Bel Canto Children’s Chorus has moved its operational center to the Lehigh Valley with administrative, operational and artistic support provided by The Bach Choir of Bethlehem.

Bel Canto will be renamed Bel Canto Children’s Chorus of The Bach Choir of Bethlehem.

Bel Canto’s administrative offices are now located with The Bach Choir at Heckewelder House, Bethlehem. Rehearsals move to the Lehigh Valley in summer 2016.

Over the past few years, Bel Canto has enjoyed a growing relationship with The Bach Choir. Bel Canto singers have had the opportunity to:

Perform a major work with The Bach Choir and Bach Festival Orchestra (Britten’s “Saint Nicolas”) under the direction of Greg Funfgeld, Bach Choir artistic director and conductor;

Record for an internationally-released CD (“A Child’s Christmas in Bethlehem,” produced by The Bach Choir of Bethlehem);

Sing Bach with an elite group of young musicians from the Lehigh Valley in preparation for The Bach Choir’s 2016 Family Concert Youth Choirs Festival, Feb. 28, Zoellner Arts Center, and

Perform with The Bach Choir as Choral Scholars in their senior year of high school.

The Bel Canto Children’s Chorus was founded in 1993 by artistic director Joy Hirokawa. The mission of the organization is to provide an educational and artistic musical experience for children of diverse ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds and nurture a sense of accomplishment and community through the outstanding performance of diverse choral repertoire.

Hirokawa is coordinator of Music Education at Moravian College. The Bel Canto Children’s Chorus has won The American Prize in the Children’s Chorus category and has toured internationally.

This season, in addition to The Bach Choir’s Youth Choirs Festival, Bel Canto performs with the Allentown Symphony and the Allentown Band. Bel Canto will give the Lehigh Valley premiere of “Anne Frank: A Living Voice” by Linda Tutas Huagen at its Spring Concert. Bel Canto includes 50 singers in grades 2-12.

The Bach Choir has been considering expanding its acclaimed educational outreach program, which includes its Family Concert, Bach Chaconne Project, Bach at Noon, and Bach to School, which has reached more than 110,000 students in local school systems since its inception. The Bach Choir’s desire was to do more to train the next generation of choral singers.

Bel Canto was considering a move from the Quakertown area to the Lehigh Valley in fall 2016. Discussions between the boards and staff of the two organizations, led by Bach Choir president Hal Black and Bel Canto president Jenn O’Donnell, brought about the alliance.

Bridget George, Bach Choir executive director said, “It seemed there was an extraordinarily fortuitous synchronicity of purpose. Joy Hirokawa was looking for shared resources and increased visibility leading to increased opportunities to grow the membership and diversity of The Bel Canto Children’s Chorus. Both organizations were looking for new ways to live the mission of life-long involvement in the choral art.”

The alliance of the two organizations was officially launched Jan. 1. Kim Sehn, the new administrator of Bel Canto, is now housed at The Bach Choir offices. Funfgeld and Hirokawa have communicated with the singers of The Bach Choir and the parents and choristers of Bel Canto about the alliance and both artistic directors said they are pleased with the response and excited about programming possibilities.

Bel Canto is accepting new singers to its Intermediate level ensembles for children in grades 2 - 6 that meet Monday evenings at Nativity Lutheran Church, 4004 Tilghman St., Allentown, and Perkiomenville Mennonite Church, 1836 Gravel Pike, Perkiomenville. Interested singers are invited to attend an open rehearsal Jan. 25. Call Kim Sehn, choir administrator at 215-541-4242 to reserve a spot. Auditions for all levels of the choir will take place in May.