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“AMERICAN VOICES” CELEBRATES THE NATION’S 250TH ANNIVERSARY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

American Voices: Arizona Repertory Singers Spring Concerts

Tucson, AZ, February 26, 2026 — In this landmark year, commemorating 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the Arizona Repertory Singers (ARS) join the festivities with a musical declaration of their own. Telling the stories of our country through song, their spring concert, American Voices, assembles some of the most renowned composers from across genres and U.S. history in a program sure to engage, enthrall, and illuminate.

Honoring a distinctly American form, ARS will perform several spirituals, both traditional and contemporary: the rhythmically vivacious “Didn’t My Lord Deliver Daniel”; William Dawson’s joyful “Ev’ry Time I Feel the Spirit”; and Moses Hogan’s urgent and insistent “I’m Gonna Sing ‘Til the Spirit Moves in My Heart.” Driven by the lower voices and foot-tapping tempos, all are hymns of hope and faith, resilience and freedom.

Moving through time, notable 20th-century selections convey consummately American perspectives and aspirations. Harold Arlen’s “Over the Rainbow,” reconfigured in rich jazz harmonies by Russ Robinson, urges listeners to dare to dream and reach for the sky. A paean of appreciation and humility, Rene Clausen’s modern take on “Simple Gifts” imparts energizing complexity to the familiar Shaker standard. And “Zion’s Walls,” written by one of the most defining and prolific of mid-century composers, Aaron Copland, and updated by Glenn Koponen, invites all to come together in common cause and community.

Audiences are also sure to recognize the pop selections of the program, each rendered in lovely choral versions. So well-known is Paul Simon’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” a moving testament to the bonds of friendship, that many listeners will recall the words (or even the chords). “And So It Goes” by Billy Joel addresses the nature of love—its vulnerabilities and bittersweetness—in touching fashion. Kirby Shaw provides arrangements for both. Another beautiful ballad, “The Luckiest” by Ben Folds and arranged in eight parts by Jon Clements, reflects on the gratitude and joy of finding one’s beloved in the whirlwind of life—what if the two had never met?

Some of the more recent 21st-century compositions explore the dark and light sides of romantic love and include: Eric Whitacre’s “A Boy and a Girl,” a timeless ode to love and longing; “O Love” by Elaine Hagenberg about overcoming heartache; and Shawn Kirchner’s modern arrangement of a 19th-century tune, “Unclouded Day” (lyrics and music by J.K. Alwood) that celebrates hope and possibility. For pure enjoyment, ARS will sing “Reel à Bouche” by Malcolm Daglish, a lively, lilting piece for higher voices, accompanied by music director Ryan Phillips on hammered dulcimer.

Though the word “semiquincentennial” doesn’t quite roll off the tongue, the Arizona Repertory Singers indeed keep our 250th anniversary celebration rolling. With verve and reverence, consideration and contemplation, American Voices is a musical time capsule of the American experiment—always in progress, never relenting, tackling the challenges and obstacles, paving the way for a bright and brighter future.

AMERICAN VOICES CONCERT SCHEDULE

Saturday, April 18
3:00 pm
Christ Church United Methodist, 666 N. Craycroft Road, Tucson

Sunday, April 19
3:00 pm
Christ Church United Methodist, 666 N. Craycroft Road, Tucson

Sunday, April 26
4:00 pm
St. Mark Catholic Church, 2727 W. Tangerine Road, Oro Valley

Tickets are available in advance at arsingers.org. Prices are $22 in advance and $25 at the door. Students are admitted free with ID.

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Founded in 1984, the Arizona Repertory Singers is an ensemble of nearly 50 singers from greater Tucson. Over the decades, the choir has developed an extensive musical archive and prides itself on presenting high-quality performances of both standard repertoire and new music. Its singers, selected through a rigorous audition process, represent a variety of work life careers in business, education, engineering, information technology, law, medicine, social service, science, and the arts. For more details, see arsingers.org.

