Musicians
Our 2025 Conductor
Ryan Phillips
Ryan Phillips, MM, returns as our conductor, in our 49th year.
Ryan Phillips is director of the Arizona Repertory Singers. He is also Director of Music Ministries at Desert Skies United Methodist Church. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education from the University of Arizona. He received his Master of Music degree from Northern Arizona University, studying under Dr. Edith Copley. As a youth, he sang and toured with the Tucson Arizona Boys Chorus.
2025 Featured Soloists
Clarissa Christina Smith
Soprano
Clarissa Christina Smith, a proud Tucson native, is an accomplished soprano, educator, and emerging scholar pursuing her Doctor of Musical Arts in Vocal Performance with a minor in Ethnomusicology at the University of Arizona under Dr. Kristin Dauphinais. For the past several years, she has served as a teaching artist with Arizona OperaTunity, where she brings opera into classrooms and communities across the state, inspiring young audiences with engaging performances and interactive education.
Clarissa’s stage credits include La Contessa in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro (Oregon State University, University of Arizona, Berlin Opera Academy cover), Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così fan tutte (Berlin Opera Academy), Rosalinde in Strauss’s Die Fledermaus (University of Arizona), and Suor Angelica in Puccini’s Suor Angelica (University of Arizona and Varna International Music Academy). This season, she will appear as Gretel in Humperdinck’s Hansel und Gretel (Arizona OperaTunity, 2025 adaptation). She has also performed in world premieres, including Michael Vince’s Hinterkaifeck at the University of Arizona.
In addition to her operatic achievements, Clarissa is a principal soprano and section leader with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra Chorus and a vocal instructor at Operachi School of Music, where she integrates her operatic expertise with her mariachi roots to guide the next generation of singers.
She is the recipient of numerous honors, including first-place awards in the President’s Concerto Competition (2024), the Marguerite Ough Competition (2022), the Amelia Rieman Opera Competition (2022 & 2025), and the Opera Guild of Southern Arizona’s Quest for the Best Vocal Competition (2025).
Diana Peralta
Alto
Diana Peralta, a mezzo-soprano from Mexico City, graduated from the National Conservatory of
Music with a degree in Opera and Concert Singing. She earned her master’s degree in Voice Performance from the University of Arizona and is currently pursuing her doctoral degree.
Her performances include her debut in 2018 in the title role of Carmen at the San Luis Potosí Opera Festival in Mexico, conducted by Dr. Linus Lerner. She reprised the role with “Opera de México” in Durango in 2019; in Bodrum, Turkey in 2022, and in Jerusalem in 2023.
Peralta’s repertoire also includes roles such as Donna Elvira, Cherubino, Zita, Zia Principessa, Ma Moss, Mercedes, Mme de la Haltiére, Jezibaba, Hansel, Charlotte, Lady Rhondda, Sorceress, and the 2nd and 3rd Ladies in The Magic Flute, among others. She has performed as the mezzo-soprano soloist in The Messiah, Symphony No. 9, Mozart’s Requiem, and Petite MesseSolennelle in New York City.
Peralta was awarded 1st place in the Amelia Rieman Opera, Marguerite Ough, and “Opera Guild Quest for the Best” competitions at the University of Arizona in 2019, 2022, and 2023 respectively, as well as winning the President’s Competition.
Internationally, she won 1st Place in the Vienna Summer Festival Vocal Competition in New York and was cast as Carmen for Vienna, Austria in July 2020. She was named winner of the “Gertrude Brownlee Bitner Memorial Award” in “Opera de San Miguel de Allende” in Guanajuato and received the “Opera of Panama” Award at the Linus Lerner Competition in San Luis Potosi.
She debuted internationally the roles of Zita and Zia in Gianni Schicchi and Suor Angelica in Medellin, Colombia, and collaborated singing with the Tucson Symphonic Orchestra to celebrate Mexican Independence Day, For three years she has been singing for the Operatunity project with Arizona Opera alongside pursuing her doctoral degree in Voice Performance.
Dennis Tamblyn
Tenor
Dennis Tamblyn is thrilled to be making his debut with the Messiah Sing-In and be a part of a long-standing Tucson tradition. After receiving a BS in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics from the University of Arizona, Dennis decided to pursue a career in opera and pursued a BM in Vocal Performance from the University of Arizona and a MM in Vocal Performance from the University of Northern Colorado.
He has performed opera internationally for over 20 years. Some highlights include Spoletta/Tosca andRoderigo/Otello with Opera Classica in Wiesbaden, Germany; Pedrillo/Die Entfurung aus dem Serail and Soloist/Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with Opera New Jersey; and Don Ottavio/Don Giovanni, Albert Herring/Albert Herring, Male Chorus/The Rape of Lucretia with the University of Arizona. Dennis has also enjoyed performing with the Arizona Opera for 20 years performing with the chorus and several featured roles. Dennis was also honored to sing the National Anthem in 2011 for Barack Obama at the Together We Thrive event in Tucson.
Gregory Guenther
Bass
Greg Guenther moved to Tucson in 2008 to complete his DMA in Voice. Since arriving from Oregon, he has performed with various organizations, including Arizona Opera, Phoenix Opera, and True Concord. Greg has won numerous awards, combining his warm lyric baritone sound with strong dramatic intuition. Well-versed on stage, he has performed roles such as Lackey in Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos, German Soldier 1 in Puts’ Silent Night, Guglielmo in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, Belcore in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore, Sid in Britten’s Albert Herring, Count Robinson in Cimarosa’s Il matrimonio segreto, and Piquillo in Offenbach’s La Périchole. His oratorio repertoire includes Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass and Creation, Mozart’s Thamos, König In Ägypten, Mondonville’s Grand Motet Psalm 18, and various Bach cantatas.
Previously, Greg taught voice and stage classes at the University of Arizona and the University of Oregon. While in Oregon, he was a founding member of the collegiate a cappella group On The Rocks, which placed nationally in the ongoing ICCA competition.
Currently, Greg is on the faculty at Pima Community College (since 2011), works as a design team Opera Artist with Opening Minds through the Arts (OMA) at TUSD, and maintains a private voice studio in Tucson. He enjoys traveling with his family and playing guitar. Most recently, Greg has been performing with one of Arizona’s premier vocal quartets, The 4Gents.
Orchestra
Violin I
*Laura Tagawa
Diana Ransdell
Jose Leonardi Moore
Lillian Meriwether
Violin II
*Sandra Lanz
Edie Lantz-Leppert
Kate Riley
Ellen Caldwell
Viola
*Chris Beasley
Melissa Hamilton
Ann Weaver
Virginia Moyer
Cello
*Marguerite Salajko
Joshua Vierra
Paula Klein
Melissa Cripps
Bass
*Cathy Cmiel
Ken Marrs
Bassoon
Lisa Renteria
Oboe
*Sherry Jameson
Paulo Sudhaus
Trumpet
*Morgana Ortiz
Andrew Davidson
Timpani
Paul Gibson
Keyboard
Liz Spencer
*Denotes Principal