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April Duvic & Janet Reiter, Directors (learn more)

All in-person concerts! In addition, Sunday's performance will be live-streamed from YouTube


A Washington Welcome!

The Gathering ("Come In")

Words: Robert Bode

Music: John Muelheisen (2019) - click for more about the composer!


Soloists: Katie Hebner, Justin McLoed, Shannon Anderson, Jeremiah Stephens

Percussion: Rebecca Hamlin, tambourine; Erin Walker, drum; Amber Tripp, triangle

With Audience Participation!


Proclaim the Day

Words & Music: Vijay Singh - click for more about the composer!



Spiritual Reflections

Kyrie

Text: traditional sacred Mass

Music: Donald L. Appert (2011) - click for more about the composer!


Kyrie eleison. Christe eleison. Sancto Spiritu, do not leave me.

Lord have mercy. Christ have mercy. Holy Spirit, do not leave me.


Exsultate, Jubilate

Text: traditional sacred Latin

Music: Daniel Schreiner (2019) - click for more about the composer!

Song sponsored in memory of Arthur LaBrant


Exsultate, jubilate (Rejoice, resound with joy)

O vos anime beatae, (O you blessed souls)

dulcia cantica canendo (Singing sweet songs)

cantui vestro respondendo (in response to your singing)

psallant aethera cum me. (let the heavens sing forth with me.)



Life, Seasons, Time

Within the Circles of Our Lives

Words: Wendell Berry

Music: Giselle Wyers (2016) - click for more about the composer!


For Everything There is a Season

Text: Ecclesiastes: 3

Music: Bronwyn Edwards (2017) - click for more about the composer!

Song sponsored by Angela and Bob Barrett


Celebrate Time

(World Premiere - click for more info)

Words: Amber Tripp

Music: Martin Ellis (2023) - click for more about the composer!



---  Intermission - 20 Minutes ---



Washington Weather

I will be the gladdest thing

Text: Edna St. Vincent Millay

Music: Karen P. Thomas (2020) - click for more about the composer!


Monotone

Text: Carl Sandburg

Music: J. Michael Saunders (2012) - click for more about the composer!


A Little Song of Life

The Tenor and Bass Voices of Reprise

Words: Lizette Woodworth Reese

Music: Reginald Unterseher (2016) - click for more about the composer!


Stars Tonight

Words: Sara Teasdale

Music: Judith Herrington (2018) - click for more about the composer!


Percussion: Dakota Luu, bell tree; Erin Walker, finger cymbals

 


Dancing and Singing Our Story

She was dancing...

The Treble Voices of Reprise

Words & Music: Reginald Unterseher (2009) - click for more about the composer!


Percussion: Bob Barrett, claves; Dakota Luu, tambourine; Jeremiah Stephens, djembe; Justin McLeod, shakers; David Tripp, triangle

Dancers: Anna Chapin, Keira Wachter, Averie Tripp


The Story

(as performed by Brandi Carlile)

Words & Music: Philip Hanseroth (2007

Arranged by Felix Linsmeier

Shaker: Amber Tripp


We Were Not Made for Silence

Words & Music: Melinda Bargreen (2023) - click for more about the composer!

Song sponsored by The Shamrell Family in memory of Marilyn DeMeyer
 


Dancing and Singing Our Story

A Jubilant Day

Words & Music: Judy A. Rose (2019) - click for more about the composer!

Tambourine: Becky Hamlin

Soloists: Jeremiah Stephens (March 20), Amber Tripp (March 23), Cain Braveheart (March 24)



Directors' Notes about "The Voice of Washington"

While attending the Washington ACDA Summer Institute in July 2023, we were sitting and observing all of the wonderful Washington composers also in attendance. Suddenly, we had an epiphany: Why not craft this year's concert around these composers' works? And, that very night, we started researching the repertoire that grew into a list of songs, more than we could possibly program in one concert. We are proud to present not only this bounty of beautiful music as a feast for your ears, but also a feast for your eyes. Please enjoy "The Voice of Washington".



