Congressional Chorus, a multi-generational family of choruses reflecting the diversity of our nation’s capital, champions American music. Our mission is to inspire people to embrace our common humanity through choral music. We promote the choral arts through artistic excellence, innovative performances and active community engagement; and provide affordable music education and performance opportunities to aspiring singers of all ages and backgrounds.

Since our founding in 1987 by Congressional staff who wanted to share their love of singing by reaching out to the local Capitol Hill community, the Congressional Chorus has grown into an organization performing a full season of concerts and serving members and audiences from throughout the metropolitan area. From an original membership of 13, today’s family of choruses includes an 80-member auditioned adult chorus, an a cappella chamber ensemble, the NorthEast Senior Singers (NESS)—a free musical engagement chorus for senior citizens—and the American Youth Chorus.

The Chorus promotes the expansion of American choral music by commissioning new works from a wide array of American composers, and by presenting multi-disciplinary concerts involving dance, poetry and spoken word artists that appeal to an audience of a wide range of ages and interests.  Although we perform American music of many genres and time periods, our focus is on promoting new American choral works from the 21st century.

In addition to our annual public performances, our choruses have performed at The White House, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Harman Center for the Arts, Atlas Performing Arts Center, the Library of Congress, National Building Museum, National Archives, Washington Nationals’ Ballpark, the U.S. Department of State, and the U.S. Capitol, including two Presidential inaugurations.