About Prescott Chorale

Our Mission...

The mission of Prescott Chorale is to inspire our audiences through the joyful performance of choral masterpieces.

Historical Highlights Of Our Seasons...

Prescott Chorale presented our first season, 2015-2016, to rave reviews following a stellar performance of the Maurice Duruflé Requiem accompanied by renowned organist Ty Woodward.

Our 2016-2017 season became more expansive with the Johannes Brahms Alto Rhapsody and the Johann Adolf Hasse Messe in d minor. The Hasse work was re-discovered by Dr. David Wilson, teacher, scholar and conductor, Professor Emeritus from the Thornton School of Music at USC and a friend of the Prescott Chorale. In May, the Chorale celebrated the genius of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and added an additional performance to showcase both his Solemn Vespers, AND, the Requiem.

The 2017-18 led off with the Chorale performing works, in Russian, by noted composers like Rachmaninoff, Tschesnokoff, and several contemporary composers from the region. In April, the Chorale closed with a glorious presentation of Josef Rheinberger’s, Mass in C Major, op. 69; our three Young Artist Competition scholarship winners performances; the concert closed with Rene Clausen’s Memorial to the victims of September 11, 2001.

That summer, the Prescott Chorale reprised Hasse’s Messe in d minor, taking it to Berlin, Leipzig, Dresden, Wroclaw and Prague. Dr. Wilson returned to Wroclaw to conduct the Chorale in the birthplace of Johann Hasse, almost 50 years after discovering and beginning the reconstruction of Hasse’s score. Before departure, our local audience was treated to a performance of all the music the Chorale was taking on tour.

The 2018-19 season opened with an all Bach concert, a mini-festival as it were, in collaboration with the new Arizona Philharmonic Orchestra featuring J.S. Bach’s Magnificat. The spring concert showcased works by French composers Gabriel Fauré and Camille Saint-Saëns, as well as standout performances by winners of the Chorale’s third Young Artists competition.

Beginning the 2019-2020 season, the Prescott Chorale once again ventured out to perform a lesser known work, the Symphony of Psalms by Igor Stravinsky, a complex and somewhat “dark” piece. It was paired with Brahm’s Liebeslieder Walzer. The April 2020 concert was programed to bring the Prescott Chorale’s fifth season to a close with a performance of contemporary composer Dan Forrest’s Requiem for the Living. However, due to the constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chorale suspended its performances and intends to re-open in October 2021 with this work.

Artistic Director

Dennis Houser has been in professional music for over 50 years as a music educator, performer, and conductor. His experiences include conducting the Master Chorale of Yavapai College, the Pacific Chorale, and the Orange County Master Chorale, plus guest conducting throughout the United States and in other countries. Houser has been featured as guest soloist with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Pacific Symphony, Pasadena Symphony, Pacific Chorale, William Hall Chorale, Orange County Master Chorale, plus numerous other guest artist appearances. Houser has served as guest clinician in over 200 music festivals nationwide.

He currently serves as Choirmaster of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Prescott and is the founding and current Artistic Director of the Prescott Chorale.

Accompanist

Mark Achuff has been a church musician his whole life and was the organist/pianist at one church for 42 years. He has extensive experience accompanying church and other choral groups. As a teenager, Mark performed with the West End Symphony on “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.” Mark loves to work with choral groups and to be part of wonderful teams such as the Prescott Chorale.

Ladies of Prescott Chorale

In order from left to right:
Back row – Helen Fort, Marcia Lyman, Linda Grady
Front row – Kay Houser, Coril Prochnow, Catherine Schild

Prescott Chorale Organization
& Board of Directors

Dennis Houser, Artistic Director
Mark Achuff, Accompanist
Board Officers
Kay Wood-Houser, President
Sandy Johnson, Vice-President
Julie Heitz, Treasurer
Linda Grady, Secretary
Board Directors
Craig Burns, Director
John Euson, Director
Marcia Lyman, Director
Greg Stillwell, Director

You can make a difference

Support the Prescott Chorale and help bring incredible vocal music to our community!