Acknowledgements and Thank You's: 


Vancouver First United Methodist Church: Amber Tripp & Martin Ellis

Liberty MS Lions' Choirs:  Erik Edmundson

Amber Tripp, Marketing, Webdesign, Audio & Visual

Adelaine Thunen, Program & Typography 

Bill Niemeyer, Sound/Video & Live-stream 

 

Thank you to all our donors on social media and to Reprise Choir members who championed our Fundraisers. Thank you to our volunteers - we couldn't put on the concert without you!



Co-Artistic Directors

April Duvic and Janet Reiter 

Acquainted since the early 1990s, Janet and Aprils musical paths crossed, re-crossed, and aligned, culminating in the creation of Reprise Choir Sings in 2017. Both Washington natives, their musical roots run deep. Each began piano lessons at an early age. Each participated in school music and theatre programs. Both majored in music education, with emphasis on piano, voice, and choral education. Between the two, they have over 80 years of classroom teaching experience from middle school to college. Lives dedicated to music and still going strong, both as directors, pianists, singers and friends, April and Janet are a testament to the power of impassioned, lifelong music-making!

APRIL BROOKINS DUVIC joined the music faculty at Clark College in Vancouver, WA in 1990; teaching Applied Voice, Music Education and Music Appreciation classes as well as directing the College’s three choirs prior to her retirement in June 2016. She was the first two-time recipient of the College's Exceptional Faculty Award (2001 & 2007). She is an active member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), and the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA.) Her voice students have enjoyed success at many NATS auditions and she has received recognition as the teacher of two MTNA high school national performance competition winners.

Ms. Duvic is a frequent adjudicator for both choral and solo vocal competitions and master classes in Oregon and Washington. She is an Oregon ACDA Certified Choral Adjudicator and has been an official Washington State Music Teacher Association approved adjudicator (now Visiting Artist) since 2003.

Active in musical theatre at Clark College and in the Portland/Vancouver area, Ms. Duvic received awards for her musical direction of Evita, West Side Story, and Guys and Dolls. Her most recent musical direction was bare in 2020, which marked her 19th production at Clark College. No stranger to the stage, her favorite roles include Lizzie (110 in the Shade), Arlene (Baby), and Mother Abbess (The Sound of Music).

Ms. Duvic co-directs Reprise Choir, Clark County’s newest community choir, which she co- founded in 2016. 

Ms. Duvic earned her Bachelor of Arts in Music from Whitman College and her Master of Science in Teaching from Portland State University. Ms. Duvic has been featured as a vocal soloist with the Clark College Orchestra; she was a member of the Leyden Singers, the Oregon Symphony's Vocal Pops ensemble, the Portland Opera Chorus and is currently a member of the elite choir Chor Anno. (www.choranno.org)

When not traveling with her husband, she maintains a private vocal studio in Vancouver, WA with students ranging in age from eight to senior citizens.

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JANET REITER retired from full-time teaching after 21 years in the Evergreen School District, as the Choral Music Director at Mountain View High School. After her retirement, she was the choral director at Skyview High School for 3 years, and also taught Vocal Jazz at Clark College for 9 years. While still teaching at Clark, she and April Duvic founded and co-directed the Clark College Chorale for many years.


While at Mountain View High School, Ms. Reiter's concert choirs and vocal jazz ensembles were frequently featured at Music Educator's State and Northwest conferences. In addition, her vocal jazz ensemble performed at the International Association of Jazz Education (IAJE) conferences in Chicago, New Orleans and San Antonio. Ms. Reiter was a 2002 recipient of the Washington Music Educators Association (WMEA) Hall of Fame Award. She serves as the founding director of the 70-voice Seton Catholic Concert Choir located in Vancouver, WA. Ms. Reiter is a University Supervisor in the Graduate Teacher Education Program (GTEP) at Portland State University. She continues to be an adjudicator and choral consultant at festivals and competitions throughout Washington and Oregon.


Ms. Reiter earned her Bachelor of Arts in Music from Central Washington University and her Masters in Teaching from Lewis and Clark University. In 1986 she received a second Masters Degree in Piano Performance, also from Lewis and Clark University. She continues to perform with Chor Anno, a 30-voice choral ensemble comprised of choral music educators and professional singers from WA, OR and WY. 

