~ MUSICIANS ~

Solis - Choir of the Sun

Solis - Choir of the Sun, (originally Solis Camerata) began in 2011 at Arizona State University as an early music choir. Solis now performs in their twelfth season as a professional choir of eight to sixty-six singers in Phoenix, Arizona. Their repertoire draws from a wide variety of music styles such as chant, polyphony, folk songs, oratorio, video game, and film music as well as contemporary compositions. Solis performed with Emmy-Award Winning Composer, Ramin Djawadi for the Game of Thrones Live Concert Experience, with the band The Eagles, and Irish band, The Chieftains. Solis performed with Andrea Bocelli for his "In Concert for Valentine's" international tour. Additionally, they have performed with Distant Worlds: Music from Final Fantasy and the Zelda, Symphony of the Goddesses concert. They sang for the Phoenix Sing Festival, which presented the music of world-renowned choral composer and guest of the festival Morten Lauridsen and they have had the honor of performing at the 2016 ACDA Western Division Conference in Pasadena, California.

Scottsdale Community College Music Department and Concert Choir

The Music Department at Scottsdale Community College (SCC) is committed to serving our diverse community by offering high quality music experiences in the classroom and on the stage. Our course offerings serve student music majors and students who wish to enhance their personal interests. The faculty in the Music Department are award-winning artists in their field and are committed to the success of each student. The SCC Music Department engages students who are planning to pursue a bachelor’s degree in the fields of Music Education, Music Performance, Music Therapy and Music/Theory Composition through our music courses and transfer programs. We offer performance opportunities in Musical Theatre, Instrumental Jazz ensembles, Symphonic Orchestra, Concert Band and Choir. The SCC Concert Choir is excited to return during the 2022-2023 concert season with a number of on-campus performance opportunities including singing for the George Benson Scholarship Concert, on the Pinnacle Presbyterian Concert Series, and at the Reno Jazz Festival in Nevada.

Phoenix Children’s Chorus

Since 1984, Phoenix Children’s Chorus (PCC) has been transforming children’s lives through music by facilitating artistic, musical, and cultural development, and offering world-class choral education. PCC began with just 35 children and has grown to become Arizona’s premier youth choir, with three Phoenix locations and more than 300 choristers in grades K-12 in six general music classes and ten choirs. More than just a performance ensemble, PCC prides itself on its rigorous music education curriculum including the study and practice of vocal technique, innovative music literacy instruction, and professional performance skills. Our comprehensive program helps children from across the Valley — from economically and culturally diverse backgrounds — to build self-esteem, practice teamwork, and develop broader cultural understanding through music. We strive for variety in our artistic programming, performing an array of styles and genres, premiering new works, and singing traditional choral favorites. Choristers gain professional performance experience through staged concert series, community performances, domestic and international touring, and collaboration with fellow arts organizations.

Dr. Kira Zeeman Rugen

Kira is the Artistic Director of Solis - Choir of the Sun. She is also the choral and musical theatre faculty at Scottsdale Community College. Previously, she taught at Arizona State University, Grand Canyon University, and Arizona Christian University in directing choral ensembles and teaching music education, music history, conducting, and musical theatre. Her choirs have performed at ACDA conferences, in several local concert series, with Andrea Bocelli, and for Game of Thrones, Final Fantasy and Zelda tours. Kira finds tremendous musical joy in working as a choral composer and her compositions have been performed world-wide. Additionally, Kira is an emerging film composer and is a recent 2022 award winner for Best Original Score/Best Composer for the short film, MusArt, in over thirty different film festivals. Kira is a 2022 winner in the HerVoice Music Composition Competition in Chicago, and her music will be performed by the Vancouver Youth Choir conducted by Carrie Tennant this year, while receiving mentoring by composer, Chen Yi. She was recently named the third prize winner in The American Prize for choral works and a finalist with the Ernst Bacon Award for American Music. Kira sings as a soprano in her nineteenth season with the Grammy-award winning Phoenix Chorale.

Troy Meeker

Troy Meeker, Phoenix Children’s Chorus Artistic Director and Conductor of Encore, is a graduate of Northern Arizona University, where he earned a Bachelor’s in Music Education, and Master’s degrees in Educational Technology and Choral Conducting while studying under Dr. Edith Copley and Dr. Ryan Holder. Mr. Meeker taught for 15 years at the middle, high school, and collegiate levels most recently as the Choir Director at Trevor G. Browne High School, a thriving urban choir program which he helped grow to over 350 singers. Mr. Meeker is an in-demand presenter, lecturer and clinician. He has presented at the Western Division and Arizona Choral Directors Association (AzACDA) Conventions as well as the Arizona Music Educators (AMEA) Convention on topics ranging from rehearsal techniques to technology integration in the choral classroom. He has served as a clinician for Arizona Choral Educators (ACE) and AzACDA, as well as a conductor for various honor choirs throughout Arizona. Having served the Arizona choral community in a variety of positions he is currently the AzACDA Youth Repertoire and Resources Coordinator and nationally on the Artistic Advisory Board for Choirs of America.

Katherine Rosenfeld

Katherine Rosenfeld, Phoenix Children’s Chorus Cadenza Conductor, is a music educator, voice teacher, and professional soprano teaching and performing throughout the Phoenix metropolitan area and across the state of Arizona. Rosenfeld graduated from Northern Arizona University with a degree in choral music education. She grew up singing in Arizona and is an alumnus of the Phoenix Children’s Chorus and Horizon High School in Scottsdale. She currently teaches 5th through 12th grade choir at Arizona School for the Arts and runs a private voice studio in North Phoenix for students junior high through adulthood. She has sung with many Arizona-based ensembles including the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra, Quartz Ensemble, Canto Vivo Chorale, the Sedona Academy of Chamber singers, and is currently in her second season singing with the Grammy-award-winning Phoenix Chorale. In addition to teaching and performing, Rosenfeld loves giving back to Arizona’s choral community, currently serving as the Student Activities chair on the Arizona state board of the American Choral Directors Association.

Solis

Choir of the Sun

Soprano 1

Leslie Ellingson

Nicole Belmont

Soprano 2

Adrienne Goglia

Kira Rugen

Amanda Markle Alto

Jessica Bondy

Abigail Fischer

Ariana Iniguez

Tenor

Ben Shafer

Nathan Krell

Luke Fazio

Baritone

John Momeyer

Collin Deinum

Stephen Schermitzler

Bass

Christopher Hererra

Joe Looker

Scottsdale Community College Concert Choir

Soprano

Karina Santiago

Zoe Beal

Soprano 2

Suzanne Rosenow

Shelby Rosenow

Neve Galusha Alto

Emmalyse Lajoie

Jackeline Ceja

Theresa Sewell

Lindsey Lara

Tenor

Carter Anderson

Benjamin Rugen

Justin Aikens

Bass

Griffin Leander

Michael Henry