Meet our Conductor
The inaugural American Young Voices concert was conducted by Francisco J. Núñez at the Prudential Center in May 2015, attended by thousands of enthusiastic students from the New York metro area
Since Francisco J. Núñez conducted the inaugural American Young Voices concert at the Prudential Center in 2015 attended by a multitude of enthusiastic students from the New York City metro area, he has been the principal conductor for the U.S. performances of this renowned educational phenomenon. Today, four years later, Mr. Núñez continues to conduct thousands upon thousands more children in American Young Voices performances in some of the country’s largest arenas not only in the New York area, but now an expanded schedule of cities and surrounding areas of Boston, Philadelphia, Albany, and Washington, D.C.
Named both a MacArthur “genius” Fellow and Musical America’s 2018 Educator of the Year, Mr. Núñez is a composer, conductor, visionary, leading figure in music education, and the artistic director/founder of the award-winning Young People’s Chorus of New York City (YPC), celebrated worldwide for its diversity and artistic excellence. Since Mr. Núñez founded YPC in 1988, he has created an awareness of the ability of children to rise to unforeseen heights of artistry.
Mr. Núñez also leads the University Glee Club of New York City, its fifth conductor since the all-men’s chorus was established in 1894, and is sought after nationwide as a guest conductor by professional orchestras and choirs, as a master teacher and advisor, and a frequent keynote speaker as a leading authority on the role of music in achieving equality and diversity among children in today’s society.
Mr. Núñez has greatly extended and invigorated the repertoire for young voices by commissioning well over 100 pieces of music from many of today’s most distinguished established and emerging composers, greatly contributing to the ever-evolving fabric of music in the 21st century. As a composer himself, Mr. Núñez composes countless compositions and arrangements in all musical formats and styles, from classical to pop, commissioned from him for choirs, orchestras, and solo instruments.
As a result, he has been recognized with an ASCAP Victor Herbert Award and the New York Choral Society’s Choral Excellence Award. ABC-TV honored him as its “Person of the Week,” and Fox News has profiled him for “changing young lives with music.” Among his many other honors, NYU Steinhardt presented him with its Distinguished Alumnus Achievement Award; and both Ithaca College and Gettysburg College have awarded him honorary Doctor of Music degrees.
“The mantle that once belonged to the deans of ‘golden era’ choral music conductors has been passed, and it rests with Francisco Núñez.” – Barbara Murray, Director of Music, NYC Department of Education