“After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.” -Aldous Huxley
Wilmington Voices has been invited to perform at the
North Carolina American Choral Directors Association Conference
This prestigious invitation is a wonderful recognition of our artistic excellence and an exciting milestone for our young organization.
When: October 10
Where: First Baptist Church in Asheville, North Carolina!
This opportunity would not be possible without the generosity and encouragement of you, our donors. Your support allows us to pursue musical excellence, represent our community on a statewide stage, and continue sharing meaningful choral experiences with audiences across North Carolina.
Representing Wilmington at the state level comes with significant expenses, and the total cost of this opportunity is approximately $14,000.
If you would like to help make this performance possible, we warmly welcome your tax-deductible donation.
Your generosity enables us to share exceptional choral artistry while continuing to uphold the highest musical standards we work so diligently to achieve
click to Donate Today!
Who We Are
In January of 2022, following the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Artistic Director Angela Burns created Wilmington Voices to rebuild a sense of community and connection across diverse groups of people in New Hanover County and the surrounding areas. Wilmington Voices presents choral music of the highest caliber to the communities of Eastern North Carolina and seeks to ensure that people from all walks of life have free access to high quality music and outreach programming. This ensemble is the first and only of its kind within 160 miles of its location.
The powerful and collaborative art of choral singing is valuable to all communities; it contributes to our spiritual and cultural life while nourishing our relationships with others. Wilmington Voices encourages new talent from all walks of life to audition for our ensemble – we recognize the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and we proudly welcome BIPOC, LGBTQ+ and minority performers.
Our Mission
Our mission is to enrich lives and engage audiences with creativity and abiding passion for music through choral repertoire and choral expression. We are a collaborative ensemble led by our love of diverse music. We live our core values while demonstrating artistic and organizational excellence and championing a wide variety of musical styles. Our legacy is one of distinguished work and lasting impact. Like our name suggests, Wilmington Voices is a celebration of choral excellence in eastern North Carolina.
Stay Connected
Interested in hiring singers from Wilmington Voices? If so, please contact Wilmington Voices Artistic Director, Angela Burns at angela@wilmingtonvoices.com
Our Priorities
Expanding Opportunities for Professional Musicians
Professional choral music is a small, competitive field. There are far fewer full-time positions than there are highly trained singers. A professional choral singer typically invests 10–15 years of training and may spend tens of thousands to over $200,000 on formal education before scholarships. One of our key priorities is to expand opportunities for these professional choral singers.
Most choral singers build careers by combining ensemble performance with teaching, church music, opera chorus work, recording sessions, and freelance engagements. Many accomplished choral singers describe their career as deeply rewarding artistically, but financially they rely on multiple income streams rather than a single employer. Wilmington Voices helps singers build their careers by hosting a series of annual concerts that provide paid rehearsal and performance time to talented musicians from the North Carolina region.
Preserving the Legacy of Choral Music
Choral music is one of humanity's oldest and most enduring forms of artistic expression. Long before orchestras, opera, or written musical notation, people sang together in groups—to worship, celebrate, mourn, tell stories, and strengthen community. Across cultures, singing in unison or in harmony has served not only as entertainment but as a way of expressing shared identity and transmitting values.
Today, choral singing remains a communal and expressive art, connecting people across cultures and generations. Choral music’s enduring appeal lies in its ability to combine technical mastery, emotional depth, and communal experience, making it one of the most versatile and historically rich musical genres. Wilmington Voices was the first professional choir to bring choral music to the greater Wilmington, North Carolina community. .
Education and Outreach to Diverse Populations
Although choral music has thrived for centuries, it has not always been accessible to underserved communities. One of our priorities it to bring this rich cultural experience to diverse populations who have not had the opportunity to hear a live professional choir. Our programs are free and open to diverse populations across New Hanover County. We also collaborate with other organizations to bring special programming to the elderly and local youth.
Wilmington Voices provides educational outreach to local high school students who show interest in music. Through our growing outreach programs, we work with students in masterclasses and workshop environments, demonstrating musical approach, answering questions about furthering their education in music, and discussing the positive impacts that music integration can have on their overall success and well-being, no matter what path they take in life. We also invite local school choirs to perform with Wilmington Voices in concert.
These outreach activities benefit one’s overall growth as they become thriving members of the arts community. It is our hope that our programming encourages empathy while enhancing language development, discipline, focus, and patience in those who we mentor while creating a unified community of learners. Through our organization’s work, all people have the opportunity to learn, and to hear pristine choral music without the barriers of income, race, gender, or status.
“The idea of our endeavor is to find a group of soloists so gifted and artful who, as solo artists, made the clear conscious choice to say, I want to be part of this vocal orchestra; I want to be part of this chamber music group, and I want to explore in terms of vocal color; I want to use my instrument to explore with other human beings.”
— Craig Hella Johnson
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