Safonia's Artistic Staff

Marla Wasson: Artistic Director
Ms. Wasson has been an active participant in music from an early age. With two musical parents that required involvement in the arts as a requisite to athletic involvement, Marla has been involved in music as a family medium as well as community theatre, choirs and bands.

Marla received a Master of Music from the University of Northern Colorado and holds a BA in Business Management from the small liberal arts college in Kansas, McPherson College.

Having grown up in a musical family, Marla sees her participation in music as a natural outgrowth of her early musical life. Marla joined the chorus as a singing member in the Spring of 1989. Shortly thereafter she joined a small ensemble within the chorus called ‘Take Note!’. Successive seasons saw her responsibilities and participation in the chorus grow until she was chosen as Acting Artistic Director in the Fall of 1995. The chorus selected Ms. Wasson as permanent Artistic Director in the Spring of 1996.

Marla says this about her choral music philosophy, “Music is an integral part of the human experience. Each of us holds a cherished memory of a certain song from some place in our life that reflects our very existence in a given moment. From a very basic a capella lullaby to the grandest opera or Mass, choral music has a power that few art forms can match. For me, that power lies in the ability of our choir to give our lives, however briefly, to our art. We use music to inform not only our own experiences, but those of our audience members. Choral music, reflects the ability of each member of the ensemble to let go and participate in the greater power available to us all within the act of creation.”

As a dynamic conductor, Marla believes that choral music is more than just notes on a page, and works to help the choruses she conducts better at communicating the full intent of the musical work.