Each season, the Pensacola Children’s Chorus presents a concert that shows off its members’ vocal prowess in performing a variety of choral music. This year’s concert is titled “One World, Many Voices,” and will feature all of the organization’s more than 300 singers, ages 8-18, as they take the audience on a musical journey around the globe.

Oct. 10, 2014 - 6:55 - Alicia Acuna profiles the director of the Young People's Chorus of New York City

7. Artists in the making: youth and children's choirs can be as good as professionals, given inspiring leadership and top-quality music, claims Francisco J. Núñez.

Much has been made in the contemporary music world of the recent push toward so-called “alt-classical” – creative approaches to showcase, perform, and commission new works of music that utilize new instrumentation, new venues, and new composers.

Francisco Núñez wears his MacArthur Award lightly. The 46-year-old composer-conductor who founded the Young People's Chorus of New York City—a group that embodies both the pinnacle of musical achievement and its ability to foster social renewal—proudly displays the gifts that friends showered on him when the "genius" grant was announced: a Rubik's Cube and the games Cranium and Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?

NUEVA YORK, (AP).-  Desde que Francisco J. Núñez fundó el Coro de Jóvenes de la Ciudad de Nueva York en 1988, con el fin de combatir la pobreza uniendo a personas de distintos estratos sociales, nacionalidades y religiones, el compositor y director artístico nacido en esta ciudad soñó con llevar su programa a la República Dominicana de sus padres.

Durante más de dos décadas, Francisco Núñez ha estado inspirando a jóvenes en la ciudad de Nueva York a soñar en grande a través de la música.