Five Fun Facts about Crystal Children's Choir

Most Cupertino residents probably have heard of Crystal Children's Choir, which has been based at Union Church of Cupertino since March 1994. But if you have been to a Crystal concert, even if your child is one of Crystal's choristers, you may still not know the following fun facts about the choir:

1. Largest Children's Choir in California: With a total of about 1,000 choristers in South Bay, North Bay and East Bay branches, Crystal is the largest children's choir in California. In the United States it's the second largest, only smaller than Indianapolis Children's Choir.

Karl Chang, co-founder, president and conductor of Crystal Children's Choir, says he learned about choir sizes nationwide through his participation in the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), the most prominent choral-education organization in the United States.

Crystal's website doesn't mention the choir's state and national records in size because core staff members believe in quality over quantity, according to Chang.

2. Coming from a Small Start: It seems incredible that the largest children's choir on the West Coast actually started with only 61 children. Chang says no one expected Crystal to grow so much when he founded the choir with three friends, Jenny Chiang, Rita Lu and Diane Kwan.

The four Chinese Americans initially just wanted to create an inspiring environment for their children and their friends' children to learn choral singing, a passion of their own lives.

But as time went by, the more outstanding concerts Crystal put on over the years, the more parents brought their children to audition. Even though the auditioning process becomes increasingly selective, the number of Crystal's choristers still continues to grow.

3. Multi-ethnic Choristers: While people tend to remember seeing just East Asian faces at Crystal's concerts, Crystal is actually a multi-ethnic choir.

Since Chang first brought Crystal to ACDA in 1995, the children's choir has built a national reputation in mainstream American society and has taken international performance tours as an American group. It has therefore drawn non-Chinese parents to sign their children up.

Currently with Caucasian and Indian choristers, Crystal welcomes first-to-12th graders of all ethnic backgrounds.

4. Branches in Taiwan & China: One of Crystal's founders, Rita Lu, moved back to her birthplace Taiwan for her husband's job relocation, and established Crystal Taiwan in 2000. It has grown to over 400 choristers.

A Beijing branch of Crystal was created in 2009, inspired by successful performances of the American Crystal at Beijing Concert Hall in the previous years. Crystal Beijing currently has 70 choristers.

5. International Choral Workshop: Crystal started collaborating with Stanford University in 2010 to organize a summer camp, providing an option for the choir's 4th-to-8th graders to take choral lessons with visiting Asian children in the same age group.

Crystal has connections in Asia to help recruit children there to attend the summer workshop on the Stanford campus. The visiting children must have a little choral experience, according to Chang.

This year Crystal's 4th-to-8th graders can sign up for a five-day camp, July 27 through July 31, at Stanford. It's also optional for them to join the visiting Asian children on an after-camp tour of the Bay Area for the next three days.