Uniting Voices Chicago

Obama Presidential Center Opens With Bruce Springsteen, U2, Stevie Wonder, Eddie Vedder, & More

The Obama Center's opening ceremony starts today at noon eastern, or 11 a.m. central time, and it'll be livestreamed on the Center's website. We can't really name one headliner in a list full of legends, but the first name listed on the poster is Bruce Springsteen, who got the Presidential Medal Of Freedom from Obama before the two of them did a podcast together.

The ceremony will also include performances from Stevie Wonder, Eddie Vedder, Christina Aguilera, John Legend, Guitars Over Guns, and Uniting Voices Chicago. The Roots, who once slow-jammed the news with Obama, will serve as house band, and the show will include what the Obama Center website calls "a 'One World' global performance celebrating unity, creativity, and hope, featuring Tems, Marc Anthony, U2’s Bono and the Edge." Black-ish star Marsai Martin will be on hand, as will Chicago natives Common and Jennifer Hudson.

Josephine Lee: In an age of anxiety and division, the arts are not an ‘extra,’ they’re a lifeline

Arts programs bring people together around share goals that require contact, cooperation and trust. The nearly 4,000 young people involved in Uniting Voices hail from every Chicago ZIP code. They sing in 36 languages across genres, from classical to gospel to hip hop. With each piece, they step into someone else's history, culture or story. Through repeated contact, and through challenge, failure, support and success, they learn how to work across difference with respect.

How Chicago’s Uniting Voices Choir Helped Close Out Djo’s Lollapalooza Set

Two days before they helped close one of the most memorable sets at this year’s Lollapalooza, the 40 teen singers in Uniting Voices Chicago’s top ensemble performed their newest arrangement to an audience of one: Joe Keery.

The former DePaul University student, Djo frontman and “Stranger Things” actor had come to a small rehearsal room on the North Side for a first listen to the choir’s reimagined take of the band’s song, “Back On You.”

“I think what made this experience so meaningful is that Uniting Voices really represents all of Chicago,” Velez-Lauria said. “Being on that Lollapalooza stage, performing as part of a group that reflects the full diversity of this city, alongside an artist like Joe who has ties to Chicago — it just felt like this culmination of everything we stand for.”