North Coast Singers Past, Present & Future: A Conversation with Sally and Michelle

Tell us about how North Coast Singers came to be.

SALLY NCS was born out of the loss of funding for music in local schools. In 1993, a youth leader from San Dieguito United Methodist Church asked if I’d like to start a community youth chorus to help fill the gap left from budget cuts. The church offered rehearsal and performance space. At the time, I was a volunteer parent leading a before-school chorus at my children’s elementary school in Leucadia. While I hadn’t intended to make a career of children’s choral music, it grew into just that, a rich and rewarding career, rooted in inspiring a lifelong love of music to youth. Over the years, the program grew from one choir of elementary-age children to multiple ensembles focused on music literacy and performance, both locally and, later, included national and international performance tours.

What was most important to you when forming the organization?

SALLY Choral music has mesmerized me since I discovered it in middle school: human voices weaving melodies together, sensitive poetry set by accomplished composers. I was hooked. I sensed a power in children’s voices. Audiences are touched in a deep, soulful way. It seemed to me those young voices reached right into a listener’s heart, reminding them of the simple yet profound joys of life.

In the 1990s, when attending choral conferences, I discovered other young (mostly female) conductors heading community children’s choruses. We generated a movement in the choral art. We were often the first to introduce music from around the world to our choirs. It was new for the best composers of the day to write specifically for a children’s chorus. Suddenly, a wealth of music was available for children. The movement became self-sustaining, leading to a surge of genuinely sophisticated global music written specifically for children’s choirs.

What was your most memorable NCS performance?

SALLY There have been many. But a real thrill was commissioning and premiering Mice and Beans: The Opera. We based our one-act opera on a picture book called Mice and Beans by local Leucadia author and friend, Pam Muñoz Ryan. Cary Ratcliff, a composer from Rochester, New York, wrote the one-act opera. The performances were at the Birch North Park Theatre, exposing the kids to makeup, costumes, props and sets. They took on the roles of children at times, and mice at other moments, singing all the while. The opera was accompanied by a professional chamber orchestra, led by David Chase and starred local opera singer, Ann Chase, who created the role of Rosa Maria, the grandmother in the story. We performed two sold-out shows.

MICHELLE I was in middle school. It was my very first choir tour and my first intergenerational choir festival at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City; this beautiful, huge cathedral. NCS performed with Sally’s mentor, Alice Parker, and Melodious Accord, Alice’s professional chorus, in honor of Martin Luther King’s birthday. Alice was very special to Sally and a trailblazing woman in choral music education. I remember the way our voices echoed around the cathedral and hearing the power in the adult voices, which is something I had never experienced before. It got me hooked.

Tell me about your love of festivals.

SALLY I love the community of choral music. For our 20th anniversary, we brought together over 200 children representing choirs from San Diego, Los Angeles, the Central Coast and the Bay Area at UC San Diego’s Mandeville Auditorium. We commissioned a song by Caldwell and Ivory, If Wishes Had Wings, and this marked our first Youth Creating Harmony Children’s Choral Festival. The piece tells the true story of a young Japanese girl from Hiroshima who became a global symbol of peace following the atomic bombing. The song’s climax features the word “peace” sung in 20 different languages, sharing a message of global harmony. I love festivals; all those kids side by side, singing on rows and rows of risers. Gazing at the stage from the back of the hall, an overwhelming feeling of satisfaction filled me.

Do you love festivals as much as Sally?

MICHELLE I love collaborative festivals when we’re performing for and with each other. I love to see what magic we can make when we have twice or three times as many kids participating together.

How has Sally influenced your musical journey?

MICHELLE When I was young, Sally taught me the power of community singing. And then when I was older, she gave me the opportunity to lead and conduct for the first time. Being in a position of leadership in a community singing space was powerful and made me feel connected to the world. Sally’s enthusiasm is contagious. She gave me the tools I needed to pursue music in college. I didn’t have music in my school. She was the one who prepared me for further study. And she gave me my first job in 2008. I was still in college when I started directing Capella.

What was your greatest challenge when leading NCS?