HOLIDAY “PEACE AND JOY” CONCERTS

JOIN ARS IN WELCOMING THE HOLIDAY SEASON WITH “PEACE AND JOY” CONCERTS

Tucson, AZ, October, 2025 — For their holiday concerts this year, the Arizona Repertory Singers are highlighting the timeless themes of the season—Peace and Joy. The engaging program of 16 choral works ranges from contemplative to exuberant and includes traditional carols, well-known standards, and contemporary compositions.

An updated rendition of “Angels We Have Heard on High,” arranged by American composer, pianist, and teacher Dan Forrest and accompanied by string quartet, soars in unexpected directions, reinvigorating the carol many know from childhood. The classic “Deck the Hall,” based on a 16th-century Welsh melody, still stirs and delights; in this version, arranged by renowned English composer and conductor John Rutter, the lively melody grows more powerful as it passes from section to section.

Among the slower tempo songs, the warm and inviting “Lux Aurumque” by Grammy-winning American composer and conductor Eric Whitacre takes the Latin translation of the poem “Light and Gold” and sets it among bright cluster chords and shimmering harmonies. In addition, “Silent Night” receives lovely and lush treatment in an arrangement by long-time ARS music director Jeffry Jahn, who died unexpectedly in 2015; here, Phillips directs ARS in this holiday hymn for the first time, honoring his influential and much-missed predecessor.

The program also includes two compositions from the other side of the world, both accompanied by djembe. Sung in Sesotho and originated by the Soweto Gospel Choir, “Hlohonofatsa” is an invocation to “bless everything…” and features echoing soloists; it is arranged by conductor and professor Daniel Jackson. The critically acclaimed “Baba Yetu,” a syncopated Swahili adaptation of the Lord’s Prayer by American composer Christopher Tin, has the distinction of being the first song from a video game (Civilization IV) to win a Grammy (2011).

  • “In Dulce Jubilo (In Sweet Rejoicing),” by German composer and organist Michael Praetorius, a Renaissance double-choir piece—eight parts!—that builds in complexity and contrast throughout;
  • the raw and rhythmic strains of “The Word Was God” by Rosephanye Powell, prolific, composer, educator, and scholar of Black spirituals, that grows in intensity with each verse;
  • and, in a jazzy arrangement from Los Angeles-based vocalist, conductor, and lecturer Christine Helferich Guter, the ever-popular and energetic “Dreidel Song” that spins along like the Hanukkah toy it playfully imitates.

Mark your calendars now to celebrate the Peace and Joy of the holidays with the Arizona Repertory Singers and other music lovers. “The core of choral music is community, all those voices and parts coming together,” says ARS music director Ryan Phillips, “and each time we perform, that community expands to include the audience and all the people they touch as well.”

CONCERT SCHEDULE

Sunday, December 7
4:00 pm
St. Mark Catholic Church, 2727 W. Tangerine Road, Oro Valley

Saturday, December 13
3:00 pm
Christ Church United Methodist, 666 N. Craycroft Road, Tucson

Sunday, December 14
3:00 pm
Christ Church United Methodist, 666 N. Craycroft Road, Tucson

Tickets are available in advance at arsingers.org. Prices are $22 in advance and $25 at the door. Students are admitted free with ID.

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Founded in 1984, the Arizona Repertory Singers is an ensemble of nearly 50 singers from greater Tucson. Over the decades, the choir has developed an extensive musical archive and prides itself on presenting high-quality performances of both standard repertoire and new music. Its singers, selected through a rigorous audition process, represent a variety of work life careers in business, education, engineering, information technology, law, medicine, social service, science, and the arts. For more details, see arsingers.org.

SUN, MOON, AND STARS CELEBRATES WONDER AND BEAUTY OF THE COSMOS

Tucson, AZ, March, 2025 — From the dawn of civilization, people have gazed skyward at the vast unknown and pondered our place in it. The universe — as an idea and a reality — conjures both boundless possibility as well as the limits of human knowledge. This spring, the Arizona Repertory Singers (ARS) consider this poetic paradox in Sun, Moon, and Stars, a globe-spanning program drawing from a wide array of lullabies, evening songs, sacred music, and contemporary classics. 

