Georgia Youth Choir, under the direction of Alyssa Gangarosa, MME, is the preeminent youth choir in Georgia, providing the highest excellence in vocal instruction and unique professional performance opportunities. In recent years, Georgia Youth Choir has been the exclusive choir for all performances of the Atlanta Ballet's Nutcracker, featured in the Snow Scene, at the Fabulous Fox Theatre, Atlanta, Georgia. Georgia Youth Choir has performed in two major motion pictures, with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, the Atlanta Hawks, the Harlem Globetrotters, and other well-known and prominent organizations.
In June 2017, Georgia Youth Choir filmed a key scene in a major motion picture, featuring top-tier motion picture artists, in release in movie theaters nationwide November 2017.
In March 2015, Georgia Youth Choir filmed the closing scene, airing August 2015, in Season II Premiere for the highly acclaimed Starz TV Network show "Survivor's Remorse", produced by LeBron James, created by Mike O'Malley, and directed by Peter Segal.
Georgia Youth Choir is currently negotiating to be in a prominent Opera production in October 2017.
The Choir has recently completed a dynamic modern musical piece with an Atlanta artist to be widely released later this year (2017).
Georgia Youth Choir rehearses weekly tracking the traditional academic calendar, late August through late April. There are summer camp and travel opportunities to enhance the musical experience and individual development.
Artistic Director
Alyssa Gangarosa, MME has served as the Artistic Director of the Georgia Youth Choir since co-founding it in 2007, and is considered one of the top children's choir directors in the country. Ms. Gangarosa has been a Music Teacher at Trinity School in Atlanta for ten years, and as Music Specialist at Kemp Elementary School in Cobb County for five years. Prior to these positions, she served as Assistant Director of both the Indianapolis Children’s Choir, under the direction of the internationally renowned Henry Leck, and the Columbus Indiana Children’s Choir with Ruth Dwyer. She served as a public school music educator in Georgia and Indiana for a total of 27 years. Ms. Gangarosa is a frequent guest conductor/clinician for honor choirs, choral festivals and workshops across the country. Her service includes conducting the Metroplex Children’s Choir in Texas, Midwest Kodály Music Educators of America Middle School Honor Choir, and South Washington and Oregon Kodály Educators Honor Choir Festival. She also served as choral director for the annual Junior Academy of Music at the University of Michigan-Flint for several years. Ms. Gangarosa is a member of the American Choral Directors Association, Music Educators National Conference, and the Organization of American Kodály Educators (OAKE). Ms. Gangarosa has reviewed choral literature for OAKE’s national publication, The Envoy. She is past President of the Indiana Kodály Educators and a founding Board member of the newly formed Kodály Educators of Georgia. Ms. Gangarosa holds degrees of Bachelor of Music Education from Augusta State University, and Master of Music in Education from the prestigious program at Florida State University. She is an inductee into the Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society via Florida State University. She is a certified Kodály instructor, receiving her training at Indiana University under Dr. Jean Sinor.
General Manager
Paul Burton co-founded Georgia Youth Choir in 2007 with Alyssa Gangarosa due to his background in high choral music as a youth and recognition of the extraordinary abilities of Alyssa Gangarosa with children's chorus. The young Paul sang under the direction of the internationally renowned children's choral director and organist Fr. David Windsor, CM, in Los Angeles, through his years of high school. Mr. Burton has a Bachelors of Science in Business Finance from San Diego State University and attended University of the Pacfic McGeorge School of Law. Mr. Burton was a Senior Financial Analyst serving the financial, accounting, valuation and legal community early in his career. An interest in real estate drew him into commercial real estate management and leasing of office and retail buildings, and industrial properties in the Los Angeles and Atlanta markets for the prominent Cushman & Wakefield and CBRE. Mr. Burton's primary clients were were large banks, institutional investors, and international private equity entities. This experience led him into private residential and land investing, as well as currently serving the renowned research-driven Emory University as Senior Operations Manager for the last sixteen years. Paul is a proud husband, and father of children Eva, 9, and Eli, 6. Mr. Burton's wide background in business and desire to continue the culture of children's high choral music suits him well to serve in the management of Georgia Youth Choir, as well as continue the original vision of the choir far into the future.
