The Newark Boys Chorus is a boys' choir based in Newark, New Jersey. The choir was founded as the New Jersey Symphony Boys Choir in 1966. In 1969, the choir led to the establishment of the Newark Boys Chorus School. The group tours regularly in the United States and abroad.
The chorus was formed with the New Jersey Symphony who needed “angels’ voices” for the “Dance of the Snowflakes” in their production of Tchaikowsky’s “The Nutcracker”. It was James R. McCarthy who undertook the task and found 66 “angels” for use in the production. On December 26, 1966, the chorus finally joined the New Jersey Symphony and the Garden State Ballet in a complete production of the “Nutcracker”.
The chorus’s debut performance at Newark Symphony Hall was so successful and received such critical acclaim, that additional performances were demanded, which ultimately led to the opening of the Newark Boys Choir School on September 15, 1969. In September 1972, the school adopted the name Newark Boys Choir, which later became the Newark Boys Chorus School.
Known as Newark’s “Musical Ambassadors”, the chorus has been heard throughout the world with a diversified repertoire that includes traditional classical music, spirituals, folk music, and jazz. Since its founding the boys choir has toured nationally and internationally including to such countries as Japan, Latvia, Finland, France, Switzerland, the Caribbean, Russia, Australia, Spain and Portugal. The Newark Boys Chorus has performed in prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall,Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,Lincoln Center, and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. The chorus is also involved in many boychoir festivals across the east coast including The Georgia Boy Choir Festival, the Maryland State Boychoir Festival, and Keystone State Boy choir's B1K (Boy choir of One-thousand), a boychoir festival which consist of one thousand male singers, most of whom are a part of boy choirs throughout the United States.