Sons of Orpheus Members

The Director and Accompanist

Grayson Hirst, Artistic Director

Grayson Hirst, professor of voice at the University of Arizona, has devoted himself to the evolution of Sons of Orpheus since founding the organization in the fall of 1991. His full biography can be found here.

Brent Burmeister, Accompanist

Our pianist since 1998, Brent is one who not only can play the accompaniments to perfection, but also carefully checks all arrangements. We appreciate the valuable advice and error checking of the “Orpheus Philharmonic,” and also the occasional tidbits from Adler, Schopenhauer, and Nietsche that he throws at us.

The Singers

* Indicates a founding member of the choir

First Tenors

William Darnell
Eugene Friesen—Eugene has had two careers, first as an army chaplain, and second as a psychologist in private practice in Tucson. In retirement, he gives psychology lectures on cruise ships.
Joseph Delapast— Having spent 20 years as a chef, Joseph wanted to return to music: his true love. He has been singing in choirs since a youth. Being in a choir feels like he is home. He is excited to join Sons of Orpheus.
Lin Li
Jeffrey McCune—Jeffrey is a father of four. He managed for Boeing for 28 years, and served 32 years as a Navy Reservist. L=He loves to sing, garden, raise koi fish and travel with his lovely wife.
Bruce Mortensen—Section Leader
Born in Clinton Iowa, Bruce has lived in Tucson since 1978. His partner Vicki Franz works at the American Board of Radiology. “We have two live-in domestic terrierests which keep us on border patrol of our back yard. They think of themselves as great white bush hunters in their little pith helmets, but we have their numbers!”
Tony Spar

Tom Storm—Tom is a retired chemical engineer. He owned the company WSI, Inc. in Cincinatti, which he sold in 1997. He moved to Tucson in 2000. He enjoys singing, golf, and hiking.

Second Tenors

Dave Burns—Section leader
A Montana native, Dave has lived in Tucson since 1984. He is a partner in BWS Architects, and is a hiker, bicyclist and fisherman. His wife Nancy is a fantastic cook and native of Lima, Peru. He has two grown daughters.

Gavin Kayner

Richard Kenney—Richard sang with the Newton South Choir for three years, and played the lead in the musical Charley’s Aunt. In college, he had a bit role in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. He sang with the Yale Glee Club.
Richard Klassen—Retired from family medicine practice, Richard loves to volunteer cook at Teen Challenge Drug Treatment program, and hopes to sing in the heavenly choir when he gets there.
Bob Kurtz—A graduate of Michigan State University with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, and having served 8 years, active and inactive, in the U.S. Army Reserves, Bob is now retired from his family sand, gravel, and ready-mixed concrete business. He and his wife split their year between Michigan and Green Valley. Since high school, Bob has been actively involved in church and community choirs, and has performed in a number of operettas.
Richard Miller—Richard grew up in upstate New York and attended the University of Rochester and Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He worked at Westminster School in Simsbury, Conn., for 33 years, eventually becoming Assistant Headmaster. He retired to Tucson in June of 2000. Since that time he has served as a community volunteer for several organizations, including the Community Advisory Board of United Way, as well as its Supporting Seniors Coalition, and as a Literacy Volunteer Tutor. He is the current chair of the Executive Committee of Sons of Orpheus. Richard and his wife Linda have two children, both of whom are married and live in California.
Daniel Pinda—Dan is a retired engineer who is now taking art and music classes at Pima. He enjoys playing trumpet, singing, and electronic music.
Gary Reeve—Gary is semi-retired and originally from St Louis. He has been singing in choral groups for over 60 years, including with the St Louis Symphony and church choirs. He has also been singing with the Motet and Chautauqua Choirs for over 30 years. Since coming to Tucson, he has been singing with Tucson Barbershop Experience and The Sons of Orpheus. He has always served on different Boards elsewhere but in Tucson joined TROT (Therapeutic Riding of Tucson). He has 3 children and 8 grandchildren with his wife Colleen of over 40 years.
Dennis Riley
Arthur Watson

Baritones

Rick Anderson—After retiring from the Colorado Wildlife department, Rick became very interested in music, Tai Chi, and nature studies.
Roger Carmichael—Section leader
Morgan Grantham
Neil McGarry—"I am a native Tucsonan... Born at Tucson Medical Center, attended Kindergarten through high school in the Flowing Wells School system, and studied music and engineering at Pima College and the University of Arizona. I studied under Grayson's direction and was a member of his studio in 1986.

