VOICES IN THE OAKS CHORALE
Sponsored by the Oracle Piano Society, the Voices in the Oaks Chorale is a community chorus, made up of singers from the Oracle/Oro Valley/Tucson area. We are a small, non-auditioned chorus of 20 – 25 singers.
Our location in the high desert town of Oracle, Arizona is perfect for any singer who wants a quality choral experience, but is tired of fighting traffic to drive to rehearsal in downtown Tucson. Our venue, the Oracle Center for the Arts is only a 30 minute drive from Oro Valley!
Rehearsals are held on Saturday mornings from 10:00 - 12:00 noon at:
Oracle Center for the Arts
700 E Kingston St
Oracle, AZ 85623
Our first rehearsal of the 2023 Spring Season is January 21. This first rehearsal is free to participants.
To register online for the Fall season, click here: https://form.jotform.com/230034500016132
ADA Accessibility:
If you are interested in becoming a Voices in the Oaks participant and require ADA accommodations, please complete the form below.
Please contact ADA Coordinator, Bridget Cook at ada@oraclepianosociety.org if you have ADA related questions.
There will be no fee to sing that evening. It will be a time to reconnect with past singers, and for new singers to try us out. Please invite anyone who you think might be interested.
Voices in the Oaks Choral Director – Mirae Lee
Returning for her second season with the Voices is our Choral Director, Mirae Lee. Mirae is a 3rd year DMA student studying Choral Conducting with Dr. Elizabeth Schauer at the University of Arizona. She has a long list of choral conducting experience with university, church and secular groups.
Mirae also holds a degree in Music Composition and has written and performed a number of works for chorus and piano.
Concert Schedule:
As more information is available regarding concert programs, it will be posted here.
Fall Concert: November 13, 3 pm at Oracle Center for the Arts
Messiah Sing Along: Sunday December 11, 3 pm at Oracle Center for the Arts
Messiah Sing Along: Saturday December 17, 4 pm at Saddlebrooke Ranch Sol Ballroom.
Spring Concert: April 16, 3pm at Oracle Center for the Arts
Health Guidelines:
We have updated our policies to reflect changing conditions and transmission risks.
Anyone may wear a mask at any time during rehearsal or performance.
Stay home if you feel sick.
When you must stay home, continue to practice with rehearsal recordings.
VOICES IN THE OAKS CHORALE
The Voices in the Oaks Chorale is a community chorus, comprised of singers from the surrounding Tucson area. The Chorus is not auditioned. All are welcome to join us. The only requirements are a love of singing, the dedication to attend rehearsals and to learn the music, and to perform to your best ability.
History:
In February of 2016, Mary Huebner founded the Voices in the Oaks Chorale to bring a choral music component to the Oracle Piano Society. The purpose was to bring enjoyment of vocal music to anyone who wanted to participate, and to enhance appreciation for music in particular. The chorus has created a chorale community that grows in number and musicianship with each concert presented! Mary directed the chorus until March 2019 when she stepped down from the conductor's box and stepped up on the risers doing what she loves; to sing.
The Chorale presents two concerts per season plus a Messiah Sing Along in December.
Past Performances:
May 2016 Songs of the British Isles
Nov 2016 American Folk Songs
Mar 2017 Classic Broadway
Nov 2017 Veterans Day Salute
Dec 2017 GF Handel, Messiah Sing Along
May 2018 PDQ Bach, Oedipus Tex
Dec 2018 GF Handel, Messiah Sing Along
Mar 2019 St. Paddy’s Day Concert
Nov 2019 Tribute to Veterans
May 2021 Connected (a virtual concert)
Nov 2021 R-E-C-O-N-N-E-C-T-E-D
Dec 2021 Handel, Messiah Sing Along
Apr 2022 Songs and Sonnets of William Shakespeare
Nov 2022 Living with Nature and Music: The Summer is Gone
Dec 2022 Handel, Messiah Sing Along
Membership:
Anyone who loves to sing may join the Chorale!
