George Arthur, Art Director, has been drawing, painting and sculpting his whole life and graduated from the leading School of Visual Arts in New York. He served for 33 years as Executive Design Director at Consumer Reports where he was responsible for the design of the magazine, website, books, and special publications. He was instrumental in the interior and external design of the Consumer Reports headquarters building in Westchester, NY. Before that he art directed the design of Sport Magazine and designed the content and covers for Life Magazine. George is a prize-winning photographer and a designer of many books, posters and websites.

Since its inception in 2015, George has been Board President of Coro Lux and a singer in the bass section.  He is the principal at George Arthur Design, located in Placitas, New Mexico, which specializes in graphic design and wood sculpture.

He has been a volunteer docent and graphic designer at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center for 7 years with a special interest in the murals of the native Pueblo artists. George also designed a 12′ mural for the permanent exhibit, “We are of this Place,” celebrating the organization’s 40 th anniversary. George was selected as the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center’s  “Volunteer of the Year” in 2017, the first year of the program.

Gabrielle Dietrich, Associate Conductor and Director of the El Faro Youth Chorus, (gdietrich227@gmail.com) has been leading youth choirs since 2000, and she finds incredible joy in helping young people find their voice. A graduate of University of the Pacific, University of Colorado at Boulder, and the Kodály Institute in Kecskemét, Hungary, Dr. Dietrich has sung, taught, and conducted across the United States and in Ireland, the UK, Hungary, and Austria. From 2012-2021, Gabrielle was an Associate Teaching Professor of Music at Penn State Erie, the Behrend College, where she also served as Artistic Director and Conductor of the Young People’s Chorus of Erie, northwest Pennsylvania’s only comprehensive youth choral program. She currently serves as the executive director of NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) New Mexico. Gabrielle is thrilled to call Albuquerque her new home, and she is grateful and excited to be a part of the Coro Lux team.

Ashley Jonkman, Administrator (ashley.jonkman@abqcorolux.org) — Ashley began life in a musical home, with an elementary music teacher for a mom and a father who loved to tinker on the guitar. She played piano and clarinet as a child, and has sung in choirs and on church worship teams since a young age. She has her Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Azusa Pacific University in the Los Angeles area. She earned her Master’s Degree from College of Santa Fe, and taught choral music and elementary education for 6 years before becoming a stay at home mom to 3 kids. She spends her free time gardening, freelance writing, running, and exploring the outdoors with her husband, Brad and kids Sammy, Josiah, and Phoebe.

Raul Manjarrez grew up in Albuquerque and earned a Master of Music degree in Piano Performance from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Raul has been doing music and theatre professionally for 20 years. While living in NC he worked as a collaborative pianist at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and played for many theatre productions.

In Albuquerque he has played for organizations such as Musical Theatre Southwest, Hold the Applause Productions, Opera Unlimited, Opera Southwest, and The Adobe Theater. Mr. Manjarrez has also accompanied middle school, high school, and church choirs in the past. Raul is very happy to be the accompanist for El Faro Youth Chorus this fall.

Mary Ann Ybarra, pianist, enjoys living out her aspirations of being a performing pianist. Her degrees include the Doctor of Musical Arts from The University of Texas at Austin, Master of Music from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and Bachelor of Music from Texas Tech University in Lubbock. Before moving to Albuquerque, she taught piano, pedagogy and theory keyboard classes for 18 years at Indiana University-South Bend, Saint Mary’s College, Bethel College, and in her home teaching studio. However, it is here in Albuquerque that she has pursued her heart’s desire of sharing music with others through performing. Not only does she collaborate on individual instrumental and vocal recitals, playing 5-10 per semester, but she also works with vocal, operatic, and orchestral ensembles. She is thrilled and honored to be working with Coro Lux.