aboutus
Liberty Choirs welcome all students to be a part of choral singing at Liberty High School. During the school day, we offer four curricular ensembles.
Mixed Choir
freshman's foundations ensemble
Concert Choir
(advanced large festival ensemble),
Chamber Choir
advanced auditioned
competition ensemble
Unified Choir
special needs adaptive ensemble
Outside the school day, we offer Carolers in the fall, a small, auditioned ensemble dedicated to preparing and performing traditional and contemporary seasonal music in the community.
We experience music at the highest level and empower our singers to become literate and impassioned musicians through energized rehearsals and exciting performances. Above all, we care deeply about the person behind the voice. Singing in a Liberty Choir offers an unparalleled opportunity to learn about yourself, the world around you, and how you can create positive change in your lives and the lives of others. For those who seek to build upon past choir experience or are ready to try singing for the first time, we have a home for YOU in a Liberty Choir.
Mr. shafer
Joshua Shafer is the Director of Choirs and Performing Arts Chair at Liberty High School in the Peoria Unified School District, teaching over 200 singers across five choirs. His choirs consistently earn Superior ratings and Distinction captions at regional and state festivals. Adjudicator reviews of his conducted competition performances include praise for "impeccable intonation" and "thrilling resonance and tonal energy." Dr. Alyssa Cossey (co-Director of Choral Activities at University of Arizona), dubbed Liberty Chamber Choir "the Ferrari of choirs" and commented that they "could pretty much sing anything." Mr. Shafer also serves as musical director of the annual school musical; recent productions include Fiddler on the Roof, Grease, Peter and the Starcatcher, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and The Drowsy Chaperone. Students from his program receive invitations to perform in the AMEA North Central Regional Choir annually, and many actively participate in local community and church choirs and theater organizations.
Mr. Shafer also serves on the PUSD Arts Education Advisory Team as High School Choir Lead. He has presented professional development seminars on topics including repertoire selection, grooming the changing adolescent voice, and close reading in the choir rehearsal. Additional responsibilities include summer curriculum development, professional development planning, and new and incoming teacher training. Outside of PUSD, Mr. Shafer recently completed a six-year term as a member of the City of Peoria Arts Commission. In 2016, Mr. Shafer received the PUSD Pride of Peoria Award, and he received the Liberty High School “Teach Like a Lion” award twice, in 2019 and 2022. Mr. Shafer graduated cum laude from the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam with a BM in Music Education. He has studied choral conducting and pedagogy with Daniel Gordon, Rebecca Reames, Jamie Spillane (University of Connecticut), and Carol Krueger. While at Crane, he also studied classical saxophone with Timothy McAllister and instrumental conducting with Timothy Topolewski. Mr. Shafer lives in Peoria, AZ, with his wife,
Arianne, a middle school choral director, and Pebbles, their clingy-yet-lovable dachshund.
