Jump to: Music Director Dr. Jerron Jorgensen | Accompanist Mikiko S. Petrucelli | Conductor Emeritus Lynn Sjolund | Click to Listen | Reviews
For more than 50 years, the Rogue Valley Choral Association has been at the heart of the arts scene in Southern Oregon.
The Chorale presents contemporary choral works including George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Leonard Bernstein, Broadway classics, and even Simon and Garfunkle and the Beatles. In 2001 the group presented the Verdi Requiem with the Rogue Valley Symphony. In 2009 the Chorale was featured with the Symphony performing Orff’s Carmina Burana.
The Chorale is committed to showcasing the works of local and emerging artists and is pleased to add to its repertoire by commissioning original compositions. The organization’s concerts are featured on the beautiful stages of the Craterian Theater, the SOU recital hall, and Grizzly Peak Winery.
We are grateful to our many loyal supporters, without whom we could not have reached our current level of excellence. Contributions are the lifeblood of arts organizations, and the Chorale is no exception. Financial support is essential to the Chorale’s ability to enrich the lives of our Rogue Valley audiences. We sincerely appreciate your support.
The Rogue Valley Chorale Association is proud to announce our new Music Director for the Rogue Valley Chorale, Dr. Jerron Jorgensen. We are excited to welcome him as we embark on our 50th Anniversary Season. Please stay tuned for date announcements for our 2022/2023 season.
Hailed as a conductor for his “warm, invigorating, and beautifully paced” (Peter Tiboris) as well as “passionate and uplifting” (Adolphus Hailstork) conducting, Dr. Jerron Jorgensen possesses a résumé of diverse musical experiences with professional work as a conductor, soloist, chorister, teacher, and arranger. At present, Dr. Jorgensen serves as Director of Choral/Vocal Studies at Southern Oregon University and Music Director of the Rogue Valley Chorale. Previously, he served as Director of Choral Activities at Coker University and Music Director at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in Hartsville, South Carolina.
Under his direction, The Coker Singers were invited to perform at the South Carolina ACDA conference, completed a professional recording project, and were named national semi-finalists in The American Prize in the collegiate choruses division. Dr. Jorgensen specializes in 20th and 21st-century works and is active as both an operatic and choral conductor. He recently conducted the world premiere of The Cure at Troy (Evan Mack) at Carnegie Hall, as well as the premiere of Half the World by Dale Trumbore and the SATB premiere of Seven Last Words of the Unarmed by Joel Thompson. Contemporary operata highlights include The Ghosts of Gatsby and Lucinda y las Flores de la Nochebuena (Evan Mack & Joshua McGuire) at Coker University; Amahl and the Night Visitors (Menotti) at The Hartt School; and the premieres of Verlorene Heimat(Dawn Sonntag) and The Stranger the Better (Liam Wade) with Hartford Opera Theater.
Dr. Jorgensen has worked as a performer with opera companies, orchestras, and choruses in both the United States and abroad. As a chorister, he has performed with numerous professional choirs, including the GRAMMY®-nominated ensembles True Concord Voices & Orchestra in Tuscon, AZ, and the Taylor Festival Choir in Charleston, SC. Professional work as a soloist includes performances with Hartford Opera Theater, Hartford Independent Chamber Orchestra, Con Brio Choral Society, Torrington Symphony Orchestra, Rhode Island Civic Chorale & Orchestra, Soli Deo Gloria Orchestra, New Haven Oratorio Choir, Hartt Wind Ensemble, New Haven Chorale, and Madison Lyric Stage, MusicaNova, Scottsdale Musical Arts, Heartland Opera, and Brookings Chamber Music Society.
As an academic, Dr. Jorgensen regularly visits high schools to provide in-class clinics, serves as guest conductor for regional honors festivals, and frequently presents on developing and implementing educational scaffolding techniques in music programs at professional conferences for organizations such as ACDA, NCCO, MTNA, and NOA.
