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Southern Oregon Repertory Singers co-founder Brian Tingle. Photo by Marvin Walder.

Notes from Our Past: Forty Years of Milestones, Memories, and Melodies – Chapter 1

Written on . Posted in History.

A Circuitous Route to the Southern Oregon Repertory Singers

By Brian Tingle, Co-Founder

In 1979, graduate student Brian Tingle and his wife Debbie attended a Community Concert in Springfield, Illinois, featuring the Roger Wagner Chorale. During the performance, a baritone’s powerful, unamplified voice filled the hall with “Oklahoma!”—a moment they remembered for years.

Fast forward to 1985 in Ashland, Oregon, where Debbie sang in Southern Oregon State College’s production of Amahl and the Night Visitors, directed by Ellison Glattly, the college’s Director of Choral and Vocal Activities. At the cast party afterward, Brian and Debbie were astonished to learn that Ellison had been that same baritone they’d heard in Illinois five years earlier.

At the time, the small Ashland choral ensemble in which Brian and Debbie sang had recently disbanded. Conversation (and a pitcher or two of beer) sparked an idea: start something new. With Glattly’s access to the college’s music library and recital hall, and the Tingles’ connections in local choirs, the Southern Oregon Repertory Singers took shape in early 1985.

Brian, drawing inspiration from his time with the Oregon Repertory Singers in Lake Oswego, borrowed the name—adding “Southern” to make it their own. The fledgling group began rehearsing Sunday afternoons to avoid conflicts with other choirs, and by April 1986, they presented their first concert in the SOU Music Recital Hall featuring Benjamin Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb, Tomas Luis De Victoria’s Ave Maria, Francis Poulenc’s Benedictus from Mass in G, Johannes Brahms’ Warum ist da licht gegeben, Ralph Vaughn Williams’ Five English Folk Songs, Irving Fine’s Have You Seen the White Lily, Pablo Cassal’s O Vos Omnes, Gail Kubik’s Polly-Wolly-Doodle, Scott Joplin’s We Will Rest Awhile, and the closer was Aaron Copland’s Stomp Your Foot (from The Tender Land). Glattly directed, with Tingle as Assistant Director, Michael Grossman on piano, and Margaret R. Evans on organ.

That first concert was an all-volunteer effort (no paid performers or director)but it covered its modest costs and inspired everyone to continue. With official non-profit status soon secured, the ensemble launched into the 1986–87 season, beginning a tradition of excellence that has now flourished for 40 years.

From a serendipitous encounter in Illinois to a thriving artistic institution in the Rogue Valley, what a journey it’s been!