Participation fee is $60 and helps cover music, director, and accompanist fees.
Rehearsals are Saturday mornings from 10-12 noon. Please note: Rehearsal times and locations are subject to change based on Oracle Center for the Arts availability.
Chorus Director
Mirae Lee
DMA, Choral Conducting, in progress at University of Arizona
MM, Choral Conducting, University of Alabama
BM, Composition, Chung-Ang University, South Korea
Mirae Lee is a conductor, composer, and pianist with a variety of worldwide performance experiences. She is currently a DMA student in Choral Conducting at the University of Arizona under Dr. Elizabeth Schauer. Mirae was awarded the Medici scholarship in addition to numerous other scholarships, and a fellowship at the University of Arizona. She has also worked with University Community Choir and Tucson Arizona Boys Choir as an assistant conductor. Recently, she is serving as a music director of the Tucson Apple Tree church and as a Communication Chair in a graduate chapter of the American Choral Directors Association at the University of Arizona.
During her academic years in Tucson, Mirae published her article, Understanding Arirang, Korea’s Representative Folk Song in The Antiphon, which is a publication of the Arizona American Choral Directors Association. Also, Mirae was invited as a guest lecturer for a choral literature class at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and for a webinar by the University of Arizona Community Chorus. She served on a panel for a session on Virtual Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Series provided by the Western division of the ACDA.
Before she moved to Tucson, she completed her master’s degree at the University of Alabama. She got a full scholarship for two years served as a teaching assistant and an assistant conductor for the University Singers, University Chorus, Women’s Choir, Chamber Choir, and Men’s choir under the direction of Dr. Andrew Minear from 2017 to 2019. In addition to teaching choirs, she also assisted with the teaching of the Fundamentals of Conducting classes, which were primarily attended by undergraduate students. She was selected as a participant for a Student Conductor’s Masterclass in Southern Region ACDA at Louisville, Kentucky. Dr. Ken Fulton and Dr. Judy Bowers served as the clinicians and Mirae conducted the University of the Cumberland’s Chorale. She was also selected as a presenter in the reading session of the conference.
Before she moved to the United States, she attended Chung-Ang University where she received her Bachelor of Music in Composition. During her college time, she became passionate about composing new choral works, and her original works were premiered by both professional and collegiate choirs across Korea. One of her works, Poong-nyeon Noh-ree, was won a grand prize ats the Choral Music Composition Competition hosted by An-Dong City, South Korea.
Mirae also holds a special passion for children’s arts education, leading her to go to Nairobi, Kenya for the purpose of volunteering and teaching music to Kenyan Children in 2013. She taught choir, piano, and basic theory to all different levels of Kenyan children’s groups. Inspired by this experience, she co-founded an organization called the Watoto Wangu Foundation in 2014 with Korean and Kenyan friends which was instrumental in the creation of the bus library, a community resource that served to distribute books to local children alike, and that also hosted community-based children’s art events which included music making and art lessons.
Hsin-Chih Chang
Pianist
Born and raised in Taiwan, Hsin-Chih Chang moved to New York City in 2012. She earned her Master of Music at the Manhattan School of Music, where she worked as a staff piano accompanist. She then taught in New York and Illinois before moving to Tucson in 2017.
Since then, Chang has performed at the Tucson Brass Workshop, Az Corno Con Concert, TóCALO Tucson Festival, Choral Educators Choral Festivals, Northern Arizona University Vocal Jazz Madrigal Festival, the University of Arizona Double Reed Day, and many others. Currently, she is the principal accompanist at the Voices in the Oaks Chorale of the Oracle Piano Society and Congregation Beit Simcha. She is also employed as the OMA Arts Integration Specialist at Tucson Unified School District.
A. Subset Photography
The Chorale performs PDQ Bach’s hilarious oratorio “Oedipus Tex” in Spring 2018.
America The Beautiful with Leia Wasbotten, soloist.