Home Is Where the Heart Is: A Benefit Concert to Support New Sanctuary Coalition
Two Choruses Uniting to Help Keep Families Together
An intergenerational duo of vocal ensembles join forces to support the work of a grassroots anti-deportation organization.
March 10, 2026 | 6:30pm doors, 7pm show
First Unitarian Congregational Society in Brooklyn (119 Pierrepont St)
$25 adults (18-74), $15 for kids and seniors
PURCHASE TICKETS
Performances by
Brooklyn Youth Chorus nurtures and develops young singers of diverse backgrounds through artistic excellence and innovation in choral music performance, training, and the creation of new works.
Founded in 1992 by Artistic Director Dianne Berkun Menaker, the Brooklyn Youth Chorus is dedicated to nurturing empathy, resilience, and self-expression, preparing young artists to become future leaders through music.
Apart from performing at Madison Square Garden, Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall, Lincoln Center, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), they have appeared on recordings by Beyoncé, Grizzly Bear, The National, and Barbara Streisand. In 2020, they were featured heavily on Wye Oak’s No Horizon EP, and in October 25, they performed with David Byrne (Talking Heads) for a special “Back To Brooklyn” episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!.
Dianne Berkun Menaker, Founder and Artistic Director, conductor; Bass Ensemble conducted by Scott Semanski; Aleeza Meir, piano
Young@Heart NYC is New York’s satellite group of the celebrated chorus of 75-and-older Young@Heart chorus, known for concerts all over the world and an acclaimed eponymous 2007 documentary, available to stream on Netflix. The benefit for the New Sanctuary Coalition will be Young@Heart NYC’s debut live performance.
Ranging in age from 75-93 years old, Young@Heart’s singers prove you can grow old without growing boring. What started out in 1982 at a Western Massachusetts elderly housing has developed into the stereotype-defying, generation-crossing musical extravaganza. They have toured worldwide, including at The R Festival in Rotterdam, London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT), Singapore Arts Festival, Melbourne International Festival of the Arts, and the National Theater in Oslo. The Young@Heart documentary took home the Rose d'Or for Best Art Documentary, as well as Audience Awards at the Lose Angeles, Atlanta, and Warsaw Film Festivals.
The NYC installment of Young@Heart was started in 2025 and is run in partnership with the Henry Street Settlement.
Bob Cilman, Chorus Director; David Nagler, Music Director, piano; David Chalfant, acoustic, electric, and bass guitars; Konrad Meissner, drums and percussion
with guest speaker Brad Lander
Mr. Lander served as New York City’s 45h Comptroller from 2022–2025, spending the prior 12 years as a City Councilmember serving Brooklyn’s 39th District (Carroll Gardens, Park Slope, South Slope and Cobble Hil). As co-founder of the Progressive Caucus in the New York City Council, Lander is perhaps best known for his leadership on issues like paid sick leave, housing. He has been a staunch ally in the fight against deportation, taking arrest in 2018 while protesting the detention of New Sanctuary Coalition Executive Director Ravi Ragbir, and again in 2025 while taking a stand against ICE kidnappings at Federal Plaza.