The mission of SOAR! Youth and Adult Choir is to offer a unique opportunity for at-risk children to become involved in a safe community of mentoring adult performers, focusing on appreciation of the arts with an emphasis on developing skills necessary for success in life.

SOAR! Youth and Adult Choir was founded by Dr. Vicki Burrichter in 2011. With a long history of marrying social justice issues with artistic presentations (Sing for the Cure with the Colorado Symphony and 200 singers, We Are Voices for genocide awareness at DU) as well as several decades of teaching in private and academic settings, in the spring of 2011 Dr. Vicki began working one-on-one with foster kids, teaching them voice and poetry. She realized the children needed a community of adult choral musician mentors to give them more structure and support. She integrated some foster and adopted children into her summer choir. The concerts were so successful, and audiences deeply touched, that she made that configuration into what is now SOAR! Youth and Adult Choir.

Since the inception of SOAR!, there have been many opportunities for the choir to perform. In November of 2011, they performed for The Adoption Exchange’s annual black-tie event at the Seawell Ballroom at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. They were also featured on Channel 4 News in a special segment on the choir. In January of 2012 they recorded an anti-bullying campaign song entitled “Courage Said I Can” for two-time Emmy Award winning composer Denise Gentilini.

The video below features a special  piece written by our accompanist, Tami Meise specifically for this choir.