Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra debuts new chorus

The ensemble is a spinoff of the 47-year-old orchestra and a passion project of the orchestra’s Music Director Linus Lerner. Lerner, a classically trained baritone who earned his doctoral degree in conducting from the University of Arizona, has a long history of choral and opera conducting.

The newly formed chorus, under the direction of SASO bass player and composer Robin Lopez-Hanshaw, will perform “Let All Nations Sing,” a concert of folk and classical music that draws from the traditions of Iceland, the Republic of Georgia, East Prussia, Lithuania, Sardinia, England, South Africa, the Congo and the United States.

The program, which brings together languages, traditions and musical styles from around the world, includes Thorkell Sigurbjörnsson’s luminous 13th-century song “Heyr Himna Smidur” (Hear, smith of the heavens); Guido Haazen’s Missa Luba, a Congolese setting of the Latin Mass; and “Indodana,” a traditional sacred South African song that’s often sung at Easter time.

“Let All Nations Sing” also includes works by four Tucson composers: Miranda Blakeslee’s “Prayers of Death”; Aurora Bass’ “Lull to the Array”; Laura Kepner-Adney’s “Everchanging Trail”; and Lopez-Henshaw’s “Tacciono i boschi e i fiumi.”

Performances are at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 24, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 25, at Grace St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 2331 E. Adams St. Tickets are $30 through sasomusic.org.

The chorus’s inaugural season picks up with “Midwinter Lights” Dec. 5-6; a masterworks concert with Tucson Masterworks Chamber Singers March 6-7, 2027; and a fully staged production of Strauss’ comic opera “Die Fledermaus.” With an in-house chorus, SASO has the flexibility to program vocal masterworks including its collaborative concert with Tucson Masterworks Chamber Singers next March and chamber operas like Johann Strauss’ “Die Fledermaus” April 17-18.

For tickets and more information, visit sasomusic.org/saso-chorus