Anima (chorus)
Anima - Glen Ellyn Children's Chorus is a chorus based in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Formerly the Glen Ellyn Children's Chorus (GECC), the chorus changed its name to Anima in May 2008. History. The chorus was founded in 1964 as the Glen Ellyn Children's Theater Chorus by Barbara Born. Dr. Doreen Rao served as Director from 1972-1988. Emily Ellsworth served as Artistic Director from 1996-2018. Dr. Charles Sundquist has served as Artistic Director since 2018. William Buhr has served as accompanist for the Touring Chorus since 1984. The chorus has performed  frequently with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Chicago's Symphony Center, the Ravinia Festival, the Grant Park Music Festival and New York's Carnegie Hall. It has participated in four Grammy Award-winning recordings with the CSO and performed under renowned conductors including Sir Georg Solti, Christoph Eschenbach, Claudio Abbado, James Levine and James Conlon. Recently a small number of singers participated in the Lyric Opera. It has toured throughout the United States as well as internationally to Canada, Europe, Australia, Brazil, China, South Africa, England, Spain, Morocco, and Greece. They were scheduled to tour to Norway in the summer  of 2020, but the trip was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. As of March 2022, a trip to the United Kingdom has been canceled due to the pandemic. Ensembles included in the Anima-GECC curriculum include KidSingers (conducted by Sally Hepler), Treble and Treble Plus Chorus (conducted by Monica Bertrand), Concert Chorus (conducted by Monica Bertrand), Touring Chorus (conducted by Dr. Charles Sundquist), and Chamber Chorus (conducted by Dr. Charles Sundquist).