Covering more than six centuries and including over a dozen choral pieces, Sun, Moon, and Stars explores and contemplates our relationship with the cosmos from early times through today. The oldest piece is Monteverdi’s Ecco Mormorar L’onde, a Renaissance madrigal that navigates various moods from serene to bright, as enjoyable today as when it was written in 1590. 

More recent compositions will be more readily recognizable to audience members. Light of a Clear Blue Morning by Dolly Parton, arranged here in seven parts by Craig Hella Johnson and performed with recorder accompaniment, creates a layered tapestry of sound that honors the original while charting a new choral direction. Fly Me to the Moon — familiar to Tony Bennett fans and also covered by Miss Piggy — is sure to have listeners singing along and swaying in their seats; this modern standard was composed by Bart Howard and arranged by Robert Page.

Moving through musical history, two German pieces evoke a nineteenth-century world of retiring with the sun and appreciating the splendor of the night sky. Josef Rheinberger’s sacred motet, Abendlied (or “Evening Song”), borrows New Testament text to welcome the darkness as a time of peace and rest. On the other hand, O Schöne Nacht! (Oh Lovely Night!) by Johannes Brahms with text from poet Georg Friedrich Daumer and accompanied by piano, captures the romance of the night — the moon’s luminosity, the stippled stars, the nightingale’s song — when lovers meet under cover of darkness.

The program also features two selections from American composer, conductor, and ARS favorite Eric Whitacre. The Seal Lullaby, composed to a poem by Rudyard Kipling, is a rhythmic incantation, summoning slumber with its soothing sounds. The simply titled Sleep, with lyrics by American poet and lyricist Charles Anthony Silvestri, recognizes the obstacles to seeking rest — namely, incessant thoughts — and somehow tucks them in and puts them to bed in a single song. 

Also among the selections is Canadian composer Sarah Quartel’s Sing, My Child, a mixed-meter piece accompanied by djembe and originally composed for a choir of 700; it calls on us to embrace all children, every new generation, as a promise for a new day. A longer, more atmospheric work, “Nocturne” by Black American composer Adolphus Hailstork, immerses listeners in the wondrous sights and sounds of nature, each line an inquiry and invitation to share in “the beauty of a summer night.”

Combining the traditional and contemporary, light and dark, collective experience and personal impression, Sun, Moon, and Stars offers a multi-faceted choral journey through the universe. Says ARS music director Ryan Phillips, “This is a performance inspired not only by musical beauty, but by poetry as well. It promises to be an enriching and captivating afternoon for all.”

CONCERT SCHEDULE

Saturday, April 26
3:00 pm
Christ Church United Methodist, 666 N. Craycroft Road, Tucson

Saturday, May 3
3:00 pm
Christ Church United Methodist, 666 N. Craycroft Road, Tucson

Sunday, May 4
4:00 pm
St. Mark Catholic Church, 2727 W. Tangerine Road, Oro Valley

Tickets are available in advance at arsingers.org. Prices are $22 in advance and $25 at the door. Students are admitted free with ID. 

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Founded in 1984, the Arizona Repertory Singers is an ensemble of nearly 50 singers from greater Tucson. Over the decades, the choir has developed an extensive musical archive and prides itself on presenting high-quality performances of both standard repertoire and new music. Its singers, selected through a rigorous audition process, represent a variety of work life careers in business, education, engineering, information technology, law, medicine, social service, science, and the arts.  

ARS WELCOMES WINTER WITH A “WONDROUS” CONCERT OF HOLIDAY FAVORITES

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tucson, AZ, October, 2024 — This December, join the Arizona Repertory Singers (ARS) to celebrate winter’s arrival with Oh, Wondrous Night!, a musical tour of familiar carols and choral classics. Wrapping up its 40th anniversary year, ARS draws on an extensive catalog as well as new additions for this program of 16 well-known songs, spirituals, revels, and treasured masterpieces.

