The PS22 Chorus, directed by Gregg Breinberg, is a Webby Award-winning public elementary school chorus from PS 22 in Graniteville, Staten Island, New York City. It is composed of 60-70 fifth-graders. PS 22 is the largest elementary school in Staten Island. PS22 Chorus has performed with a multitude of musical acts (e.g. Katy Perry, O.A.R., Carrie Underwood, Portugal. The Man, and Fifth Harmony) and has had celebrated appearances on numerous national and international broadcasts throughout the years (including the widely publicized performance of "Over The Rainbow" that closed the 83rd Academy Awards), after its videos had gained worldwide attention within the popular video-sharing site YouTube. To date, the chorus's YouTube videos have been watched more than 100 million times.

History

Students are assigned to the chorus after an annual auditioning process at the beginning of each school year. The chorus meets twice a week during school hours to practice, and performs throughout the year at school functions, local events, and on special requests. The PS22 chorus was founded in 2000 by the school's music teacher, Gregg Breinberg, who led his 2001-2002 PS 22 Chorus to live TV in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. He started blogging in September 2006 about the Chorus, following requests on a Tori Amos fan page, where he had shared some of his videos. Since then the chorus has become an Internet phenomenon. In 2009 New York magazine called it "the best-known elementary-school chorus on the planet". The director Gregg Breinberg won a Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award in 2017.

Performance highlights

Chorus of 2006/2007 Chorus of 2007/2008 Chorus of 2008/2009 Chorus of 2009/2010 Chorus of 2010/2011 Chorus of 2011/2012 Chorus of 2012/2013 Chorus of 2013/2014 Chorus of 2014/2015 Chorus of 2015/2016 Chorus of 2016/2017 Chorus of 2017/2018 Chorus of 2019

Media coverage

TV appearances Radio appearances Newspaper/Online newspaper articles

Awards