Our Founder

Joan Gregoryk

Joan Gregoryk, Founder & Artistic Director Emerita of the Children’s Chorus of Washington (CCW), is internationally recognized as a leader in the field of children’s vocal music. Ms. Gregoryk taught for many years at Chevy Chase Elementary School where her work with the school’s chorus won her considerable acclaim within professional music organizations, as well as invitations to perform throughout the United States and Europe. She prepared members of the Chevy Chase Chorus for the Grammy Award-nominated CD and film soundtrack recording of Mussorgsky’s Boris Gudunov with Mstislav Rostropovich and the National Symphony Orchestra. Building on these accomplishments, she founded CCW in 1995 with the goal of developing the top children’s vocal ensemble in the Nation’s Capital. Since then, Ms. Gregoryk prepared choristers for performances with leading conductors including Christoph Eschenbach, Julian Wachner, Leonard Slatkin, Scott Tucker, Norman Scribner, John Rutter, Valery Gergiev, and Philip Glass.

Ms. Gregoryk was in high demand as a workshop leader and guest conductor in the United States, Canada, and Europe. She conducted numerous district and state children’s honors choruses, and the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) Children’s Chorus in the Southern, Southwestern, and Eastern Divisions. In 2017, she conducted the National Honors Children’s Chorus at the ACDA National Conference in Minneapolis, MN.

A leading authority on children’s vocal development and children’s choruses, Ms. Gregoryk taught numerous courses and authored formative texts and publications on these subjects. She received many honors including Outstanding Arts Educator in the United States from the Rockefeller Brothers Funds Awards in Arts Education, the Washington Area Music Award (Wammies), the Greater Washington Choral Excellence Award, the Maryland Outstanding Elementary Music Educator Award, the Conservatory Medal of Excellence from Shenandoah University, and the 2015 DC Area Choral Excellence “Ovation” Award for her outstanding contributions to choral music. Ms. Gregoryk was named a 2015 Washingtonian of the Year by Washingtonian Magazine.

She holds both a Bachelor of Music from St. Catherine University where she received an Outstanding Alumnae Award, and a Master of Arts in Music Education from the University of Maryland. Ms. Gregoryk was an Artist-Teacher Associate at the Choral Music Experience Institute founded by Dr. Doreen Rao.

Ms. Gregoryk “passed the baton” to Margaret Nomura Clark in July 2016 at the conclusion of CCW’s 20th Anniversary Season. In 2021, CCW founded a scholarship fund named in her honor.