Julia Hosch, a senior at Highland Park High School, was born with a love for music. The All-State French Horn player is two-year drum major for the HPHS marching band, sings in her church choir, helped continue her church youth band and enjoys composing music for fun. Hosch is involved with theater, is an experienced tapdancer and hopes to attend Northwestern University in the fall.  However, her Monday nights have always been occupied by one commitment she’s kept for the past nine years—singing in the Children’s Chorus of Greater Dallas (CCGD).

“The chorus has taught me how to be a good leader,” said Hosch, vice president of HPHS National Honor Society, in charge of coordinating service projects. “Being in the chorus allowed me to experience first hand how much one person can make a difference in a group. In a choir, every single person matters.”

In her final year with the chorus, Hosch has experienced, achieved and seen more than some in their entire lives. With the chorus, she’s performed in a multitude of concert venues from the Meyerson Symphony Center to St. Peters Basilica. She’s toured with the chorus to Canada, Carnegie Hall and across Italy. At the age of 14, Hosch coordinated writing and composing a song with three friends that was performed during a concert at the Mesquite Arts Center.

 “When the kids offered to compose a song for the concert, I agreed only if they provided and performed a full composition in two weeks knowing full well after 20 plus years of teaching middle school singers that there was a chance it might not happen,” said Cynthia Nott, CCGD artistic director. “A week and a half later, I received a full score they had written, composed and recorded. Amazing.”

According to the Chorus America 2009 Chorus Impact Study, children who sing in a community choir are strongly correlated with qualities that are associated with success like leadership, self-discipline and self-confidence. With the recession, many schools are cutting music and arts programs. Recognizing this trend, CCGD offers the opportunity to bridge this gap in the Dallas community by providing a cultural and artistic arts experience to children with a love for music. In 2007, the chorus began the Neighborhood Choir Program that creates music education partnerships with schools in underserved areas. 

On Februrary 28, 2010, Hosch will perform in her final CCGD benefit concert “A World of Song” at 8:00pm at the Meyerson Symphony Center. All ten choirs will take to the stage including four choirs from the Neighborhood Choir Program. The evening opens with the option to attend the chorus’ benefit gala, Cause For Song, in the beautiful Meyerson Symphony Center lobby at 5:45 pm. Supporters will gather to celebrate the arts and raise funds to continue the chorus’ music education programs that provide invaluable experiences to the youth of our Metroplex.  If music can make life as rich as Hosch’s, why then, that’s a cause for song.