Julie Ray

The 2023-24 season represents a momentous occasion for the Arizona Repertory Singers: our 40th anniversary.

Founded in 1984, our ensemble has remained “Uniquely Tucson,” a description held dear to our hearts. For 40 years, our choir has delighted audiences in our beautiful desert oasis with our signature choral performances of varied repertoire, instrumentation, and styles. In selecting our concert venues, we offer multiple concert dates with varied locations so that everyone in the Tucson area may find a performance location close to home.

This year promises exciting opportunities for the Arizona Repertory Singers as we impress upon our listeners what “Our Choral Legacy” is built upon. Our legacy not only includes our collaborations with other ensembles (in recent years we performed alongside the University of Arizona and the Tucson Arizona Boys Chorus), but also the repertoire that we choose to perform. Every performance this season showcases music from our vast library. A small committee of long-term singers helped to select pieces that are “uniquely ARS.” For our holiday concert,“What Sweeter Music: 40 Years with ARS,” choral favorites such as Morten Lauridsen’s O Magnum Mysterium and John Rutter’s What Sweeter Music will be performed alongside Steven Landau’s engaging composition Hark! in 7/8 and an audience favorite two years in a row, Brightest and Best by Shawn Kirchner.

This spring, we break tradition with only one performance at the end of April: a gala concert event. This anniversary gala will feature a newly commissioned piece by a prominent composer, a raffle, and an afterparty of hors d’oeuvres, desserts, and mocktails to celebrate the Arizona Repertory Singers achievement of bringing quality choral music to Tucson for 40 years. This performance will take place on April 28 in the beautiful auditorium at Catalina Foothills High School. Through this performance, we broaden our theme of “Celebrating Our Choral Legacy” to include the legacy of all choral music in Tucson, especially to those that raise young voices in song. We will honor both Dr. Julian Ackerley and Dr. Marcela Molina, directors of the Tucson Boys Chorus and Tucson Girls Chorus, for their work in nurturing thousands of young singers and instilling a love of music in our community’s youth. I hold this dear to my heart because I am an alum of the Tucson Boys Chorus. My growth under Dr. Ackerley’s direction allowed me to pursue music as my life’s passion and grow into the role as the Arizona Repertory Singer’s music director.