We are located in Rio Rancho, but you don't have to be! The Rio Rancho Youth Chorus welcomes middle & high school aged singers of all backgrounds, styles, cultures, orientations, abilities, identities.
No previous chorus experience is required – you just need to love to sing!
We accept new members twice a year in January/February and again in August/September. 
Rio Rancho Youth Chorus is Rio Rancho's only community youth chorus.
​Everyone is welcome!
Tuition is $125 per season, which includes 10-15 sessions of two-hours of instruction and rehearsal and t-shirt. Full and partial scholarships are available.

Rio Rancho Youth Chorus offers musical instruction in a welcoming, open, and fun environment. RRYC performs various styles of music that will teach the chorus members to learn harmony, recognize and reproduce pitch, have rhythmic accuracy, and be able to focus while the chorus, as a whole, works towards our goals. Through the group’s musical instruction and performance experience, RRYC hopes to instill confidence and self-esteem, skills that will serve our members for life. RRYC unites youth of diverse backgrounds by bringing them together with a common thread of music. RRYC also advances the role of youth in the community by offering a public performance at the end of each season.

We know that there are many kids in our area that are passionate about singing and performing, but as education budgets shrink, so do opportunities for these kids to participate and engage in musical activities. RRYC will teach our members how to sing and make a beautiful sound within a group, to exercise their performance skills, socialize with their peers and the community, and develop skills that will be useful throughout their lives.

Participants are encouraged to bring a prepared audition piece to the audition, though this is not required.

The RRYC rehearses every Saturday, 2:00pm-4:00pm, September through December, and February through May. Weekly rehearsals at RRYC begin with warm-ups for two purposes: to physically prepare the chorus members’ voices for singing, and to teach vocal technique. After warm-ups, chorus members will spend time working on repertoire for concerts. Chorus members should always have their music and a pencil with them (provided by the artistic director throughout each season). Parents are invited to sit in on rehearsals as observers.

At the end of each season, members' efforts will culminate in a performance for the community.

Michelle Zetterholm is an Albuquerque native who was raised in the musical world.  Beginning with children’s chorus at a young age, through currently singing as a member of the Opera Southwest chorus, she has always had a love for singing and making music when any opportunity arises. 

She received her BME from the University of Northern Colorado where she performed several well-known choral works, as well as sang in opera choruses in France and Germany. 

After graduating she returned home to pass that love and passion for performance to a new generation of musicians.  She is currently the music teacher at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic School, where she teaches children ranging in age from pre-K through 8th grade. 

​In addition to singing, she’s a trained violist who teaches a small studio of violin and viola students at home.  When she’s not teaching or performing, she’s a mom to two of her own children who are beginning their own journeys as musicians.

Kamatara Johnson has been a piano accompanist for church services, student performances, and community groups for over 35 years. She also taught quite a few summers at Hummingbird Music Camp and has been a director of music
ministry in a few spiritual communities over the years.

Her first career was teaching high school English and theater for
almost 25 years. Now in her second career, Kamatara is the executive director of Circles USA, a national anti-poverty initiative with over 70 chapters across the United States and up into Canada. As Reverend Kamatara, she serves on
the weekends as a substitute minister for New Thought communities in ABQ and Las Cruces sharing inspirational messages, music, classes, workshops, and just good ol' visiting.

Recently, Kamatara has reconnected with her first love: music, by singing with Opera Southwest in 2023 and the New Mexico Symphonic Chorus.

Star Heights Receration Center
Located  at 800 Polaris Blvd, Rio Rancho 
A special thanks to Rio Rancho Parks & Rec for graciously allowing us to use their space for rehearsals.