Artistic Staff & Board

MARY KAY GESTON has been Great River Chorale’s artistic director since 2010 and artistic managing director since 2015. Previously she was on the music faculties at UNW, CU Boulder, and was director of choral activities at NSU. She also taught at UWRF, UMTC, UMN-Morris, CSP, and St. Olaf College, and conducted the MMTA Honors Concert. Geston was founding director of the Fargo Moorhead Choral Artists and Minneapolis Vocal Consort, associate conductor of Longmont Chorale, director of MN Chorale’s Voices of Experience, and directed church choirs for 21 years.

Choirs under her direction have performed at professional conferences of ACDA, Chorus America, MMEA, and SDMEA, and she has prepared choirs for the SCSO and MN Orchestra. She has directed all-state and honor choirs in CO, MN, KY, ND, SD and WI, was a guest conductor in Taiwan and South Korea, and has been a clinician or panelist at professional conferences for ACDA, AGO, CMS, NAfME, and NATS. An accomplished soprano, she has sung professionally with the Robert Shaw Festival Singers and as a soloist with orchestras in MN, CO, ND, and SD.

Geston received ACDA-MN’s 2012 Choral Director of the Year award and has held many positions in ACDA including as president of ACDA North Central (now Midwestern) Region, president of ACDA-MN, and chair of the F. Melius Christiansen Endowment Fund Committee. Mary Kay holds a DMA degree in choral literature and conducting from CU, an MM degree in choral conducting from UMTC, and a BA in voice performance and teaching certification from NDSU.