Jenni Pagano

It’s our 40th Season!

Holiday Concerts: “What Sweeter Music: 40 Years with ARS”
TICKETS ON SALE OCTOBER 11!

This holiday season, the Arizona Repertory Singers focuses on its vast repertoire and showcases the choral music our Tucson audiences have enjoyed for the last 40 years. For this special anniversary season, we reflect on our choral legacy and also present pieces by well-known contemporary composers. Audiences will be delighted by choral classics such as Shaw/Parker’s “Masters in this Hall” and “Fum, Fum, Fum,” as well as “What Sweeter Music” by John Rutter and Felix Mendelssohn’s “Weihnachten.” Newer additions to our repertoire include Cristian Grases’ “Abreme la Puerta” and Shawn Kirchner’s “Brightest and Best” with guitar and violin accompaniment. This holiday concert is joyous, ethereal, festive, tranquil and inspiring. Join us for our choral holiday journey!

Sat, Dec 9 at 3 pm | Desert Skies United Methodist Church
Sun, Dec 10 at 3 pm | Christ Church United Methodist
Sun, Dec 17 at 4 pm | St. Mark Catholic Church

And SAVE THE DATE for our Spring Gala!
Honoring Julian Ackerley, Director, Tucson Boys Chorus
and Marcela Molina, Director, Tucson Girls Chorus

Sun, April 28 at 3 pm
Catalina Foothills High School

KidSong | Spring 2023

Our Spring repertoire is inspired by the joys and wonders of children and holds a warm place in our hearts—in March, our Music Director and his wife welcomed twins into their family. This performance will feature four pieces in foreign languages, including Bó na Leathadhairce by Desmond Earley, which highlights a tune learned by Irish school children, and Hela Rotan, an arrangement of a popular Indonesian folk song by Ken Stevens about the traditional game of tug-of-war. KidSong, by Stephen Caldwell, incorporates the entertaining arrangement of several favorite children’s songs into one cohesive piece that our audiences will surely recognize.

4/16 3:00 pm Desert Skies UMC
4/21 7:30 pm St. Mark Catholic Church
4/23 3:00 pm Christ Church UMC

Buy Tickets! Download Flyer Conductor’s Corner Download Program

Thrilling!

The Arizona Repertory Singers thanks the greater Tucson community for its support of the “Women in Winter” performances. We were thrilled to share this beautiful music with such large and enthusiastic audiences!

—Craig Sale
ARS President

In Memoriam | DR. HELEN SCHAEFER

WE ARE DEEPLY SADDENED BY THE RECENT PASSING OF DR. HELEN SCHAEFER

Helen was a bedrock for so many in our community, and ARS was particularly fortunate to have Helen as a Founding Board Member. When ARS incorporated as a 501(c)(3) organization in 1986, Helen was instrumental in helping ARS prepare and file the application for incorporation. She served as an inaugural board member and continued as an honorary board member until her death. Her advice on many topics proved invaluable to ARS in establishing a reputation in the Southern Arizona community and achieving financial viability.

ARS was honored to perform when the Helen S. Schaefer Poetry Center at the University of Arizona was dedicated in 2007. She served as Honorary Chair of ARS’s 25th Anniversary celebration at the prestigious Stevie Eller Dance Theatre, which included performance of a work commissioned in her honor. With her husband, John, she provided generous financial support and guidance to ARS for more than three decades. ARS feels the deepest gratitude to Helen for her many years devoted to helping us become the well-known choral ensemble we are today.

2022 Holiday Concerts!

ARS Women in Winter

For the first time ever—and rare for holiday repertoire—ARS performs a program consisting entirely of compositions and arrangements by women. Women in Winter offers a wide range of styles, genres, and perspectives related to the season, among them “Snow Angel” by Sarah Quartel, a five-movement piece with piano, cello, and djembe accompaniment. An engaging musical celebration of the holidays, our program also features works from Kim Baryluk, Melinda Bargreen, Abbie Betinis, Nancy Grundahl, Elaine Hagenberg, Iris Levine, Rosephanye Powell, and Annabel Rooney.

  • Holiday Concerts: Women in Winter
    • Dec. 9    7:30 pm – St. Mark Catholic Church
      2727 W. Tangerine Rd, Oro Valley, AZ 85742
    • Dec. 11  3 pm – Desert Skies United Methodist Church
      3255 N. Houghton Rd, Tucson, AZ 85749                       
    • Dec. 18  3 pm – Christ Church United Methodist 
      655 N. Craycroft Rd Tucson, AZ 85711                          
Buy Tickets Read Our Updated Covid Policy