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Artistic synergy hallmark of Tucson song fest

Arizona Daily Star Tucson's main source for local news

Cathalena E. Burch

Medium: Print

The Arizona Daily Star reports a compelling tell about Jack Forsythe, who had a crazy idea in 2010: What if a bunch of arts organizations in Tucson — the symphony and university, the professional choir and the guitar society — joined hands and put on a big multi-week festival focusing on the human voice?

Now, years later, the Tucson Desert Song Festival has grown from the inaugural two weekends to three.

The number of participating organizations has also grown from the initial seven to ten -- Arizona Opera joined the festival last year. This year’s festival begins on Thursday, Jan 19th.

“I think that’s what makes it exceptional, and I love that the board was receptive to groups that were not sort of an anticipated fit. I think that’s a very cool joining in of the art forms. It’s a framework that allows the individual participants to be very creative and do things that they normally couldn’t have done.”

– Julia Pernet, Guitar Society board chairwoman