Few things in the world have the power to unite the way music does. For Karen Chester-Amengor, that truth has been the leitmotif of her life.

She comes by it honestly. Her late grandmother and mother were musical and played piano at Payne Chapel AME Church in Sarasota. Chester-Amengor began singing in the church choir in elementary school, and eventually studied piano and flute. She’s still deeply involved at Payne Chapel and plays music there when she can find the time.

“From a very young age, music was part of my life,” she says. “It’s part of who I am.”

So it’s not a stretch that Chester-Amengor is the director of the Gulf Coast Community Choir, a role she’s held since 2019. (A graduate of Florida State University and the University of South Florida, Chester-Amengor has also been a language arts teacher in Sarasota County for 31 years.) She is one of the choir’s original members, joining in 2001, when it was founded by the late Sarasota civic leader Dr. Carroll Buchanan, who envisioned a choir representing diversity. From the very beginning, singers came from different political affiliations, races, ethnic groups and sexual orientations. The goal was to bring people together to sing with joy and, at the same time, to support charitable organizations, often those that aren’t well funded.

That hasn’t changed. Gulf Coast Community Choir, whose motto is “the choir with a heart—lifting our voices for charity,” is a tapestry of people from all walks of life who spread their joy wherever they perform.

“We connect through music, and that takes away all the things that would traditionally separate people,” Chester-Amengor says. “We have people who are Democrats. We have people who are Republicans. We have people who are Independents. Multiple religions are represented. Some have no religion. People come from different sexual orientations. We have doctors, educators, homemakers and entrepreneurs. We have people who have worked for Fortune 500s. When we come together, those barriers are dissolved.”

The music is just as diverse. The choir has hundreds of songs in its repertoire, from gospel, hymns, classical, inspirational and patriotic pieces, and show tunes. “We have something for every person’s musical tastes,” Chester-Amengor says.

The choir, about 40 singers, has an age range from the 20s to the 80s—but it skews older. Chester-Amengor laughs that she’s one of the younger members. There are no auditions, and all are welcome. As Chester-Amengor says, repeating founder Buchanan’s droll approach to learning and singing, “When it comes to music and performing our craft, the biggest room in any house is the room for improvement.”

Gulf Coast Community Choir holds weekly rehearsals September through May in preparation for its free performances, and Chester-Amengor is credited with extending the choir’s outreach to mini-concerts at smaller venues like the Leonard Reid House in Newtown. For more than a quarter century, the choir has performed during the holiday season at assisted-living facilities and various senior centers, churches, and at other venues such as the UTC Mall and The Westin.

Each year, their annual benefit concert (the 2027 concert is scheduled for April 25 and tickets are $20) raises money for two selected local nonprofits, and more than 40 charitable organizations have been recipients since the choir’s founding. This year, the concert raised $5,000 for two nonprofits.

The choir requires commitment, but the camaraderie has bonded them as family, say the singers, and the concerts celebrate the beauty of diversity. As one audience member who nominated the group wrote, “Gulf Coast Community Choir is far more than a singing group; it is a reflection of unity.” For Chester-Amengor, that is the point: music that creates connection and builds friendships.

“Music is a universal language,” she says.