windmill visit, clog-making demonstration, and scenic boat rides.
“This tour is a tremendous opportunity for our singers to experience Europe’s rich cultural history while sharing their music in some of the world’s most inspiring spaces,” said Trish Joyce, Founder and Director of NJYC. “We are thrilled to introduce our choristers to the people and places that have shaped centuries of music, and to engage in meaningful musical exchanges with our European hosts.”
The NJYC ensembles will perform a diverse repertoire spanning from early choral works by Giuseppe Pitoni and Lodovico Viadana to contemporary pieces by Abbie Betinis, Elaine Hagenberg, Matti Hyökki, Stephen Leek, and Adam Podd, among others.
Auditions for the NJYC 2025-26 season are still open. In addition to the two touring high school ensembles, Primo Coro for boys and girls in grades 3–5; Sola Voce for girls in grades 6–8; and Cor Amici, a new ensemble for boys in grades 6–8, are accepting applicants. To schedule an audition and learn more about NJYC’s programs, visit NJYC.org.
The mission of Wharton Arts is to offer accessible, high quality performing arts education that sparks personal growth and builds inclusive communities. Wharton Arts’ vision is for a transformative performing arts education in an inclusive community to be accessible for everyone.
Wharton Arts is New Jersey’s largest independent non-profit community performing arts education center serving nearly 2,000 students through a range of classes and ensembles. The 5 ensembles of the New Jersey Youth Chorus, an auditioned choral ensemble program for students in grades 3–12, encourage a love and appreciation of choral music while nurturing personal growth and creative development. The 15 ensembles of the New Jersey Youth Symphony, which serve over 500 students in grades 3–12 by audition, inspire young people to achieve musical excellence through high-level ensemble training and performance opportunities. Based in Paterson, the Paterson Music Project is an El Sistema-inspired program of Wharton Arts that uses music education as a vehicle for social action by empowering and inspiring young people to achieve their full potential through the community experience of ensemble learning and playing.
From Pathways classes for young children to Lifelong Learning programs for adults, the Wharton Performing Arts School has a robust musical theater and drama program and offers both private and group classes for instruments and voice for all ages and all abilities. With the belief in the positive and unifying influence of music and that performing arts education should be accessible to all people regardless of their ability to pay, Wharton Arts offers need-based scholarships.
Wharton Arts is located in Berkeley Heights, New Providence, and Paterson, NJ and reaches students from 12 counties. All of Wharton Arts’ extraordinary teaching artists, faculty members, and conductors hold degrees in their teaching specialty and have been vetted and trained to enable our students to achieve their personal best.
