The North Bay children’s choir known as VOENA — for Voices of Eve’n’Angels — has sung its way to international acclaim over the past 12 years as it performed for two U.S. presidents, a pope and audiences from Carnegie Hall to China.    

Now, the high-energy, multicultural choir is coming home and will perform Sunday at the Napa Valley Opera House.

More than 100 children, representing up to 35 cultures from Napa, Solano and Contra Costa counties, have been rehearsing twice weekly for their “Voices of Nations” concert at 2 p.m.

Led by founding director and violinist Annabelle Marie, the group will perform a cappella harmonies from around the world — including American favorites — in its trademark blend of trained voices, hand percussion, theater and dance.

The programs includes “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” “Rhythm of the Rain” and “When You Wish Upon a Star,” sung by 11-year-old soloist Tori Langfitt.

Celtic classics, African rhythms and songs in Hebrew, French, Japanese and even Macedonian are also on the program for the concert celebrating the choir’s new CD, “Voices of Nations.”

Although VOENA is a professional choir, there are no auditions. Marie will work with any child who has a desire to sing. But once in the group, the singers get plenty of training: They record rehearsals and practice to them during the week.

“You have to have a ‘round sound,’” said 9-year-old Bailey Dodd of Napa.

Children as young as 6 can join the choir, and many, like Napa sixth-grader Sophia Darby, stay in the group for years; the upper age limit is 18. Darby’s younger sister, Isabel, recently joined the choir as well. Even older siblings sometimes get the bug: 14-year-old Taylor Langfitt of Napa joined the choir after her 11-year-old sister Tori. Napa sisters Taylor and Sierra Peterson get to perform together with a Cherokee Indian song from their ancestry.

New member Ethan Chudnow, 7, said he is eager to travel with the group the way his older sister, Sharon, has. In the past few years they have performed at the White Housefive times, the Vatican, and several foreign countries.

VOENA has shared the stage with artists and dignitaries including Dr. Maya Angelou, who told the young singers, “You are exactly what the world needs. In your innocence, and in your youth and talent, you can teach us so much.”

The choir’s largest audience so far was in Aichi, Japan, where the choir sang before 4,000 people on U.S. National Day at the 2005 World Expo and received a rare Japanese standing ovation. On national television, VOENA has performed twice at the Pageant of Peace, the lighting of the National Christmas Tree in Washington, D.C.

Napans got a sneak preview during last month’s Terry Bradford concert at the Napa Valley Opera House, a Hospice of Napa Valley benefit that featured the choir on two songs that received standing ovations.