Happy Chanukah ! Celebrate Day 5 With the P.S. 22 Children's Chorus

It's the fifth day of Chanukah, and we invite you to enjoy a different sound, the voices of the seventy fifth-grade students who make up the P.S. 22 Chorus from Staten Island.

Led by Gregg Breinberg, their musical director, they sing the traditional Maoz Tsur in Hebrew.  These are not Hebrew School kids.  Many of its members are from disadvantaged backgrounds. Breinberg says that several of the students in the chorus are from special education and English as a Second Language programs. “It’s one of the more rewarding aspects of my profession to see so many of our kids who have difficulties in other areas of academics thrive within the choral environment,” he says. “People often lose sight of how important music is to the education of these kids.”

Breinberg has been running the chorus since 2000. A musician by heritage, he also worked as a clown at summer camp before settling on teaching as a career. “Best decision I ever made for myself,” he says, “although full credit must be given to my parents for pointing me in the right direction and practically pushing me off the precipice.”