The Helios Mission on KGUN-9's The Morning Blend

About

The Helios Ensemble is a 40-person community vocal performance group based in Tucson, Arizona founded and directed by Benjamin Hansen. The group creates heartfelt, professional level performances through creative and uplifting group vocal technique.

Benjamin Hansen is the founder and artistic director of The Helios Ensemble, the artistic director of the Faculty/Staff choir at the University of Arizona, and the director of music at the United Church of Christ, Good Shepherd. Hansen received his BA from Yale, singing in The Yale Whiffenpoofs, his MM in voice from The Catholic University of America, his MM in conducting from The College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, and is currently a doctoral candidate in choral conducting at the University of Arizona. Hansen has conducted such works as Bach’s Lobet den Herrn, Mozart’s Requiem, Howell’s Requiem, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, Poulenc’s Mass in G, and Vaughan Williams’ Three Shakespeare Songs. Hansen has studied conducting with Bruce Chamberlain, Elizabeth Schauer, Leo Nestor, Jerry Blackstone, Mark Gibson, Earl Rivers, Fiora Contino, and Robert Sund. Hansen was the director of choral activities at Cincinnati State College, directing the Cincinnati State Chorale’s performance of Whitacre’s Lux Aurumque, the national anthem at a Cincinnati Reds Game, and a set of spirituals for the World Choir Games in 2012. He was a Conducting Fellow at the Chorus America Conducting Symposium in 2010, Houston, TX, and he founded and directed the Washington Collegium, in Washington, D.C. from 2007 to 2009.