Dr. Jorgensen has also worked to build a number of programs in the arts. Jerron is co-founder and Artistic Coordinator of the Blueprint Project, a new initiative to support opera composers and librettists in the compositional process from conception to premiere. While Music Director at First Church, he founded the Barbara Crouse Memorial Concert series and co-founded IN MEDIAS ARTS, an artist collaborative focused on the development and performance of new multidisciplinary works.
Dr. Jorgensen holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Voice Performance from The Hartt School, University of Hartford; a Master of Music in Voice Performance from Arizona State University; and a Bachelor of Arts in Voice from South Dakota State University.
Accompanist Mikiko S. Petrucelli
Mikiko S. Petrucelli was born in Tokyo, Japan where she first started playing piano at the age of 4. She attended the Mushashino Academia Musicae and received her undergraduate degree in Piano Performance. She then moved to Germany and earned a Performance Degree from the Hochschule für Musik in Detmold, Germany. After she returned to Japan, Mikiko played with the string chamber group Uovo as their guest pianist, touring Japan and giving chamber and solo concerts in Germany. She has played on NHK radio, the national public radio station in Japan, and won a special award at the Josef Dichter Competition in Vienna, Austria in 2001.
In 2004 Mikiko moved to the United States and received a Masters of Music from Baylor University and Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.
In 2008, as a result of winning the Chiara Competition, Mikiko performed Dvorak’s Piano Quintet with the Chiara Quartet. She has also studied Historical Performance Practice in fortepiano. In 2008, she was invited to an international conference, as a result of a complete Hixson-Lied Presentation of Scholarly and Creative Activity Grant. She attended an international conference “The Art of the Fortepiano” and performed in several concerts in Middleburg, the Netherlands.
Mikiko has extensive experience as a chamber and solo pianist as well as an accompanist. As of May 2010, she completed three years of service at Doane College in Crete, Nebraska as an adjunct faculty member. She joined the Rogue Valley Chorale as accompanist in 2015.
Click to Listen
Requiem by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Click here to see an interview with David Nienow, SOPTV
Listen to the Rogue Valley Chorale Association’s five choruses sing Elements, by Craig Bohmler, commissioned for the 2015 Festival of Choirs concert.
Listen to the Rogue Valley Chorale’s five choruses sing Bonse Aba, a Zambian folk song.
Lynn Sjolund, Conductor Emeritus
Lynn Sjolund, Conductor Emeritus of the Rogue Valley Chorale, served as Artistic Director from 1973 until 2013. During his tenure the Chorale presented concerts to the community several times a year, toured Europe 7 times, performed at Carnegie Hall and made a lasting impact on the Southern Oregon community. Under Mr. Sjolund’s artistic direction the Rogue Valley Chorale performed many of the great works including Handel’s Messiah, Brahm’s Requiem, Bach’s Mass in B Minor and St. Matthew Passion, Mozart’s Requiem and Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Britten’s Rejoice in the Lamb and Bernstein’s Mass. Mr. Sjolund is well known as a conductor and choral clinician. He has directed festival groups and adjudicated choruses around the country. His tenure with the Chorale began with its founding and spanned four decades, with the exception of three years when he was Director of Choral Studies at Loyola University in New Orleans. Mr. Sjolund taught for many years in the Medford Public Schools and served as President of the Oregon Music Educator’s Association and of the Northwest Division of the Music Educators National Conference. He also served on the American Choral Directors Association Board of Directors for Oregon.
Following his retirement from teaching in public schools, Mr. Sjolund taught at Lewis and Clark College, University of Oregon, and Southern Oregon University on an interim basis. He was also Artistic Director and Conductor for Rogue Opera and Rogue Opera Programs for Youth. Operas he conducted include Die Fledermaus, La Traviata, The Barber of Seville, Don Pasquale, Tosca and Pirates of Penzance. He also produced and conducted education programs including Cinderella, The Barber of Seville, Amahl and the Night Visitors, Pirates of Penzance and Opera for Kids. Mr. Sjolund has conducted the Britt Festival Orchestra and the Rogue Valley Symphony in concerts with the Chorale as the featured group. He also has conducted all-state and festival choirs in the Northwestern and Southeastern United States.