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John Muehleisen specializes in works for choir and solo voice. John has been composer-in-

residence for Opus 7 Vocal Ensemble for most years since 1996, composing over 25 works for

them. He has also been composer-in residence for the Dale Warland Singers (2003–2004) and for Choral Arts Northwest (2011–2012 and 2016–2017). He holds a Master of Music in Composition from the University of Washington, and did doctoral studies in Composition, Music Theory, and instructional Systems Technology at Indiana University. John’s works have been performed and recorded by a wide range of professional, community, and university choirs in the US, Canada, Europe, and Asia and have been featured at numerous national and regional choral conferences. Recent major commissions include the 2023 cantata Pilgrim Beatitudes (libretto by Euan Tait) for Opus 7’s 30 th Anniversary and Cantata Caffeinata (libretto by Tony Silvestri), commissioned by the American Guild of Organists for their 2022 National Conference.

In addition to composing full-time, John maintains a composition teaching studio of nearly 20 talented private students ranging from 16 to 80+ years of age, many of whom are successful published and commissioned composers in their own right. More details can be found on John’s website: johnmuehleisen.com/about

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Vijay Singh (b.1966) Professor of Music at Central Washington University, has garnered international attention for his eclectic compositions, arrangements, workshops, and performances. Vijay’s music is performed by groups in both Choral and Jazz idioms with over 170 published pieces. He frequently composes on commission for some of America’s finest choirs and jazz vocal ensembles. An active Bass- Baritone soloist, he has performed with the Robert Shaw Chorale, Male Ensemble Northwest, Choral Cross Ties, David Byrne (Talking Heads), Clark Terry, numerous orchestras, and the award winning a cappella jazz quartet Just 4 Kicks. Vijay’s CWU student ensembles have performed at national conferences for ACDA, MENC, IAJE, and JEN. A former ACDA National R&S Chair for Jazz, Vijay is a 15-time ASCAP Composer Awards recipient, strong advocate for music education, and has guest conducted All-State Honors Choirs in over 26 states. Vijay’s “MASS with Orchestra” received its world premiere at Avery Fischer Hall/Lincoln Center in New York City May 30th, 2011. Vijay received CWU’s highest faculty award, the “Distinguished University Professor for artistic achievement”, in 2012. He enjoys spending time with his family, cooking, and fishing.

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As a member of ASCAP, most of Dr. Appert's compositions have been published and his works have been performed throughout the world. His music can be heard on his website at www.maestrodonappert.com. His awards include the American Prize for Orchestral Programming (2011 and 2020), the 2019 – 2020 Clark College Exceptional Faculty Awards, several ASCAPLUS Awards in recognition of his performances in Italy, Romania, Qatar, Europe, Central America, Japan, and the United States. In 2014, Dr. Appert received the Clark County Arts Commission Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award, and in 2009, he received the Washington Community College Humanities Association Exemplary Status Award in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the Humanities.

Dr. Appert received his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music in Trombone from the New England Conservatory of Music, and he earned his Doctor of Musical Arts in Orchestral Conducting at the University of Kansas. He is in his 34th at Clark College, Vancouver, Washington, where he is a Full Professor of Music and Chair of the Music Department, in addition to being the Music Director and Conductor of the Clark College Orchestra.

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Daniel Schreiner (b. 1990) received his B.A. in Music Education and M.M. in Choral Conducting from Central Washington University. At CWU, he  studied conducting with Dr. Gary Weidenaar, composition with Prof. Vijay Singh and Dr. Martin Kennedy, and voice with Prof. Vijay Singh and Dr. Melissa Schiel. Daniel has served as the Resident Music Director for ManeStage Theatre Company in Puyallup, WA since 2010. He currently sings with Resonate, Wellspring Ensemble, the PLU Choral Union, and Chor Anno. Daniel is a co-founder of envision studios LLC, a company specializing in virtual ensemble production. Daniel was the recipient of the 2011 Opus 7 Undergraduate Composition Award for his piece “Cain" and the 2020 Robert Scandrett Award in Composition for his piece "I Am Glad." His music is published through Walton Music and Santa Barbara Music Publishers. Daniel lives and teaches music in Western Washington. For more information, please visit www.danielschreiner.com.