Audience members will recognize songs from childhood, seasonal standards, and moving choral works. Six pieces feature piano accompaniment, and a string quartet backs four of the compositions. Of this walk down memory lane, music director Ryan Phillips observed, “ARS is delighted to present a repertoire of popular and beloved music to spark joy and set the tone for a festive holiday season.”

The singers are equally excited to share their enduring passion for choral singing with the wider Tucson community. Many have sung in choral groups throughout their lives or have returned to ensemble singing after a hiatus. Some are accomplished musicians in instruments apart from voice—piano, drums, clarinet, and more­­—often performing professionally, teaching, or directing. Their long tenures in ARS are a measure of their devotion to the transformative power of choral singing—one singer has been with ARS since its inception.

Program highlights are:

  • the resonant Carol of the Bells, capturing the cadence and urgency of hand bells ringing and arranged by Peter Joseph Wilhousky;
  • the Tomás Luis de Victoria version of O Magnum Mysterium, a Renaissance motet with imitative polyphony;
  • two compositions by renowned English composer and conductor John Rutter—Candlelight Carol, a tribute to the beauty of nature and a mother’s love, and Angels’ Carol, its sweet harmonies conveying a message of peace and joy;
  • a Hebrew folk favorite at concerts and Shabbat feasts, Hine Ma Tov, proclaiming the pleasures of coming together and arranged by Neil Ginsberg with flute and piano accompaniment;
  • and the rousing Go Where I Send Thee!, a Black spiritual arranged by Paul Caldwell and Sean Ivory, its fast tempo encompassing 15 key changes!

As ever, the ARS annual winter concerts are celebrations of choral music’s extraordinary beauty shared in community. Oh, Wondrous Night! indeed promises to be an occasion for both lifted voices and hearts. Please join Arizona Repertory Singers in the revelry; sing along to your favorite carols; and welcome the season with merriment and music.

CONCERT SCHEDULE

Saturday, December 7
3:00 pm
Christ Church United Methodist, 666 N. Craycroft Road, Tucson

Sunday, December 8
3:00 pm
Christ Church United Methodist, 666 N. Craycroft Road, Tucson

Sunday, December 15
4:00 pm
St. Mark Catholic Church, 2727 W. Tangerine Road, Oro Valley

Tickets are available in advance at arsingers.org/buytickets. Prices are $22 online and $25 at the door. Students are admitted free with ID.

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Founded in 1984, the Arizona Repertory Singers is an ensemble of nearly 50 singers from greater Tucson. Over the decades, the choir has developed an extensive musical archive and prides itself on presenting high-quality performances of both standard repertoire and new music. Its singers, selected through a rigorous audition process, represent a variety of work life careers in business, education, engineering, information technology, law, medicine, social service, science, and the arts. For more details, see arsingers.org.

40th Gala is a STUNNING success

ARS singers performing Alleluia at the 40th gala

Thank you to all who made All the Beauty: 40th Anniversary Gala a stunning success! With friends, family, and community members, we gathered together on April 28, 2024 to pay tribute to four decades of choral virtuosity and community engagement. Our 250+ guests were treated to a mix of song, ARS history, community, hors d’oeuvres and raffle prizes. Each ARS music director – founder Dennis Bonner, Dr. Jeffry Jahn, Dr. Tom Lerew, Dr. Elliot Jones and current director Ryan Phillips – were recognized with music from their tenure. Each of our special honorees, Dr. Julian Ackerley of the Tucson Arizona Boys Chorus, and Dr. Marcela Molina of the Tucson Girls Chorus, conducted one of our pieces. We are so grateful for the incredible contributions they have each made to the choral communities of Arizona and beyond.

A very special thanks again to our sponsors for the gala – Mike and Beth Kasser, The Morris A. Hazan Family Foundation, La Posada Communities, and Rick Sack and the Buy Tucson Lots Team. It was an afternoon we will not soon forget, and highlighted the joy we have for this organization, joining and raising our voices together.

Join us for our 2024-25 season!

We kick off the season with three holiday concerts:

December 7 and 8 |Christ Church United Methodist, Tucson | 3 PM
December 15 |St Mark Catholic Church, Oro Valley |4 PM