Mr. Sjolund has been the recipient of many prestigious awards including the DistinguishedService Award from the University of Oregon School of Music, the Outstanding Music Teacher of the Year by the National Federation Interscholastic Music Association, and the Distinguished Service to Music Education Award from the Northwest Music Educators. He was honored by his colleagues, receiving the DIstinguished Service to Choral Music Award by the Northwestern Division of the American Choral Directors Association. Mr. Sjolund was honored by the Arts Council of Southern Oregon, receiving its Lifetime Achievement Award on October 4, 2002. He is an honorary member of the Medford-Rogue Rotary and served as President and as a Board Member of the Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater. His academic degrees are from the University of Oregon with advanced study at the International Program for Music Education in Ludwigsburg, Germany. Lynn Sjolund is married to Doris Sjolund, Founder/Director Emerita of the Rogue Valley Children’s Chorus.
To donate in memory of Lynn Sjolund, click the link below:
What people have to say about the Rogue Valley Chorale:
It’s a Grand Night for Singing presented by the Rogue Valley Chorale
Director Lynn Sjolund and the Chorale performed a wonderfully entertaining program which was as fine a presentation as we ever have seen.
Medford Mail Tribune
Chorale Sings Spirited “Seasons”
Saturday’s audience was treated to a spirited performance with many highlights. particularly outstanding was David Gustafson, guest artist from the San Francisco Bay Area, whose beautiful strong tenor voice was a joy to hear. It’s an impressive work, impressively performed.
Medford Mail Tribune
We Will be Forever Changed
RV Chorale does it again, and again, and again…
Now we are actually immersed in the rolling emotions that The Passion by J. S. Bach evokes… a profound accomplishment… we will be forever changed.
Karen Foster
Rogue Valley Chorale Invited to Perform at Carnegie Hall
The Rogue Valley Chorale has been invited to sing at Carnegie Hall in New York City on March 26, 2000… They will be heard both under the direction of its own Artistic Director Lynn Sjolund and under world-renowned conductor and composer John Rutter. The program will be accompanied by the American Symphony Orchestra and will include soloists from the New York City Opera.
Arts Council Newsletter
Spectacular
The Chorale, 98 voices strong, presented the world premiere of “Visions,” a Christmas cantata, and part one of Handel’s “Messiah,” accompanied by a 25-piece orchestra. The result was a first-class performance of stirring, joyful choral and orchestral music appropriate to the Christmas season. Chances are most audiences have heard this work many times, but there is something extra special about witnessing a performance with some 125 performers on stage… Spectacular.
Cleve Twitchell
Bravi Tutti!
While vacationing in Italy we saw notices for a concert by the Rogue Valley Chorale at St. Maria Ricci Church. We made it a point to attend, and, along with many Italians, were very pleased and impressed by the quality and professionalism of the Chorale. We would like to say how proud we were of the Rogue Valley Chorale for being beautifully represented in the arts at the birthplace of the Renaissance.
Richard and Sandra of Gresham
Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!
Fine performance. Bravo! Bravo! Bravo! I was one of the many people fortunate enough to attend the Rogue Valley Chorale’s splendid performance of Bach’s Mass in B Minor. What an extraordinary evening! From start to finish it was a polished affair of profound artistry, eloquence and exultation.
Letter to the Editor, Medford Mail Tribune
The Chorale Combines Fun and Education
They took care of all the legal matters for our business, allowing us to focus on growth and success.
Cleve Twitchell
Thank You for the Joy!
BRAVO! Yet another wonderful concert. I had a difficult time not singing along.
Ruth Klaus