Growing musically
Dallas chapter Luke McEndarfer celebrates 20 years of expanding the National Children’s Chorus MELISSA WHITLER | NBCU Fellow Melissa@DallasVoice.com North Texas conductor Luke McEndarfer just celebrated 20 years with the National Children’s Chorus and a lifetime of passion work.
While he works with the students in the local Dallas chapter, he also serves as president and CEO of the organization. McEndarfer has had a connection to music for most of his life. “It has inspired me from a very young age,” he recalled. “When I was six, my parents told me I had a long list of gifts from Santa, and then before Christmas, I crossed off the entire list and wrote ‘piano.’” After this, he began taking lessons and spent his time playing songs he heard on the radio.
Luke McEndarfer “The way that a piece of music can affect me inspires me in a way nothing else can,” McEndarfer described. “I feel the most myself in the middle of a piece of music; there’s nothing else like it.” When he went to UCLA, McEndarfer’s parents said he could either be a doctor or a lawyer.
Because of a traumatic experience dissecting a heart in fifth grade, he went the lawyer route. He started out studying English and business, but, at the urging of friends and professors, began taking private conductor lessons. “After my first time conducting, I knew this is what I wanted to do for rest of my life,” McEndarfer said. “So I submitted a video to the dean of the music school and was invited to enroll in the conducting master’s program at UCLA.” The program only accepts two people every year, and it’s very unusual to be invited.
