The Southern Oregon Repertory Singers will open their 2026-27 season Nov. 7-8 with a concert that invites audiences to rediscover the beauty in everyday life through music exploring nature, love, loss and the fragility of existence.
Titled “Holding Wonder,” the program will feature works ranging from Johannes Brahms to Dolly Parton, along with contemporary choral compositions, including a new work by the ensemble’s composer-in-residence, Jodi French.
Performances are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 7, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8, at the Southern Oregon University Music Recital Hall, 450 S. Mountain Ave., Ashland.
Music Director Paul French said the program is intended to encourage listeners to see the familiar world from a fresh perspective.
“In our overly mechanized, digitized, monetized world, we need great poetry and music to remind us of the wonder and beauty all around us,” he said.
The concert will open with Brahms’ “Nänie,” a meditation on grief and the fleeting nature of life, and conclude with “Little Blue,” a composition by Jacob Collier, the young British musician and composer sometimes dubbed “the Mozart of Gen Z.”
Between those works, the choir will explore a range of musical expressions of wonder, from the spectacle of the northern lights to the quieter beauty celebrated in poetry.
Music from the rim of a glass
One of the program’s most unusual selections will be “Northern Lights” by Latvian composer Ēriks Ešenvalds, which evokes the aurora borealis through choral harmonies accompanied by the ethereal sounds of tuned glasses.
About a dozen choir members will play wine glasses tuned to specific pitches by adding carefully measured amounts of water. The performers produce tones by wetting their fingers and moving them gently around the rims of the glasses.
The piece also will feature a glass harp played by Rep Singers tenor Zachery Marshall, who built the instrument for his own use.
The glass harp has a history with the ensemble. Marshall brought it to a rehearsal two years ago, where French recognized its potential for a choral work involving tuned glasses. The director incorporated the instrument into the arrangement of a piece performed in November 2024.
Now, two years later, the instrument returns for the opening concert of the new season.
French pointed to “Northern Lights” as a particularly vivid expression of the concert’s central theme: wonder.
Where poetry meets music
Poetry will provide another thread connecting the musical selections.
British composer Lucy Walker’s setting of Sara Teasdale’s anti-war poem, “There Will Come Soft Rains,” will be featured, along with Jodi French’s new choral work, “Life Has Loveliness to Sell,” based on Teasdale’s poem “Barter.”
The latter work provides the inspiration for the concert’s title.
“Teasdale’s beautiful poem shows us a more beautiful way to view the world around us,” Paul French said.
A different expression of hope will come with Dolly Parton’s “Light of a Clear Blue Morning,” featuring four sopranos from the ensemble: Alexander Carwithen, Ruby Johnson, Jennifer Matsuura and Muriel Garcia-Hart. The full choir will accompany the quartet.
Instrumentalists will add texture and variety to the choral performances. Rogue Valley cellist Michal Palzewicz will perform in several works, with additional accompaniment by Jodi French on piano, Sherril Wood and Luna Bitzer on flutes, and Theresa McCoy on percussion.
“This program is full of beauty and wonder. All the music is lyrical and beautiful, and the texts remind us to see the beauty and hope all around us,” Paul French said.
The 70-plus-voice ensemble, founded in 1985, includes accomplished volunteer singers, professional performers and music educators. Music director French is a professor emeritus of choral studies at Southern Oregon University.
Connecting music and community
The season opener also will continue the ensemble’s Community Partnership program, introduced last season to connect its musical programming with the work of regional nonprofit organizations.
This year’s partners include the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, Habitat for Humanity, Southern Oregon Climate Action Now and the Grants Pass Gospel Mission. Representatives of the organizations will be welcomed at the concerts.
“Our partnership program is designed to foster collaboration with local organizations whose missions align with the themes of our concerts,” said executive director Kim Andresen. “Our goal is to deepen the connection between our music and community, and create opportunities for our audiences to engage beyond the concert hall.”
Last season, the ensemble partnered with Jackson County ACCESS and Harry & David to collect food and donations that provided the equivalent of more than 2,200 meals for local residents.
The November concerts also will mark the debut of a Rep Singers merchandise store, offering T-shirts, hoodies, canvas tote bags, recordings and other items. Merchandise also will be available online at repsingers.org/shop.
Concert sponsors are Bill and Sarah Epstein, Ellen and Julian Hamer, and Phyllis Douglas.
Tickets for “Holding Wonder” and the full season are available at repsingers.org or by calling the box office at 541-552-0900. Student and Oregon Trail tickets are available for $5, subject to availability.
The season ahead
The remaining 2026-27 season will include three concert programs:
The holiday concert, “A Scattered Light in Winter,” will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 18, at the Holly Theatre, 226 W. Sixth St., Medford, and at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 19-20, at the SOU Music Recital Hall in Ashland.
“We Are Stardust” follows at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 6, and 2 p.m. Sunday, March 7, at the SOU Music Recital Hall.
The season concludes with “Like Barley Bending,” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 29, and 2 p.m. Sunday, May 30, also at the SOU Music Recital Hall.
Freelance writer Jim Flint is a retired newspaper publisher and editor. Email him at jimflint.ashland@yahoo.com