"Singing is a tradition of the McGarry family and I grew up with the legacy. My father, James "Al" McGarry, was a very talented baritone who gained local notoriety in Massachusetts in the late 1950s with his quartet "The Dial Tones" (all four members were phone company employees). My sisters and all of my cousins sing and we often joke that we would be disowned if we didn't. My cousin Kate is the most musically accomplished of all of us, having received several Grammy nominations including for Female Jass Vocalist of the year.

"While in college, I, together with tenor Bob Einweck, mezzo Hellen Theonus, and soprano Moinica Carney, formed the Christmas quartet "The Holidays," which performed all around Tucson for some eight years. I have not sung in a choir or any other multi-part group since The Holidays and am looking forward to singing again."
Tom McGowan
Charles Noble
Tom Rucker
Ronald Schwind—Ronald was formerly a Cadastral Surveyor whose 44-year career embraced delineation of original land boundaries for conveyance of title from Federal to individual, State of Alaska, and Alaska Native Corporation ownership. He also participated for nearly 30 years in Alaska and Arizona as an “Ending Hunger” activist.
John Stoner—With a Masters and Doctorate from Princeton, John was a faculty member of the University of Arizona Physics Department for 30+ years. He has a wife, Rosalie, and four wonderful children. He loves volleyball, swimming, hiking, piano, reading, and travel.
Walter Thomas—Walter moved to Tucson seven years ago from Dayton, Ohio. He is a semi-professional photographer. Two sons and their families also live in Tucson.

Basses

Ruo Shan Agbani—Originally from Pittsburgh (Go, Steeler Nation!), Ruo Shan is retired from two careers: Marketing/advertising and Veterans Administration. He is happily married and is an Air Force Veteran. He ia a member of the Baha'i Faith and is proud to have performed with the Baha'i House of Worship Choir in Wilmette, Illinois. In addition, having sung since 4th grade, he currently sings with the University Community Chorus (UA). Though retired, he and his wife are partners of AAA Message Spa here in Tucson. Finally, he remains an avid cruiser motorcycle rider and active archery enthusiast.
Matt Boberg—Matt is a classically-trained bass/baritone singer and entrepreneur.
Jeffry Davis—Jeffry has been singing in choirs from about age 10. He became involved in musical comedy, and has sung in many choirs in college, New Jersey and Arizona.
Han Eijsink—Born and raised in Holland, Han came to the US as an aerospace engineering grad student. There he met Stephanie, who grew up in Wyoming. They have 4 daughters and 2 grandchildren. Han has been in choirs since grade school, including in Holland, Germany, Kansas and of course Arizona. Han has toured with the Voices of Baha international choir in Asia and Europe. He is a member of the Baha'i Faith, and loves to travel, read and sing.
Kenneth Frahm—With more than thirty years in barbershop choruses and more than fifty years in church choirs, Kenneth loves to sing in groups. He grew corn and wheat in northwest Kansas before retirement.
Frank Hartline—Frank and his wife Cherie moved to Tucson to work for Raytheon Missile Systems from Dallas, where he worked for Texas Instruments after a 30 year Army career as an armored cavalry officer, acquisition manager and economics professor. Degrees include a BS in Engineering from the US Military Academy and an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School, UPA. Frank sings with the Catalina Foothills Church and Arts Express choirs and with the Tucson Babershop eXperience—the Tucson chapter of the world’s largest male singing organization, the Barbershop Harmony Society. He performs with the western band the “Moonstruck Coyotes.”
Joshua Schulter
Eugene Stevick
Thomas Wentzel—Webmaster. Tom grew up in Maine, where he sang in the Bates College Choir for four years. In Tucson in the late 80s, he sang motets, madrigals, carols, and shape-note music with the eight-member Furry Day Singers. He joined the Sons of Orpheus in January 2002 and enjoys their varied repertoire. With a Ph.D. in Physics, Tom works as a senior scientific programmer for the National Solar Observatory. He has been married to Cynthia Meier since 1987. He currently divides his free time between weekend dayhikes in the nearby mountains and deserts, Sons of Orpheus (for which he is Webmaster and arranger), Arizona Repertory Singers (which he joined in 2016), and The Rogue Theatre (co-founded by Cynthia Meier and Joseph McGrath in 2005), for which he is Webmaster, layout artist, and box office manager.

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