The Raleigh Boychoir Performing Choir, now called the “Capital Choir”, at the Governor’s Mansion
It started with just 20 boys and a $50 donation from the Woman’s Club of Raleigh. But humble beginnings never daunted the Raleigh Boychoir’s vision.
Thomas E. Sibley founded the choir in 1968 to give boys with unchanged voices a chance to learn and perform some of the world’s greatest choral music. Sibley believed a choir could help boys develop talent and character – traits that would serve them for a lifetime. Sibley, who worked as music coordinator for the Raleigh public schools as well as organist and choir master at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Raleigh, directed the Raleigh Boychoir for 40 years. He retired in 2008. Mr. Sibley’s choir lives on today as our “Capital Choir”.
Because of Sibley’s early efforts to establish the Raleigh Boychoir in the local arts community, the brand-new choir held its first holiday performance in December 1968. Every year since then the choir has performed the “Carols of Christmas” concert, which to this day is a popular Yuletide tradition in the capital city.
Robert E. Unger succeeded Sibley as Artistic Director from 2008 to 2014 and became integral to the choir’s success and development. Unger previously conducted the Appleton Boychoir in Appleton, WI. Under his leadership, the Raleigh Boychoir steadily increased choristers as he implemented the scholar program, which connected young men to the choir following their graduation. Dedicated to the highest standards of musical achievement, Mr. Unger led the choir on tours to London, Appleton, WI, Charleston, SC, and Baltimore, MD, performing to great acclaim in Boychoir festivals in Baltimore, Appleton and Raleigh. He is currently the Director of Music Ministry at Resurrection Lutheran Church and Schools in Cary, NC.
The Raleigh Boychoir’s third Artistic Director, Jeremy C. Tucker has held the position from 2014 to today. A native of Wilson, NC, Mr. Tucker holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Music Education, is a Nationally Board Certified Teacher, and is an award recipient of the 2020 Raleigh Medal of Arts, the City’s highest arts honor, for his excellent work with the Raleigh Boychoir. Mr. Tucker’s tenure has focused on collaboration with other talented performing groups. In his first year the Boychoir performed with the North Carolina Symphony, Carolina Ballet, North Carolina Master Chorale, UNC Symphony Orchestra and hosted several elementary and middle school choirs. Mr. Tucker led the Choir in a performance in New York’s Carnegie Hall, a concert tour across Ireland & Northern Ireland, and has since led a tour of Washington, D.C. in June 2017, the Mountain’s to the Sea Tour in 2018 and a 2019 tour to the Big Apple, New York City, singing in St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine.
The choir’s first rehearsal space was in a house on Glenwood Avenue that served as a temporary home for the Woman’s Club of Raleigh. When the choir outgrew that space, rehearsals moved to Hayes Barton Baptist Church and then, a few years later, to Holy Trinity Lutheran Church.
The choir kicked off its 53rd year in the triangle by moving and expanding its presence to downtown Raleigh in partnership with the Church of the Good Shepherd(CGS). For over thirty years, the RBC had been headquartered at 1329 Ridge Road, adjacent to Ridgewood shopping center. In this historic move, CGS welcomed the RBC and planned for many partnerships to help youth in our diverse community have access to the RBC program.
Raleigh Boychoir was founded in 1968 with a deep commitment to excellence in music and nurturing the vocal talent of boys from across the region. For over fifty years, our all-boy choirs performed across the state, country, and even the world. These youth and their instructors earned numerous awards and were invited to perform on some of the highest stages including the White House and the World’s Fair. In recent years, our leadership has made another deep commitment to excellence – excellence in inclusivity.
We are thrilled to begin a new chapter of our history in 2022 by serving all youth who love to sing as the Raleigh Youth Choir!
Raleigh Youth Choir can’t wait to take you with us on our journey to a more inclusive, accessible, and welcoming choir experience. Changes like this take time – we know inclusion and trust aren’t built overnight. We’ll stumble and swerve along this journey as we continue to learn and grow, but at the end of the day, we will rise. Because we are more than a choir, we are a community. A community rising to meet the needs of the greater Raleigh landscape.