SALLY Preparing the children’s chorus to perform major works for adult chorus and symphony orchestra proved both challenging and hugely rewarding for me, the singers, and their families. North Coast Singers joined La Jolla Symphony and Chorus over a dozen times in my 26 years leading the group. I wanted the children to understand that participating in a major orchestral choral work, they become part of something large. Learning the music, oftentimes in another language, always memorized, watching a new conductor for entrance cues—these are lessons in focus, patience and fortitude. The reward came with the applause, when the children realized, "Wow, I was part of something really big musically. “

MICHELLE Most recently, the post-pandemic rebuilding of music programs has been challenging for educators. Currently, NCS is working to spread awareness and boost student enrollment. We welcome new singers throughout the year who are provided amazing opportunities to sing with orchestras, perform in concerts, participate in festivals and grow as musicians and people. 

When you met Michelle, did you realize you were empowering the next generation of choral leadership?

SALLY I remember the first time I heard Michelle sing. She was a bright-eyed, smiling little girl with a rich, mature singing voice. That struck me. She’s quite a musician and very creative. As a teenager and singing in NCS, she set three Shakespeare poems to music for Caprice, our advanced treble chorus. On concert day, at the last minute I was called away . I hadn’t worked with Michelle on conducting but I sensed she could step in. A conductor’s job is to communicate, nonverbally, what sounds and emotions they want to hear. I arrived in time to watch Michelle’s conducting debut, and I saw that she’s a natural.

What stood out to me about Michelle over time is the inherent trust she has for her ensembles. She demonstrates and requests her vision, then trusts the ensemble to carry the instructions out. Her trust translates to confidence, and Michelle’s ensembles always shine.

Michelle, what do you remember about your first conducting experience?

MICHELLE Sally connected me with a musician who helped me get my pieces notated. I had three songs from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. I didn’t really know how to conduct at the time so I danced like the way I felt like the music should sound. I was a senior in high school. I wanted to do it forever. Being a conductor is electric. You are the conduit through which the music flows. You are the hub, embodying the music for the singers to reflect back to you.

Sally talked about how you trust your singers. How would you describe your leadership style?

MICHELLE I want my singers to feel comfortable and safe so they can take risks and make mistakes. When a singer feels safe, their voice is free, there is no tension and they don’t hold back vocally. It takes getting out of your own way, trying not to micromanage the singers. You’ve given your singers all the tools and they have to come back to you with having done the work on their end and for each other as a choir. That collective sense of responsibility is important to instill in a group.

What do you hope future singers will take away from the NCS experience?

SALLY I hope our singers take away a personal connection to music itself. And I hope that the students recognize the power in singing together in an ensemble. Choir is one of the few things left where you actually have to be in a room together.

MICHELLE Joy, diversity, curiosity. I want to make sure that kids experience the same connection to each other and the same connection to music that I did as a child because it changed my life. I want to maintain a high quality of music making. I want to provide diversity, sharing music from around the world and from people who haven’t always had as big of a voice in classical music. It’s my hope that music from other cultures will make children curious about the world.

What’s next for the NCS community? What will this next season entail?

MICHELLE We already have a variety of exciting programming planned for our 2026-2027 season. Highlights include our NCS Winter Concert on December 5, a UUFSD Concert with a Cause performance in Solana Beach on January 17, a Discovery Concert Series performance at the Rancho Bernardo Library on March 13, our NCS Youth Creating Harmony Festival on April 24 and our NCS Spring Concert on May 8. Our season culminates with the Sing A Mile High International Choral Festival in June, hosted by Young Voices of Colorado, featuring a collaborative concert at Colorado School of Mines.

What is your vision for the future of NCS?

MICHELLE My goal is to be known as a leader in regional collaboration and a place for people to come together in song. Collaboration is key. I want NCS to be the gathering place where others come to collaborate and to feel the sense of community that is so important in the world today.

What words of wisdom do you have for Michelle as she leads North Coast Singers into its 33rd year and beyond?

SALLY Follow your strongest musical desires. Any idea you have, you can make it happen.

Melissa Dennis is a Carlsbad-based marketing consultant. She sings with Sorelle San Diego and is a member of the North Coast Singers Board of Directors.