Lerner Stepping Down as Reveille Executive Director

TUCSON (Observer Update) Reveille Men's Chorus has announced that as of August 1 Linus Lerner will no longer be their executive director.

Lerner will continue though as the chorus's artistic director, a post he has held since 2003. Two years ago Lerner was hired full time by Reveille to be both their artistic director and executive director, the first time one man has held both positions at the same time with a GLBT chorus in the US.

"It has been an amazing two years for us at Reveille under Linus's leadership," said chorus president Jeffrey Bracker. "Not only has the organization grown artistically and in reputation but we widened the scope of our mission to include not only GLBT rights and diversity but the struggle against HIV/AIDS. Last summer Linus took us on a tour of Mexico doing benefit concerts in Guadalajara, Mexico City and Puerto Vallarta raising money for local HIV and AIDS support groups there. Here in Tucson he formed closer ties between Reveille and local groups such as SAAF and TIHAN. And if that was not enough we had the largest audience in the choruses 14 year history at our recent spring concert, Dim Sum and Then Some: A Foreign Affair, where Linus brought together local cultural groups from around the world to perform as our guests. The show received a rave review in the Star!"

The reason for the change in roles for Lerner at Reveille was announced in an article that appeared in the Accent section of the Arizona Daily Star on May 23, written by Cathalena Burch. The article stated that Lerner had been selected out of a candidate pool of 60 applicants to be the new conductor of SASO, Southern Arizona Symphony Orchestra. "We were thrilled for Linus to hear the news that he'd gotten the SASO conducting gig," Reveille board president Michael Monyak stated. "But we were worried that this would mean the end to a wonderful partnership between Linus and Reveille. To say the least we were ecstatic when he told us at our last board meeting that he would be able to stay on with us as artistic director." Lerner has exciting plans for Reveille for the 2008-2009 season including a holiday show featuring songs from beloved Christmas movies and a spring show called "Make 'em Laugh: Comedy in Music".