Altos

CORA BLOUCH is in her sixth season with the Chorale. Cora first studied music at Northern Arizona University and completed her Bachelor’s degree in Vocal Performance at ASU. She lives in downtown Phoenix and is an active contributor to the arts community. She sings jazz standards with her jazz group, participates in a variety of side projects in both studio and live performance, is alto soloist at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, and for her day job, works in healthcare administration. In addition to her many singing engagements, she launched a fiber-arts business with two friends of hand-knitted wares and handspun yarns, which can be found in consignment shops, farmer’s markets and art walks around the Valley. (www.Bewilderknits.com)

KERRY GINGER is in her first season with the Chorale. An active soloist and teacher across the Valley, she made her opera debut in 2010 with the Phoenix Opera and appeared as soloist with The Phoenix Symphony in Hans Krása’s Brundibár. She sings with the Phoenix Opera and Arizona Opera ensembles and performs as a teaching artist with Arizona Opera’s outreach program, OperaTunity. She also appears regularly with the Tucson Chamber Artists and Scottsdale Choral Artists. She was a featured performer with the Walla Walla Baroque Festival in 2006 and won the Arizona NATS Artist Award recital competition in 2008. She taught at Kirk’s Studio for the Performing Arts in Scottsdale, and from 2008 to 2010, she taught class voice and music theory at Phoenix’s Metropolitan Arts Institute. Kerry also maintains a private studio and is pursuing her doctorate in Voice at ASU.

KAREN KNUDSEN is in her fifth season with the Chorale. After studying vocal performance at Brigham Young University where she toured with the BYU Singers, she moved to Phoenix and began singing with the Phoenix Chorale and the Arizona Opera Chorus. She has performed as alto soloist with The Phoenix Symphony, Arizona Bach Festival, the Phoenix Boys Choir, and the Arizona Vivaldi Festival. She recently performed Karl Jenkin’s Stabat Mater with the Choirs of All-Saints Episcopal Church where she is alto section leader and soloist. Karen and her seven sisters perform as The Knudsen Sisters and released a Christmas album title Joy. Karen lives in Gilbert with her two amazing yet “spirited” children, without whom, she’d be lost.

RITA LITCHFIELD-GOOD is in her sixth season with the Chorale. She received her Bachelor’s degree from the University of the Pacific Conservatory of Music and did graduate work at James Madison University. An advocate of new American art song, she was an active recitalist with New Music New York. She has made her Avery Fisher and Carnegie Hall debuts, covered roles for New York City Opera, and appeared with the Pacific Symphony, Winston-Salem Symphony, Arizona Musicfest Orchestra, Phoenix Symphony, American Symphony Orchestra, Chautauqua Opera, Opera Roanoke, and Florida Grand Opera. She teaches at Scottsdale Preparatory Academy and lives in Phoenix with her husband, Jay Good, and daughters Elizabeth and Natalie.

AMY PERCIBALLI is in her fourteenth season with the Chorale. A native of Pennsylvania, she moved to Phoenix from Baltimore to pursue graduate studies at ASU. She holds a Bachelor Degree in Music Education and a Masters Degree in Vocal Performance. Amy is passionate about teaching and maintains a busy private voice studio.  She sang with the American Bach Series and has participated in the Carnegie Hall Workshop Chorus. She frequently engages in Nerf combat with her 2 boys, ages 7 & 10, and her tireless chocolate lab keeps her throwing arm in shape fetching tennis balls. Cooking, baking, and wine drinking motivate her to run and hike with friends and she recently became Reiki certified.

HOLLY SHEPPARD is in her sixth season with the Chorale. She started out working towards a Bachelor’s in Vocal Performance at the University of New Mexico but decided to pursue her passion for visual arts and moved to Phoenix to attend the University of Advancing Technology (UAT). She earned a B.A. in Multimedia with a Digital Animation emphasis and spent six years as an Environment Artist at the video game studio Rainbow Studios/THQ. She plans to help keep the game industry alive in Phoenix and has begun working with a start-up studio as well as pursuing other art avenues. Holly has continued her vocal education, studying with voice instructor Gail Dubinbaum. Holly performs with the Phoenix Opera as a member of the chorus and made her Phoenix Symphony debut in May. Holly recently participated in an opera workshop in Boston and continues to be an active singer throughout the valley.  Holly lives in Mesa with her husband George, and their two birds, Luna and Beaker.

 STEPHANIE STICKFORD is in her fourth season with the Chorale. A native of Ohio, she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in music business and a Master of Arts degree in music education from The Ohio State University. She moved to Phoenix in 1994 to attend graduate school at ASU, and earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in music education. Over the course of her career, she has taught choir and music appreciation at all levels, delivered presentations at state and national music education conferences, taught private voice and piano, served as a church musician and soloist, performed bedside concerts for hospice patients, and sung in jazz big bands and combos. Stephanie currently teaches choir and general music at Cactus View Elementary School in the Paradise Valley School District and is a staff musician and soloist at Church of the Beatitudes.