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Giselle Wyers is the Donald E. Petersen Professor of Choral Studies at University of Washington, where she conducts the award-winning University Chorale and teaches courses in choral conducting and music education while maintaining an active schedule as a guest conductor in the United States, Canada, and Europe. Wyers’ choral works are published by Santa Barbara Music Publishing Company as part of the "Giselle Wyers Choral Series," and with MusicSpoke, earthsongs and Hildegard Publishing. Her catalog of commissions for chorus, orchestra, wind ensemble, chamber music forces and solo song include 36 discrete works, including a 30-minute cycle entitled And All Shall Be Well that premiered at Carnegie Hall in 2022. Recent compositions include A Roof and a Bed on the theme of houselessness, commissioned by Portland Lesbian Choir, and Continue for wind ensemble and choir commissioned by Port Angeles High School Music Program. Join in Gathering was commissioned by the Greater Seattle Choral Consortium and Consortio and sung by a plethora of community choruses at the 2022 Seattle Sings Festival. A new art song for soprano and string orchestra, The Open Channel, premieres in Iowa in April 2024.

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Pianist, teacher, composer, music director and musical mentor Bronwyn Edwards has branded herself throughout her music career as a “musical catalyst.” Bron’s “superpower” is bringing people of all levels of musical ability together to make music and create joy.

A native of Sydney, Australia, Bron studied piano privately and by age 11 received honors in piano performance through the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. She later earned a Bachelor of Science (Architecture) degree from the University of New South Wales.

In 1986, Bron moved to the United States, where she pursued her architectural and communications career with the City of Seattle for two decades. In 2008, she made an abrupt career change when invited to lead the music program at Fauntleroy United Church of Christ. Sixteen years later, she still serves at Fauntleroy Church, directing the Chancel Choir, the Fauntleroy Women’s Ensemble and the Ukulele Band.

Bron performed as a piano soloist at SeaTac International Airport for 9 holiday seasons from 2007 to 2015. She directed the South Seattle College Community Choir until Covid-19 brought an end to community singing. Not to be stymied by a mere pandemic, Bron founded the Fauntleroy Virtual Choir in 2020 with local singers from her church and college choirs, adding friends across the US, and even more singers from as far afield as Brazil, Australia and Germany. Bron served as Composer in Residence for the Cascadian Chorale in Bellevue (also interrupted by the pandemic), and she composed a suite of 11 songs for the Vashon Island Chorale for the occasion of the Chorale’s 25 th anniversary. She teaches piano, guitar and music theory. In September 2022, she joined the Boeing Employees Choir, excited for an opportunity to sing with experienced singers. She stepped into the role of accompanist, beginning February 2023, and will tour Greece in the Fall with the choir.

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Celebrate Time

World Premiere

The title of this piece, Celebrate Time, came about after a long discussion on how we often tell ourselves we should be celebrating things like joy, love, and even peace, but somehow, we forget to celebrate the time we are in: the many moments that pass us by all to swiftly, sometimes leaving us bereft of the joy, love and peace we were aiming to enjoy in the first place. All too often, we choose to make time for arguing, focusing on our flaws, disagreeing, warring with each other and even within ourselves, finding disharmony and sharing it across lifetimes. It can be hard to live in the moment, but it is important to take time to do so. Time is the one thing we can never get back. It moves forward with or without us, constant and unchanging, always present. Though difficult at times, we must remember to celebrate time, while we have time to celebrate.

The music suggests all of the elements above: use of generous suspended 2nds and 4ths leave the listener suspended in time, and the energetic piano accompaniment serves as a reminder of the constant movement of our existing busy world.

This piece was written as a gift to our area professional community choir, Reprise Choir, in Vancouver, Washington, and is dedicated to it’s founders and directors April Duvic and Janet Reiter.

Take all the moments of this piece, in the moment, and share the music, the joy, and your time with others.


