Conductor · Composer · Author · Artist
Find your voice with others.
Now
Coming in 2027: La Sopa de Isabel
A picture book by Francisco J. Núñez, illustrated by Fernanda Frick (GIA Publications). Little Sebastian won’t eat his mother’s potato soup, until his Abuela sings him his favorite song. A story about family, and the love that comes with it.
Now available from Walton Music: La Sopa de Isabel (choral octavo)
Francisco’s choral piece La Sopa de Isabel is now published as a choral octavo, available exclusively from Walton Music.
Coming soon: Francisco Finds His Gift
A nonfiction picture book about a boy discovering the piano, illustrated by Eric Velasquez (Holiday House).
His story on Humans of New York
The five-part story that started it all. Read the story
Emmy®-Winning Holiday Special
Topsy Turvy New York, led by Francisco J. Núñez and Creative Director Elizabeth Núñez, won the 66th Annual New York Emmy® Award. Set to an original story by James Patterson, co-written by Susan DiLallo and Richard DiLallo, the feature-length special follows the young singers of YPC across New York City as they emerge from the pandemic, filling the air with holiday music from around the world.
YPC National Summer Intensive 2027
Each summer, Francisco and the YPC team bring choral conductors, educators and young singers together in New York City for masterclasses, hands-on workshops and performances. 2027 dates coming soon.
Learn more at ypcnational.org
Francisco J. Núñez is a Dominican-American conductor, composer, educator and author. Everything he does comes through music, and all of it asks one question: Who do we become when we truly listen to each other?
Founder and Artistic Director, Young People’s Chorus of New York City
Founder and Artistic Director, YPC National
Music Director, University Glee Club of New York City
Principal Conductor, American Young Voices
Composer, published by Boosey & Hawkes, Hal Leonard and Walton Music
2011 MacArthur Fellow
Musical America’s 2018 Educator of the Year
New York Emmy® Award, Topsy Turvy New York (2023), Artistic Director
New York Emmy®-winning Telemundo 47 holiday piece (2022), featuring his arrangement of Silent Night / Noche de Paz and his story
YPC under his direction featured on the Grammy®-nominated recording of Julia Wolfe’s Fire in My Mouth with the New York Philharmonic (two nominations)
2026 Spirit of Steinhardt Visionary Award, NYU Steinhardt
“The mantle that once belonged to the deans of ‘golden era’ choral music conductors has been passed, and it rests with Francisco Núñez.”
“YPC [who Francisco conducts] sang [Four Heartfelt Anthems] with precision and artistry at the highest level. Every marking was observed. They sang so incredibly, it was inhuman…Francisco Núñez is the Horowitz of the choral world.”
Conductor
Francisco J. Núñez has been artistic director of the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award-winning Young People’s Chorus of New York City since he founded the multicultural chorus in 1988. He also conducts the University Glee Club of New York City, the fifth conductor of the all-men’s choir since it was established in 1894 and from 2003 to 2010 was the director of choral activities at New York University. He is sought after as a guest conductor by professional orchestras, chamber ensembles, and choirs across North America, South America, Europe, Asia and New Zealand. Among them, the New York Pops, Manhattan Philharmonic, Newfoundland Symphony, the Geneva Chamber Orchestra, and the Chamber Orchestra of San Antonio, as well as a master teacher and advisor for choral workshops, demonstrations, and festivals.
Composer
Francisco wrote his first choral work, Misa Pequeña, at 15. Today he composes and arranges for choirs, orchestras and solo instruments, in styles from classical to pop. His music is published by Boosey & Hawkes, Hal Leonard and Walton Music. In 2011, The Coca-Cola Company named him music director of its 125th anniversary year and commissioned his new arrangement of its famous jingle. His newest octavos are published by Walton Music; many titles are available in print and digital from Hal Leonard; and printable scores and exclusive works are in his Store.
Author & Artist
Beyond the podium, Francisco writes, curates and makes films. His immersive installation AloneTogether ran at High Line Nine in Chelsea, was featured on CBS2 New York, and traveled to Napa with Festival Napa Valley. His sound installation TogetherAgain, on young people and mental health, premiered in New York for a one-month run. His documentary This Time Round, which he produced and co-directed, has won awards from Seoul to Rome to Toronto. He has contributed chapters to Renée Fleming’s Music and Mind, The Cambridge Companion to Choral Music and Brothers, Sing On!, and wrote the foreword to Barbara Tagg’s Before the Singing.
Francisco is invited to speak around the world, including at Chorus America, Yale University, the Conservatory of Music in Beijing, the Tokyo College of Music and the Rhodes World Public Forum, on how music teaches us to listen to each other.
He created the Núñez Initiative after receiving his MacArthur Fellowship, to bring young people from across New York City and across the country together through the power of music.
“Francisco J. Núñez, who directs the Young People’s Chorus of New York City, has been raising the bar [for children’s choruses] over the last decade by commissioning a steady stream of works from composers who usually write for adults and weaving them into programs that include choral classics, spirituals, theater songs and pop arrangements.”
