Ragazzi Boys Chorus Artistic and Executive Director Kent Jue to Retire in 2027
Jue served for eight years as the artistic and executive director, and more than 25 years overall as a Ragazzi choral conductor.
San Francisco Bay Area-based Ragazzi Boys Chorus Artistic and Executive Director Kent Jue will step down in August 2027 at the conclusion of the choir’s 40th Anniversary season. A national search is now underway for his replacement. Jue assumed the helm of Ragazzi directly from its Founding Artistic Director Joyce Keil, serving for eight years as the artistic and executive director, and more than 25 years overall as a Ragazzi choral conductor.
“The two and a half decades I have been with Ragazzi, working with our choristers, incredible staff, and wonderfully supportive community, have brought me immense joy,” said Jue. “I am so proud of our increased national and international recognition, three consecutive appearances at the American Choral Directors Association conferences, stable finances, and the creation of the Joyce B. Keil Endowment Fund for tuition assistance. I am ready to embrace the freedom to travel and explore other interests, but a part of my heart will always lie here with the vibrant singing community of Ragazzi.”
Founded in 1987, San Francisco Bay Area-based Ragazzi Boys Chorus provides outstanding musical education and performance opportunities for boys and young men ages 5 to 18. The largest boys’ chorus in the San Francisco Bay Area, Ragazzi serves more than 230 choristers in six-tiered levels, shaping the lives of boys of diverse backgrounds from over 100 schools in more than 30 Bay Area communities, developing tenacious and confident young musicians who pursue choral arts of the highest caliber together. Ragazzi means “boys” in Italian and is the term used in opera to refer to children’s voices. Ragazzi has been selected to perform with the San Francisco Opera, San Francisco Symphony, Opera San José, West Bay Opera, Lawrence Pech Dance Company, Symphony Silicon Valley, Masterworks Chorale, and the Stanford University Symphonic Chorus, among other leading arts organizations. Ragazzi was honored for its contribution to the San Francisco Symphony’s triple Grammy Award-winning recording of Stravinsky’s Perséphone. The group has toured throughout the United States and internationally, and has five CDs available: A Holiday Collection, Canciones de Alabanza, Magnificat: My Spirit Rejoices, Splendors of the Italian Baroque, and I Dream A World.
In the role of artistic and executive director, Jue worked with the Board to develop Ragazzi’s programs, to fashion and implement the annual budget, manage office staff, manage grant proposals and reports, oversee facilities, manage the choir’s robust scholarship program, and assist Board committees, while also setting the artistic vision for Ragazzi Boys Chorus and leading all educational and creative activities. He created two satellite programs for entry-level families, increased grant and foundation support, established Ragazzi’s first endowment, and achieved consecutive budget surpluses. Showcasing innovation and adaptability during the spring of 2020, Kent reimagined a program that kept Ragazzi boys safely singing, pioneering new technology, maintaining enrollment, and establishing Ragazzi’s health and safety plan.
Prior to his work with Ragazzi, Jue served as the director of choral programs at the San Francisco Friends School, and prepared ensembles for performances with organizations including the San Francisco Symphony, Symphony Silicon Valley, the Bay Choral Guild, and the Redwood Symphony. Jue has also conducted youth choruses at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and performed and recorded with the Golden Gate Men’s Chorus and the Gay Men’s Choruses of San Francisco and Boston. Known for building high-level musicianship skills through his engaging style and rapport with students, Jue found a home with Ragazzi where his passion for uncovering the full artistic and expressive potential for individual choristers in an ensemble setting ensured that choristers continued to flourish and maintain the choir’s well-known reputation of being one of the San Francisco Bay Area’s premier music and performance organizations for boys.
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