Elizabeth Núñez is a conductor, clinician and speaker, soloist, and creative director of the Young People’s Chorus of New York City (YPC). Since joining YPC in 2004, she has played a significant role in fostering key YPC programs as well as providing vision for new initiatives. As a conductor she has led YPC choruses in highly acclaimed and widely viewed performances in New York City, on national television, and abroad. Elizabeth has led many YPC’s virtual performance and education projects including the development of “Hello, Singers!” – a pilot ten-episode series that reached over 3,000 children across New York City.
Elizabeth has conducted YPC’s choristers at performances in the city’s most prestigious venues – from Carnegie Hall and the Apollo Theater to the Metropolitan Museum – and television appearances on the Today Show, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, and Good Morning America. She has led YPC in debuts in both Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart and its White Light Festivals and, in international choral competitions, has led the singers to first place wins at the Cantonigròs International Music Festival in Spain and the Choral Kathaumixw Festival in British Columbia, where the choristers were additionally recognized with the overall title of “Choir of the World,” the first North American choir to do so in the competition’s 34-year history.
In her role as director of the YPC School Choruses program, Elizabeth has grown the program from two participating schools in 2005 to currently encompassing 20, ultimately reaching and benefiting thousands of children across New York City. This program brings YPC’s unique curriculum of music education and choral performance to New York City public school children.
In addition to her work at YPC, Elizabeth leads performances and workshops for regional and national conferences. She has conducted numerous All-State Honor Choirs, the 2016 OAKE National Children’s Honor Choir, and led YPC as a featured choir at the 2020 ACDA Eastern Regional Conference.
She is the founding artistic director of the intergenerational SoHarmoniums Women’s Choir, co-creator of WIT: Women Inspiring Tomorrow, and is one of the inaugural members of the acclaimed CHIEF women’s membership networking which supports and connects women executive leaders. She is also a member of the Chorus America Board of Directors.
Elizabeth received a Master of Music Education from the University of Oklahoma and a Bachelor of Music Education from Lee University, where she was awarded the 2017 School of Music’s Distinguished Alumnus Award for her commitment to “changing the lives of America’s youth.”