Amber Tripp & Martin Ellis

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Martin Ellis (b.1967) began piano lessons at an early age in his native state of Indiana. At age eleven, he played his first church service, and went on to study keyboard area performance and composition at Indiana’s prestigious DePauw University School of Music in Greencastle, Indiana. For over twenty years, Martin was the senior staff keyboard artists and staff arranger/orchestrator for the internationally recognized Indianapolis Children’s Choir and Youth Chorale, organist for theIndianapolis Symphony Orchestra, and as a studio musician for two area recording studios. As a composer and arranger his pieces have been published for choral and youth choir organizations by Hal Leonard Publishing and Colla Voce Music Publishing.

As a concert classical and theatre organist, Martin has appeared at numerous major venues across the country. Most recently, Martin appeared in the San Diego 35th International Pipe Organ Festival on the famous outdoor Austin Pipe Organ in Balboa Park that featured “Music at the Movies” and other original works for organ in a variety of styles.

In 2012 Martin relocated to the Portland, Oregon area. He is currently the Music Director and Organist at Vancouver First United Methodist Church in neighboring Vancouver, Washington. Today he operates Martin Ellis Music which has self-published numerous organ/organ-instrumental pieces and has a growing body of work published by Lorenz Corporation of Dayton, Ohio. Martin enjoys an active presence in the area arts community and diverse musical world of the Pacific Northwest.

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Karen P. Thomas is a nationally known leader in the field of choral music and performance, as a conductor, composer, and arts advocate. An award-winning composer, her music is performed internationally by groups such as The Hilliard Ensemble, Vocal Consort of Brussels, NOTUS, and Cathedra of the Washington National Cathedral. Her numerous commissions include works for the Harvard/Radcliffe Choirs, Grand Jubilee in Rome, American Guild of Organists, Alliance World Festival of Women’s Singing, and Association of Anglican Musicians. She received the Dale Warland Singers Commission Award from Chorus America and American Composers Forum, and has received awards from the NEA, American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, and ASCAP, among others.

Ms. Thomas is also the Artistic Director of Seattle Pro Musica, with whom she has received the Margaret Hillis Award and the ASCAP Award from Chorus America. She has conducted at international festivals in Europe and North America, including the Berkshire Choral International and the Bergen International Festival.

For her leadership in multiple areas, including making choral ensembles welcoming spaces for transgender and nonbinary singers, Karen received a 2018 Seattle Mayor’s Arts Award. Named the Washington State 2012 “Outstanding Choral Director”, she is recognized for her “charismatic…magnetic podium presence” and “sweeping vision.”

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Jason Michael Saunders is a composer, conductor, and music educator. A native of the Pacific Northwest, he was born in 1989 and was raised in the Portland, Oregon area.

An active composer, Jason has received commissions, awards, and performances by a variety of choral ensembles across the United States. He was selected as a finalist in the Young New Yorkers Chorus 10th Annual Competition for Young Composers. In 2012, he placed second nationally in the choral composition competition of The American Prize (student division).

Jason is the director of choirs at Graham-Kapowsin High School, where he has taught since 2014. In May 2014 Jason graduated from the University of Southern California, where he earned a Master of Music degree in Choral Music and served as a co-conductor of the Apollo Men’s Chorus. In 2011 he graduated from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington, where he earned a Bachelor of Music Education degree. 

Jason has composed since the age of 16, and has conducted the premiere performances of many of his works. He has studied composition with Morten Lauridsen, Jeffery Parola, and Greg Youtz.

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Reginald Unterseher is Music Director and Composer-in-Residence at Shalom United Church of Christ, Richland, Washington. His works are published by Oxford University Press, Walton Music, MusicSpoke.com, and his web site, as well as in the Justice Choir Songbook.

He was the Washington State Music Teacher’s Association’s “Composer of the Year” for 2013.

Mr. Unterseher’s compositions are regularly performed throughout the world and have been featured at regional and national ACDA and MENC conventions in the US as well as at

Carnegie Hall in New York City.

Reginald Unterseher has always been drawn to composing pieces about the natural world and current events. His career path has careened between being a ski instructor, an opera and music theater performer, an at-home dad to three children, a conductor, and voice teacher. He has served WA ACDA and NW ACDA in several R&R roles over the last 20 years. He is a founding member of Northwest Choral Publishing. Reg has had more of his compositions performed in a nuclear reactor than any other composer in history, living or dead.

