 | Mary Kay Geston, Artistic DirectorSt. Cloud, MN, August 3, 2010 -- Great River Chorale is pleased to announce the appointment of Mary Kay Geston as its new artistic director. Geston is an associate professor of music at Northwestern College, Saint Paul, Minnesota, has directed the Manitou Singers at St. Olaf College, and previously taught at universities in South Dakota and Colorado. She has served as an artistic advisor to the Minnesota Chorale and is the director of Voices of Experience, a choir for senior citizens co-sponsored by the MacPhail Center for Music and the Minnesota Chorale. Geston has a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in choral conducting and literature and is a sought-after guest conductor of honor and festival choirs regionally and nationally. In January 2010 she was a choral clinician for the Korea International Choral Association in Daegu, South Korea. Choirs under her direction have performed at many state and division professional conferences and with the Minnesota Orchestra and maestro Edo de Waart. Geston is president-elect of the North Central Division of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), serves on ACDA of Minnesota’s F. Melius Christiansen Endowment Fund committee, and previously was president of ACDA of Minnesota. Great River Chorale will celebrate its tenth anniversary season in 2010-11. Concert highlights include the annual collaborative Christmas concerts with Cantabile, a choir for girls in grades four to nine directed by Sara Ludwig Cohen under the auspices of St. Cloud State University’s Music Department Preparatory Program, and the Youth Chorale of Central Minnesota, a choir of nearly seventy high school aged singers led by music director Garrett Lathe. This popular concert will be presented on December 11 and 12, 2010 at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in St. Cloud. The chorale’s spring concert on April 30, 2011 will be a festive celebration of its first ten years. Joining Geston on the podium will be Dr. David Scholz, founding artistic director of Great River Chorale and director of choral activities at California State University, Chico. All former singers will be invited back to join the current ensemble for a grand sing-along to conclude the concert. “The Great River Chorale’s tenth anniversary season gives us an opportunity to showcase the amazing quality of choral music-making in central Minnesota,” says Geston. “This ensemble is composed of musicians of outstanding talent and ability who bring intellect and passion to their singing. The citizens of St. Cloud and the surrounding region are truly fortunate to have such a fine choir in their midst, and it is a great honor to be named artistic director.” Based in St. Cloud, Minnesota, Great River Chorale is a dynamic fifty-voice chamber choir composed of skilled amateur singers that seeks to provide superb performances of compelling music from all times and places. It is an integral part of the thriving central Minnesota arts community and is dedicated to imaginative collaborations with other area arts organizations. Great River Chorale was founded in 2001 by David Scholz, who was succeeded by Lee Nelson in 2006. Erick Lichte was interim artistic director during the 2009-10 season. Mary Kay Geston is the fourth artistic director to lead the ensemble. Auditions for the 2010-11 season will be held on August 16, 18 and 22. For more information about the audition process or to schedule an audition please contact Marie Flagstad, business manager at 218-329-3924 or email mdflagstad@gmail.com. |
