The Singers
Helios is made up of strong, artistic leaders who strive to find the unsung heroes of polyphony, and illuminate their works with a modern aesthetic. Together, the members of Helios collaborate to bring to light compositions from before 1700. Each Helios singer has unique knowledge and talents, and they work together to bring new insight to the music they perform.
Danya Tiller, Soprano
DANYA TILLER is a founding member artist of Helios, and considers her performances with this ensemble a major highlight of her career. For ten years, Danya was the Artistic Director of the Phoenix Girls Chorus. She made her conducting debut at Carnegie Hall in 2016 with Vivaldi’s Gloria and 200 singers from across the USA, and has toured extensively performing with choirs both in this country and worldwide. In 2019, Ms. Tiller was Acting Assistant Conductor for the Phoenix Chorale. Aria Music Studio, which Ms. Tiller founded in 2019, provides quality private lessons in both voice and piano, and includes the newly formed Valley Vocal Ensembles for 7-12 grade singers. Danya also has performed and recorded with the Grammy Award-Winning Phoenix Chorale since 2005.
Nina Garguilo, Soprano
Originally from Memphis, NINA GARGUILO has been performing and teaching in the Phoenix area since 2011. Most recently, she performed as Sarah in Harrower Opera's Ballad of Baby Doe, and has performed roles including Despina (Così fan tutte) Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi), and Maria (West Side Story). In the summer of 2013, Nina sang the title role in Das Tagebuch der Anne Frank at the Mittelsächsisches Theater in Freiberg, Germany. While obtaining her Bachelor’s degree at the University of Mississippi, Nina was a member of the Mississippi Early Music Ensemble. She completed her DMA in Vocal Performance at ASU in 2017, and took her research of American Southern music to New York and Brooklyn. Nina finds joy in exploring performance practices, styles, and dialects in music. Nina teaches music and voice at Phoenix College and seeks to promote American Opera, Art Song, and Broadway repertoire in her own work as well as in her teaching.
Holly Sheppard, Alto
HOLLY SHEPPARD is privileged to perform throughout the Valley in both solo and choral settings. She has been a member of the Grammy-Winning Phoenix Chorale for over 18 years and performs regularly as a soloist with Phoenix Opera in a variety of concerts around the Phoenix metro area. Holly is a member of the Arizona Opera Chorus and recently covered the role of Mercedes in their 2022 production of Carmen. Holly also sang the role of Sesto in La Clemenza di Tito with the Trentino Music Festival in the summer of 2019. Holly has spent her career as a 3D environment artist in the video game industry and motion graphics artist in the slot machine industry. She currently works as a Senior World Builder for 31st Union, a video game developer based out of California. Holly and her husband George are outdoor enthusiasts living in Mesa with their two birds, Pico and Olive.
Nate Pence, Countertenor
Two facts about my life:
1) I used to tour the world with three time Grammy Award winning
vocal ensemble Chanticleer as chair one soprano.
2) I once witnessed someone unknowingly discover a recording of me singing art songs, and
they said ‘Oh, I get it. It’s Miss Piggy doing opera.’
Take from this what you will.
James Grandjean, Tenor
JAMES GRANDJEAN is a native of Prescott, Arizona, he earned his Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Oklahoma City University in 2014 and has since performed around the country and world. After moving to Phoenix, James has sung with various ensembles including the Grammy award-winning Phoenix Chorale, Canto Vivo Chorale, Arizona Musicfest, The Prescott Quartz Ensemble and the Arizona Opera Chorus. James was also privileged to appear in the world premiere of Paula Prestini’s operatic adaptation of Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea last fall, and served as an education outreach artist for Arizona Opera in 2020. Other notable opera roles include Ferrando in Cosi fan Tutte, Laurie in Mark Adamo’s Little Women, The Stage Manager in Ned Rorem’s Our Town, and Le Remendado in Carmen. In his spare time, he enjoys figure skating and works at a litigation firm in Scottsdale.
Jason Raetz, Baritone
JASON RAETZ spent 4 seasons performing with Helios and is thrilled to be returning! Jason earned a B.M. in Music Education from Western Michigan University under the direction of Dr. Joe Miller and Dr. James Bass, and an M.M. in Choral Conducting from Northern Arizona University under the direction of Dr. Edie Copley. A native of Phoenix, Jason grew up singing and learning music in the Phoenix Boys Choir and has gone on to perform as a soloist with the Flagstaff Master Chorale and Early Music Michigan. Jason is in his ninth season with the Phoenix Chorale. Most recently he performed “At War With Ourselves”, by Michael Ables, with the Kronos Quartet, as well as “Considering Matthew Shepard”, by Craig Hella Johnson, with Sedona Academy of Chamber Singers. Notable recordings he has been involved in include: Helios’s album, à7 (2021), Peace and Reconciliation: Choral Music, music composed by Michael Hoppé (2020), and Nils Lofgren’s album Blue With Lou (2019). For nearly 10 years he has taught music at several schools around the valley and was a director with the Phoenix Boys Choir. Most recently, Jason directed large high school and middle school choirs at Arizona School for the Arts. Currently, Jason works at MPSW, one of the valley’s largest rep sales companies providing HVAC solutions in the commercial and industrial industries.
Jordan Murillo, Bass
JORDAN MURILLO is a vocalist with expansive vocal range from Tucson, Arizona with strong ties to operatic and choral performance. In 2022, Jordan took his talents to Phoenix, Arizona to promote in his career field of working with the blind community of Arizona through his non profit organization Saavi Services for the Blind. Finding opportunities to sing once becoming settled in Phoenix came in abundance, and Jordan is currently a bass vocalist in the Phoenix Chorale, The Quartz Ensemble in Prescott, Arizona and is ecstatic to be joining Helios. Jordan studied voice at the University of Arizona under Dr. Kristen Dauphinais and sung as a concert soloist, operatic bass-baritone, and beatboxer/soloist for his a cappella group Amplified. Jordan had his operatic debut with the Amarillo Opera House in their production of Michael Ching’s Speed Dating Tonight! Through the Inner Voice Studio Jordan has been able to teach lessons to many communities on growing stylistic approaches in contemporary singing, as well as vocal percussion (beatboxing). Eager to create impactful performances that enrich our communities, Jordan Murillo has been described as having a “...controlled and effortless singing style [that] gives the performance an acoustic feel that’s simply impressive.” (Alexander, 2018).