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Judith Herrington is the Founder and Artistic Director of Tacoma Youth Chorus and conductor of the Treble Choir, Chorale and Chamber Choir. Recently retired from 44 years of teaching and conducting at Charles Wright Academy and she was the recipient of the Inspirational Faculty Award and Murray Foundation Chair for Teaching Excellence. A graduate of the University of Oregon, Ms. Herrington earned her Master of Education degree from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. Having served in several leadership positions for the WA-American Choral Directors Association Board, she is the 2011 recipient of its Leadership and Service Award. She is an inaugural member of the School of Arts and Communication Advisory Board at Pacific Lutheran University. Ms. Herrington is highly regarded internationally, nationally and regionally as a guest conductor, workshop and choral clinician. She has served as visiting faculty at VanderCook College of Music and recently inducted into the Washington State Music Educators Association Hall of Fame. A noted composer and arranger, she has published through Pavane Publishing, Hal Leonard Publishing, and Colla Voce Publishing. She also edits two choral series for Pavane Publishing.

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Melinda Bargreen is a Seattle-based composer and writer whose award-winning choral works have been featured in performances from New York to China and Belgium, as well as on recordings and on PBS television. Her most recent work (“For All the Beauty”) was commissioned by the Arizona Repertory Singers, and will be premiered in April of 2024.

She is the author of two books about music: “Classical Seattle” (University of Washington Press, 2015) and “50 Years of Seattle Opera” (Marquand Press, 2014). Melinda was classical music critic of The Seattle Times from 1977 to 2008 (now freelancing); she has written reviews and articles for several national and international publications, including the New Grove Dictionary of American Music, MusicWeb International, The American Record Guide, Symphony Magazine, The Christian Science Monitor, and NPR's "Performance Today" series. 

Melinda began piano studies at age four and is still very active as a pianist. She holds B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Washington, and a Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature from the University of California, Irvine.

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Judy A. Rose has a B.S. and M.Ed from Portland State University. While at PSU, she was mentored in Choral Conducting by the late Dr. Bruce Brown.  She studied piano with the late Piano Professor Emerita, Mary Hall Kogen, and late Piano Professor Harold Gray.  She has also studied voice with Christine Meadows. She worked at Portland Public Schools for 20 years as a Middle & High School music teacher teaching Band, Choir & Orchestra.  She currently is the Upper School Music Teacher at The Catlin Gabel School and conducts the Concert Choir at Pacific University in Forest Grove, OR.  She is an active composer, music director, accompanist and singer in the Portland Metro area. 

As a composer, she currently has publications with Santa Barbara Music Publishing and Gentry Publications.  Last Spring, she was commissioned by Resonance Ensemble to write “Reflec” for the Portland Protest Concert with poet Vin Shambry. Currently she is working on writing two commissioned pieces for In Medio which will be premiered in early June 2024 and an SSAA work for the 2024 WA ACDA Summer Music Institute which will be premiered in July 2024.

Judy enjoys playing the Native American Flute, birding, wildlife photography and spending time with her family.  Judy and her spouse share their home and walks with Naomi, a rescued Cardigan Corgi & Chesapeake Retriever mix. Judy’s choral works are performed locally, nationally and internationally. 

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Reprise Choir Singers & Board Members

Sopranos and Altos


Rachael Alexandria

Shannon Anderson*#

Kelli Bee

Beth Borgstede

Robin Brown*

Holly Carson

Jeanine Clark

Becky Hamlin

Katie Hebner*#

Alicia Helm

Lonnie Lathrop*

Shayna Luu

Lori Thomas

Adelaine Thunen*

Amber Tripp*

Erin Walker

Julia Watson


* Board members

# Section leaders

Angela Barrett, Treasurer

Tenors and Basses


Bob Barrett*

Cain Braveheart

Jeffrey Cannon

Tristan Colo

Rick Folston

Jim Galbraith

Colby Hagen

Mitchell Kelly

Dakota Luu

Dave Magnuson

Justin McLeod#

Jeremiah Stephens#

Benito Tijerina*

Joseph Tijerina

David Tripp*

Nathan Weiss


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