Corona, CA: America's First Show Choir, The Young Americans Celebrates 50 Years of Inspiring Youth Through Music

America's first show choir and glee club, The Young Americans, a non-profit music education and performance group, will celebrate its 50thanniversary this week at The Young Americans' headquarters in Corona, CA. The week- long celebrations will culminate with an inspiring Broadway-like show, "Celebrate 50," featuring performances by alumni members and the current cast of The Young Americans at the Riverside Convention Center, April 15that 4:30pm. Hundreds of Young American alumni are expected to attend the reunion and show, including an impressive list of alumni members who have gone on to star on or behind the scenes of Broadway, television, the music business, and in the production and creation of shows such as, Fame, Cheers, Wicked, Hairspray, Desperate Housewives, Mamas Family, and Sister Act the Musical.

For over 50 years the organization has used music as a tool to inspire, comfort, strengthen and teach. "Our mission has always been the same: To show the world a positive image of today's youth and to help keep music education programs strong in schools," says Milton C. Anderson, Founder of The Young Americans. In the early 1960's, Mr. Anderson was the first person to put choreography to choral music, and consequently the show choir and glee concept was born. Today, the members of The Young Americans are simultaneously performers and teachers, whose good will, understanding and performance skills inspire young people all across the globe to be themselves and discover their full potential.

Over the years The Young Americans has grow into a global resource not only for schools in the US, Canada, Japan, Britain, Ireland, Germany, Spain, Ukraine, the Netherlands and Russia, but also as a teaching model for adults, such as the German Division of PricewaterhouseCoopers. "The Young Americans has had a profound effect on communities worldwide," Mr. Anderson said. "Young people discover things in themselves they never knew they had. From music and collaborative performance you learn teamwork, a sense of caring, and how it's possible to accomplish a thing of beauty with a group of people."

The Young Americans has performed for U.S. Presidents and heads of state, won an Academy Award (Oscar), been on national TV and appeared live before millions of audience members worldwide. Among its 3,500 alumni are professionals on or behind the scenes of nearly every Broadway show to hit New York, in motion pictures, television, radio, recording industry as well as countless careers as music directors, teachers, politicians, lawyers, doctors, pilots and every other industry imaginable.

As the group tours around the world, it welcomes over 100 new members annually to replace those who leave the group. There are about 250 current members of The Young Americans; 150 travel around the world as part of The Young Americans' International Music Outreach Tours, while the newest members spend their first year in training at The Young Americans College of Performing Arts in Southern California.

The Young Americans' "Celebrate 50" show will include 6 acts performed by hundreds of alumni from each of the past five decades, as well as a full performance from the current Young Americans' cast who have recently returned from three different International Tours. In addition to the show, the organization has planned a three-day reunion and homecoming celebration for all of its alumni. They will gather together to share memories from the past and experience the current organization and see what it has become today.

About The Young Americans;

The Young Americans is a non-profit 501(c)(3) performing arts and educational company with no political or religious affiliations. The group was founded in 1962 by Milton C. Anderson and is credited with creating the very popular "glee" and "show-choir" concepts in the early 60's. It is the oldest and largest youth music advocacy movement in the world whose main focus is to help strengthen music education programs in schools and communities.

To date, the group has grown into 250 cast members (ages 18-23) and has taken its love of music and performing all over the world with its International Music Outreach Tours. Last year alone, the group staged over 200 performances and music advocacy workshops in 120 cities, across 12 countries and 4 continents. Through these tours, The Young Americans has taught and influenced more than half a million young people in public and private schools worldwide.