Kairos invites children to a lifelong adventure in music!
All children ages 0 to 17 are encouraged to sign up for a free session. No previous musical training is required.
Our choir members embrace the classical European choral repertoire, while also exploring a wide range of folk, jazz, and popular traditions. We emphasize high artistic achievement along with the development of teamwork and social skills in a welcoming community.
Berkeley’s Premier Youth Choir
For more than three decades, Kairos has brought young singers together to learn, perform, and grow as musicians. Our choristers sing in concerts across the Bay Area and on tours around the world. Many of the friendships they make here last a lifetime.
We are committed to nurturing talent and passion through diverse programs and performances in a warm, welcoming environment.
About Kairos
Our Story
An emphasis on choral music excellence has carried Kairos Youth Choir since its founding in 1990. Now in its Thirty-Sixth Season, Kairos continues to be a vital part of the Bay Area community. Kairos Choir has appeared in many civic and cultural events, including the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, the Berkeley Opera, and the Hard Nut with the Mark Morris Dance Group. Kairos recently engaged in a musical collaboration with the California Bach Society for their award-winning performance of St. Matthew Passion, and have been selected for regular performances at the Junior Bach Festival. The representatives from this unique and soulful California choir have sung internationally at Tivoli Gardens in Denmark, throughout Norway in 2000, Tuscany, Italy in 2008, at the Festival of the Aegean in Syros, Greece in 2011, and in choral festivals in Austria and the Czech Republic in 2014. Kairos was invited for the honor of return performances at the Festival of the Aegean in Greece again in 2017, and in 2023, won double bronze medals at the Festival of Preveza.
Members of Kairos have different cultural, ethnic, and economic backgrounds. With a common interest in music, they sing together and build relationships, which often grow into lifetime friendships. The choir maintains contact with growing numbers of Kairos alumni. Many describe the Kairos experience as one of the most important positive influences in their lives.
The program teaches music theory and vocal development, with a focus on how learning these skills can deepen and express our humanity. All choir education reflects an approach designed to nurture leadership, sensitivity, independence and self-discipline.
Our Mission
“To inspire empathy and a sense of collective humanity through the art of choral music at a formative time in children’s development. Music is vital in bringing us together, forming communities, and creating a responsible, compassionate relationship to our world.”
Programs
Choral Ensembles
Kairos offers young singers a complete path of choral training, from their very first musical experiences through high school. Singers are placed in ensembles based on age and prior musical training, so each child learns alongside peers at a similar stage and moves up as their skills grow. Our ensembles take their names from Greek, inspired by our founder Laura Kakis Serper’s heritage, and each one reflects a step in a young musician’s journey. Click to learn more about our ensemble structure.
Musical Theater
Every spring, Kairos singers take the stage in a fully staged musical production, a highlight of our season. Choristers from across our ensembles come together to sing, act, and move as one cast, building confidence, stage presence, and teamwork along the way. Productions include costuming, set design, lighting, and sound, offering opportunities for growth behind the scenes as well as onstage. Past shows include Fiddler on the Roof, Hello Dolly, and The Sound of Music.
Nature Retreats
Several times a year, Kairos singers leave the rehearsal room behind and head outdoors for our nature retreats. These afternoons (and the occasional overnight) give choristers a chance to sing, play, and explore together in a beautiful natural setting, away from screens and school schedules. Retreats blend music-making with games, play, and time to connect, strengthening the friendships that make Kairos feel like a second family.
Concert Tours
Kairos singers have carried their voices far beyond Berkeley, performing for audiences around the world. Our choir has visited Greece, Italy, Austria, and more, earning double bronze medals at the Festival of Preveza in 2023. Touring gives our singers the experience of a lifetime: performing in historic venues, sharing music with international choirs, and discovering new cultures together. Next up, we’re preparing for a concert tour of Greece and Italy in June 2027.
Summer Camp
Our Kairos Summer Camp keeps the music going after the school year ends. Over a week of singing, games, and creative projects, campers build their skills, make new friends, and have a whole lot of fun. Camp is open to current Kairos singers and new families alike, making it a perfect way to get a taste of what Kairos is all about. This year, we’ll gather from June 7 – 11 in North Berkeley. Contact us at kairoschoir@gmail.com to learn more!
Volunteer
Kairos runs on the energy of our community, and there are many ways to get involved. Our student staff program gives older singers and alumni the chance to step into leadership roles, from assistant teaching with our younger ensembles to designing costumes and running lighting for our productions. Parents are the heart of our support team, helping with concerts, retreats, events, and everything in between. Whether you have an afternoon or a whole season to give, we’d love to have you.
