Artistic Staff & Singers

Mary Kay Geston has been artistic director of Great River Chorale since 2010 and artistic managing director since 2015. Previously she was associate professor of music at University of Northwestern St. Paul, visiting professor of choral studies at University of Colorado Boulder, and director of choral activities at Northern State University, Aberdeen, SD. She has also taught at University of Wisconsin River Falls, University of Minnesota (Twin Cities and Morris), Concordia University – St. Paul, St. Olaf College, and Luther Seminary. Geston was the conductor of the Minnesota Music Teachers Association Honors Concert from 2015 – 19.

Geston was the founding director of the Fargo-Moorhead Choral Artists (1979) and the Minneapolis Vocal Consort (1985), associate conductor of the Longmont (CO) Chorale (1994 – 95), director of Minnesota Chorale’s Voices of Experience in its inaugural season (2010 – 11), and was a church choir director for 21 years. She has prepared choirs for the St. Cloud Symphony Orchestra and Minnesota Orchestra, and choirs under her direction have performed at state and regional conferences of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA). Dr. Geston has directed all-state, honor and festival choirs in CO, MN, Kentucky, ND, SD, and WI, and has been a guest conductor in Taiwan and South Korea.

An accomplished soprano, she sang professionally with the Robert Shaw Festival Singers, at Carnegie Hall with conductor Charles Dutoit, and as a soloist with orchestras in MN, CO, ND, and SD. Geston has held many elected and appointed positions in ACDA at the state, regional and national levels and received ACDA-MN’s 2012 Choral Director of the Year Award. She holds a DMA degree in choral music from CU Boulder, an MM degree in choral conducting from U of M Twin Cities, and a BA degree in vocal performance and teaching certification from North Dakota State University.