Photo by Thomas Patrick Photography

Artistic Staff & Singers

Dr. Mary Kay Geston

Artistic Managing Director

Dr. Mary Kay Geston has led Great River Chorale since 2010 and has previously taught at UW River Falls, U of M Twin Cities, U of M Morris, Concordia University St. Paul, U of Colorado Boulder, University of Northwestern St. Paul, St. Olaf College, and Northern State University, Aberdeen, SD. She has prepared choirs for the St. Cloud Symphony Orchestra and Minnesota Orchestra, directed all-state and honor choirs across the U.S., and was a guest conductor in Taiwan and South Korea. Choirs under her direction have performed at professional conferences of Chorus America, American Choral Directors Association, MN Music Educators Association, and SDMEA. Mary Kay has sung professionally with the Robert Shaw Festival Singers, at Carnegie Hall with Charles Dutoit, and as a soprano soloist with the Black Hills Symphony Orchestra, Bismarck-Mandan Symphony Orchestra, and Longmont Symphony (CO). Geston is a past president of ACDA North Central Region and ACDA-MN, past chair of the F. Melius Cristiansen Endowment Fund Committee, and received ACDA-MN’s 2012 Choral Director of the Year award. She has a DMA in choral conducting from CU–Boulder, an MM in choral conducting from U of M–Twin Cities, and a BA in vocal performance from NDSU.

Barbara Brooks

Collaborative Pianist

Vocal coach and pianist Barbara Brooks has worked with opera companies in the USA and Canada and is on staff at the Wesley Balk Opera/Music Theatre Institute. She has been a music director for Theatre de la Jeune Lune and The Minneapolis Children’s Theatre Company, and coached opera at universities in Texas, Colorado and Minnesota. Barb studied with Gyorgy Sandor, Martin Isepp, and at England’s Britten-Pears School.

Great River Chorale Roster – Fall 2024

Artistic staff

  • Mary Kay Geston, Artistic Managing DirectorSponsored by Donna Harris
  • Barbara Brooks, Collaborative Pianist Sponsored by Gary Sneide
  • Stephanie Otremba, Operations Assistant

Soprano

  • Janet Anderson
  • Jessica BasolSponsored by Donna Harris
  • Rebecca Botz
  • Madeline Briekos
  • Jamie Deering
  • Hayley Elvendahl-Rumley
  • Anita Fischer
  • Nina Lasceski, OSBSponsored by Fred & Carolina Shermock
  • Darcy Lease Gubrud
  • Marit Ortega
  • Stephanie Otremba
  • Lori Satterness
  • Jennifer Stoutenberg
  • Carol Showalter
  • Amy Walker
  • Aera Wenisch

Alto

  • Natalie Copeland
  • Eileen Farrell
  • Lisa Finken
  • Kate Gardner
  • Donna Harris
  • Chris Ann Johnson
  • Erin Rysavy Jurek
  • Ellen Kain
  • Amanda Koubsky
  • Jean Kraft
  • Emily Kvidt
  • Gayle Larson
  • Maureen Otremba
  • Gabby Ouedraogo
  • Kendra Penke
  • Lori Roggenkamp
  • Claire StudtSponsored by the Studt Family
  • Amber Wright

Tenor

  • Lucas Ford
  • Calvin Denson Lehman
  • Jake Lohman
  • Chris Nhotsavang
  • Matt Palmateer
  • Tim Seeman
  • Aelred Senna, OSB
  • Derik Weldon
  • Riley Wenisch
  • Chuck Wright

Bass

  • A. Eric Anderson
  • Wayne Anderson
  • Bill Cook
  • Dennis Douma
  • Dirk Edmonds
  • Timothy Ostby
  • Brad Petry
  • Tim Rysavy
  • Rick Rysavy
  • Gary Sneide
  • Chris Stadther
  • Mike Stadther
  • Maxwell Svensson
  • Charles Welter
  • Matthew Zook