Singing Through Change
- Malibu West
- Apr 25
- 6 min read
Updated: Apr 30
Choir celebrates 15 years of building confidence, community
By Bridgette M. Redman Pasadena Weekly Contributor
For 15 years, one of the Los Angeles Children’s Choir ensembles has ensured that boys who are serious about singing don’t have to give it up as their voices change.
In 2005, Los Angeles Children’s Choir executive director Rachel Fine and artistic director emerita Anne Tomlinson wanted a new option for boys who had made friends, found a sense of belonging, and were developing their music skills. This way, it didn’t strip away the thing they loved when their voices began to crack.
They created an ensemble in Pasadena that became a model for similar choirs nationwide — the Young Men’s Ensemble for boys whose voices were changing. The organization became a place where they learned about the healthy development of their maturing voices in an encouraging environment.
In late March, the Young Men’s Ensemble celebrated its 15th anniversary during the Los Angeles Children’s Choir’s annual gala benefit concert at Zipper Hall at the Colburn School in DTLA.
Its founding conductor, Dr. Steven Kronauer, credited LA Children’s Choir supSinging Through Change Choir celebrates 15 years of building confidence, community porters Mary Blodgett and Antoinette Adams and other parents involved at the time.
“They were absolutely dedicated to seeing that their boys, when their voice changed, would have a place to go and have some guidance,” Kronauer said.
Kronauer could relate to as he lacked that guidance when he was performing as a professional boy soprano starting at age 9. That memory inspired him to throw his hat in the ring for the job despite his initial hesitation about working with teenagers.
“There were only three courses like this in the world at the time, so we were a cutting-edge ensemble,” Kronauer said.
“It was very exciting to see what we could create together for these guys and give them a sense of confidence and a sense of joy to use their voice, whether it be four notes or three octaves that they can access while they’re adjusting into this new time of life.”
Singers in the ensemble develop their voices by studying a wide variety of chorale repertoire. Kronauer said they stay constantly flexible, making sure singers’ voices are never “pushed” or strained.
“When they’ve been a treble, they need to now find the soft tissues that make up the falsetto and then start accessing the voice from the falsetto down and learning what head voice is how to support it,” Kronauer said.
“The other thing that’s important is that they find their middle voice, wherever that might be. Most of them will either have a baritone middle voice or a tenor middle voice or somewhere in between as they’re changing. Once the middle voice settles into the top of the voice, the bottom of the voice opens up like the pages of a book.”
Kronauer said some stay exactly where they are placed, while others might start as tenors and end up as basses. The most important thing, he said, is that they feel confident and learn about vocal health as they express themselves through glorious music.
The ensemble meets on Sunday nights and the next auditions to join will be held in June.
Ilan Orlina is a 15-year-old ninth grader at Burbank High School, who is in his second year with the ensemble and his seventh year with the Los Angeles Children’s Choir.
“I’ve had a great time,” Ilan said. “I’ve made wonderful friends and it really feels good to put a smile on someone’s face with just singing.”
He is grateful for the choir because he has heard stories about how, before the ensemble was established, boys were kicked out of the choir when their voices changed.
“I’m really happy that I get to continue my time in the LA Children’s Choir,” Ilan said.
“It’s really wonderful to work with Dr. K and our pianist and our assistant conductor. I’ve made a lot of really good friends. I’m grateful to YME that I’m able to stay and nurture my newly changed voice so that I can do a lot better than I would have if I didn’t receive that kind of training.”
He cited the many practical techniques that help the choristers find and use their voice well.
“We do very specific warm-ups to get into the higher register and the lower register of the voice and we do those at the start of every rehearsal,” Ilan said.
“Throughout the first year of YME, they’re able to get used to singing with their new voice instead of feeling like they’re straining themselves and eventually they become adjusted to it. It’s important we do those warmups every time. Knowing how to prepare is crucial.”
The ensemble has undertaken numerous international tours during its existence.
While on an Australian tour, Kronauer another young men’s ensemble with similar goals.
“That was exciting for us because at the time there weren’t that many ensembles around,” Kronauer said. “Then we went to an all-boys school in New Zealand. We were told we were going to have a really see SINGING page 19 Ilan Orlina, a ninth grader, front and center, has been singing with the Young Men’s Ensemble for two years. (Jamie Pham/Submitted) WRAPYOUR SCRAPS HEY PASADENA! Scan the QR Code and learn how to recycle food waste and how it's helping to save our planet! WRAPYOUR Yay! We are going to be clean biogas and compost Come on in! 04.24.25 | PASADENA WEEKLY 19 PW YOUTH tough crowd because the kids were all sports kids. During the last concert, one of the guys in our ensemble had tears running down his cheek as he was singing. That school was just riveted.”
He said the high school’s choir had a shot in the arm and they did a workshop to share their experiences.
LA Children’s Choir artistic director Fernando Malvar-Ruiz said, “There are enormous benefits to singing in a choir that can have a profound impact on a child’s life. Beyond honing their music skills, members of LACC’s Young Men’s Ensemble develop deep community connections and gain important social skills.”
Kronauer related a deep community connection and memorable experience, one that may be turned into a documentary. In 2019, they were touring Central Europe. While in Poland, they visited Auschwitz and Birkenau. Kronauer was told an amazing person was coming and asked whether the choir would sing for her.
The woman was Eva Kor, an Auschwitz survivor who, with her twin sister, was subjected to medical experiments by Josef Mengele when she was 10 years old.
“She would come every year and show people about the experiences there and talk about compassion and forgiveness and love and sharing,” Kronauer said. “She came in a golf cart and we started singing a Yiddish piece for her. She immediately got out of the golf cart and surrounded herself with all of the choir and she told us her stories about being liberated by the Russians and what it was like being a Mengele twin.”
She asked the choir if they would sing her favorite song with her: “To Dream the Impossible Dream.” He said they didn’t fully know it, but they worked through it and sang it with her.
They got word the next night that she died.
“The boys rallied,” Kronauer said. “The boys came up to me and said, ‘We have to learn ‘To Dream the Impossible Dream’ and then perform it in Hungary.’ I was so proud of them. I said, we’re right on it. We learned it on the bus and then we did it in the concert hall in Budapest. We made a video of it and sent it to Ava’s son, Alex Kors.”
The two have remained in touch and when Alex Kors wrote a book about his mother called “A Blessing, not a Burden,” he talked about her meeting the Young Men’s Ensemble.
“It’s really incredible when you think about what these young men learned, what they experienced and how they rallied together to do great things,” Kronauer said.
As their conductor, Kronauer said he’s also taken great joy in seeing graduates continue their music careers. One graduate became an opera major at Oberlin. Others are making movies. Some went to Dartmouth and joined their Tiger Tones and others went to Kronauer’s alma mater, the University of Michigan, where they joined the Men’s Glee Club.
“They’re all just incredible young guys that have a future ahead of them,” Kronauer said.
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