Support Kairos
Make a difference in the life of a child
Kairos never turns anyway away for lack of funds – but we can only sustain that with your support! Our generous scholarships ensure that every child can receive access to high quality musical education, regardless of financial status.
Short-Term Fundraising Goal: Help sponsor our incoming students so that we can continue to offer comprehensive scholarships for those in need!
NEEDED: Angel donor(s) to help cover cost of our scholarship fund and general operating budget. Please consider a tax-deductible donation to Kairos.
Sponsorship Opportunity: Kairos is offering sponsorships for local businesses! It’s a great opportunity to help support our students while also reaching a broad array of future customers. Please email kairoschoir@gmail.com for more info.
Kairos is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. All donations are tax deductible. Thank you!
Faculty and Staff
Laura Kakis Serper
Kairos Music Academy Founder and Artistic Director
Laura has vast experience conducting children’s choirs and serving as a community- builder through music programing. Ms. Kakis Serper received her degrees from the University of the Pacific Conservatory of Music as well as attended Westminster Choir College, and the Aspen Music Institute. She has performed for many years as a soprano soloist and in operas and musical theatre. Her Greek heritage inspired the name of the Kairos and its choruses and her folksong choral arrangements have been sung by choirs world-wide, including at Carnegie Hall. She is also the Director of Choral Music at The Crowden School where her choirs have performed with the San Francisco Symphony for three seasons, most recently in Orff’s Carmina Burana. Ms. Kakis Serper was recognized at the California State Senate for over twenty years of excellent musical service to the community through Kairos Choir programs. She is dedicated to helping children find their voice for life through the art of singing.
Arkadi Serper
Kairos Pianist and Composer
Arkadi received his music education in Russia at the Gnesin State Musical College and Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory. He continues a distinguished career as a pianist, composer and music educator. Mr. Serper is Director of Piano and Composition, Music Theory and History at The Crowden School, and teaches at the San Francisco Conservatory in the Pre-College Department. He has written many choral compositions for Kairos Youth Choir, some of which have been published through the Henry Leck choral series. As an acclaimed composer, his symphonic and chamber compositions have been produced by several major orchestras. Kairos singers have the added benefit of performing tailor-made musicals composed by Arkadi Serper, with librettos by local writers. As a pianist, he continues to perform concerts, both as a soloist and a chamber musician.
Asher Witkin
Managing Director
Asher is a singer-songwriter from Berkeley, California. He began singing with Kairos Music Academy as a third grader in 2008, and immediately fell in love with the warm community and exceptional artistic instruction. He’s been working with Kairos in one capacity or another ever since he graduated in 2012. Since then, Asher has sung with Coldplay, Daveed Diggs, The Stone Foxes, Alexander Rybak, and recorded for Kehlani. He’s written with Graham Candy, Robin Brink, and grammy winner Dan Wilson. Asher graduated from Columbia College Chicago and Mannheim’s Popakademie with a Bachelor of Music in 2022. His newest project, bandcalledbeach, is signed to Public Air Records.
Frosene Phillips
Grant Writer, Marketing Consultant
Frosene Phillips is a longtime Bay Area journalist, arts advocate, and champion of the Greek American community. For three decades, her entertainment and dining column, “Frosene on the Scene,” appeared in the Bay Area News Group’s East Bay Times, and historic Oakland Tribune. For 18 years she served as Managing Editor of The Hellenic Journal, the only Greek American news publication in the western states. From 2018 to 2024, she was Executive Director of the Elios Charitable Foundation and The Elios Society, where she gained hands-on grant experience, while also holding marketing, operations, and client services leadership roles at the San Francisco agency Gumas. A lifelong cantor and soloist at the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Ascension in Oakland, she was also lead vocalist of the band Mediterranean Soul. As Grant Writer and Marketing Consultant at Kairos, she draws on her nonprofit leadership, grant experience, and storytelling background to help advance the organization’s mission.
Emile Serper
Composer, Teaching Assistant
Emile Serper started cello at the ancient age of six, yet he was singing with Kairos Youth Choir from the womb. Currently, he studies cello and composition at USC. He was the Co-Principal cellist in the Young People’s Symphony Orchestra, with whom he has performed on tour in the Pacific Northwest and Canada. He also studies composition with David Conte, is a two-season winner of the Kris Getz Composer’s Award, and has a published choral work entitled “Ave Maria”which is dedicated to environmental concerns. In addition to music-making, Emile enjoys mathematics, hiking, running, following baseball, and spending time with his recently-formed Kairos singers/alumni vocal acappella group “Evnia”, as arranger, singer and beatboxer. His Greek heritage comes to the fore in his love of friends and food!
Become a part of our musical family!
