{"id":690159,"date":"2026-03-29T12:45:24","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T12:45:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/690159\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T12:45:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T12:45:24","slug":"jacksonville-childrens-chorus-finds-its-home-key-downtown-as-it-strikes-a-chord-worldwide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/690159\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacksonville Children\u2019s Chorus finds its \u2018home key\u2019 downtown as it strikes a chord worldwide"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.<\/strong> \u2013 Downtown Jacksonville is home to City Hall, the sports complex and various business headquarters and nonprofits.<\/p>\n

For the past three years, it\u2019s also been home to the Jacksonville Children\u2019s Chorus, which has its very own space on North Main Street, just a few blocks from the Jacksonville Center for the Performing Arts.<\/p>\n

Founded more than 30 years ago by Jacksonville University\u2019s legendary president, Dr. Frances Kinne, the JCC had only 16 voices in its first year. <\/p>\n

Now, it serves over a thousand singers each year through its programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe provide high-quality choral music education to children of diverse backgrounds. That is the official mission. But we really are building a world-class children\u2019s chorus for the city of Jacksonville. And I think we\u2019ve arrived,\u201d said president and artistic director Darren Dailey, who took the reins of the organization 20 years ago.<\/p>\n

Dailey, who came to Jacksonville in 2006, said the JCC has been invited to sing in Italy, Turkey, Greece, France, and even performed for the Pope.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think because we travel internationally, we\u2019re representing the city very, very well,\u201d Dailey said. \u201cI want the city of Jacksonville to be known — like Vienna is known for the Vienna Choir Boys — that Jacksonville is known as a world-class children\u2019s chorus, and this is one of the things you experience when you come to the city of Jacksonville.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s one reason Dailey said having JCC\u2019s home in the heart of the city is key.<\/p>\n

\u201cDowntown is everybody\u2019s neighborhood,\u201d Dailey said.<\/p>\n

Beyond building a world-class, internationally recognized chorus, Dailey remains dedicated to leading, teaching and training the next generation of singers.<\/p>\n

Singers like Elizabeth Jones and Maura DeFullers.<\/p>\n

Jones said the chorus has become like family over the years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started out in the training choir when I was younger, and\u2026 I\u2019ve seen myself grow,\u201d Jones said. \u201cI was really shy and kind of quiet. And being able to grow with so many people who share my interest of music has just helped me come out of my shell.\u201d<\/p>\n

DeFullers said training in music has also helped with other schoolwork.<\/p>\n

\u201cI learned how to do fractions because of music and because of different time signatures and how to read music and just the different things like that, because you know I was going through that when I first started in the choir and that\u2019s kind of some of the basics that you work on is just how to write music,\u201d DeFullers said. \u201cSo it really helped me in school actually, surprisingly to some people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Among the key supporters of the Jacksonville Children\u2019s Chorus are VyStar, The Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville, the Jaguars, the Jax Chamber, the city of Jacksonville, and the Community Foundation of Jacksonville.<\/p>\n

To learn more about the JCC or how your student could join, go to https:\/\/www.jaxchildrenschorus.org\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Downtown Jacksonville is home to City Hall, the sports complex and various business headquarters and…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":690160,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5136],"tags":[57902,5229,718,3188,723,7310,289255,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-690159","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-4-your-neighborhood","9":"tag-america","10":"tag-community","11":"tag-fl","12":"tag-florida","13":"tag-jacksonville","14":"tag-jacksonville-childrens-chorus","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-united-states-of-america","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116312534319970581","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=690159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/690160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=690159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=690159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=690159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}