About NYC

Why join the Northfield Youth Choirs?
The NYC is a great place to sing–and a great place to grow up. Since 1986, hundreds of young people have found their voices–and lifelong friends–by singing with these extraordinary choirs.

Singers in grades 2 through 12 enjoy weekly rehearsals with nationally renowned directors and music educators, twice yearly retreats, area performances and tours appropriate to their ages and developing voices. Poco: A Music Experience is a non-performing six week workshop available for singers in grades K-1.

The NYC organization’s philosophy can be summed up by the words of a Czech composer: “Music is not only a gift, but also a service; not only a work, but also a struggle; not only a mission, but also a message.”

The NYC believes that the poet Rabelais had it right too: “A child is a fire to be lit, not a vase to be filled.” Singers benefit for the rest of their lives from the skills and the discipline they acquire in the NYC–and from the fires kindled within them there.

Our History

Founded by Cora Scholz and Judy Bond in 1986, the Northfield Youth Choirs are 24 years old and going strong!

Elizabeth Shepley has led the NYC as Artistic Director since 2005. The organization presently consists of five choirs and summer programming that serve over 200 children from grades K-12.

Highlights for the group include performing on Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion radio show, premiering a work at the Northfield Sesquicentennial Governors’ Ball and Northfield Arts Guild’s 50th Anniversary Beaux Arts Ball, and opening the legislative session in the state house chamber.  They have performed in prestigious venues such as Rockefeller Chapel and the Basilica of Saint Mary in Minneapolis, and annually at a Minnesota Twins game.