PS22 Chorus


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 on Staten Island. PS22 Chorus has performed with a multitude of musical acts and has had celebrated appearances on numerous national and international broadcasts throughout the years, 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
  • The chorus performs for singer-songwriter Tori Amos at the Sony Atrium in New York City.
  • Celebrity gossip blogger Perez Hilton starts blogging about the PS22 chorus and becomes an influential supporter.
Chorus of 2007/2008
  • Neil Finn, lead singer of the New Zealand band Crowded House invites the chorus to sing at the band's sold-out concert in New York.
  • Members of the PS22 chorus of 2007/2008 are featured in several videos of the 2009 television series The Electric Company
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
  • American rock band Portugal. The Man visits the chorus performing "Feel It Still" with them
Chorus of 2017/2018
  • The chorus joins in Albin Lee Meldau singing "Same Boat" and "Blue Christmas".
  • The chorus performs "The First Noel" with Leslie Odom Jr. for the Christmas season
  • The chorus performs "Dreams" in memory of Dolores O'Riordan from The Cranberries
  • They make a promotional theme song for the live trivia game app HQ
  • The chorus performs "Younger" with A Great Big World
  • The chorus performs "Paradise is Waiting" with the musical project St. Lucia, based in Brooklyn
Chorus of 2019

Media coverage

TV appearancesABC News Nightline Good Day New York MTV News with Sway Calloway NBC Nightly News Hollywood 411 The Bonnie Hunt ShowAnderson Cooper 360°
Radio appearancesAll Things Considered
Newspaper/Online newspaper articles'The New York TimesNew York Magazine

Awards