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Chamber Singers Conductor
Dr. Mary Kay Geston is an associate professor of music at Northwestern College, Saint Paul, Minnesota, where she conducts the 75-voice Women's Chorale and the Chamber Singers, teaches Advanced Choral Conducting, Secondary Choral Methods, Voice Class, Introduction to Music, and supervises secondary student teachers. Previously she was the director of choral activities at Northern State University, Aberdeen, South Dakota, and taught at the University of Colorado, Boulder. In spring 2008 she served on the faculty of St. Olaf College where she directed the Manitou Singers. Geston received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in choral conducting and literature from the University of Colorado, the Master of Music degree in choral conducting from the University of Minnesota, and teaching certification and the Bachelor of Arts degree in vocal performance from North Dakota State University. During her tenure as conductor of the Northwestern College Women's Chorale the ensemble was selected to perform at the 2006 Minnesota Music Educators Midwinter In-Service Clinic, the 2004 North Central American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) Division Conference, and the 2001 ACDA of Minnesota Fall Conference. In 2003 the Women's Chorale was invited to perform The Planets by Gustav Holst with the Minnesota Orchestra and maestro Edo de Waart.
Dr. Geston is in high demand as a guest conductor and in the coming academic year will conduct the ACDA of Minnesota Anacrusis 7/8 Girls Honor Choir, the Minnesota State Community and Technical College High School Choral Festival, the North Dakota ACDA All-Collegiate Honor Choir, the South Dakota Women's Junior Honor Choir, and the Marquette University High School Choral Festival in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Additionally, she will be a headliner at the South Dakota Music Educators Association convention and ACDA of North Dakota's state conference. In 2008 she made presentations at the American Guild of Organists National Convention, the North Central ACDA Conference, and the Distler Conference at Luther Seminary, and in 2006 she was a panelist at the National Association of Teachers of Singing National Conference. Geston will be on sabbatical spring semester 2010 during which she will be working on a book about American choral icon Dale Warland and the history of the Dale Warland Singers.
She has been a featured soprano soloist with choruses and orchestras in Minnesota, North Dakota, Colorado, and South Dakota and sang professionally with the Robert Shaw Festival Singers in 1998 and 1999. Geston is a member of the American Choral Directors Association, Music Educators National Conference, Minnesota Music Educators Association, National Association of Teachers of Singing, National Collegiate Choral Organization, and the International Federation for Choral Music. Geston recently completed a six-year term as president-elect, president, and vice president for ACDA of Minnesota and is a member of the F. Melius Christiansen Endowment Fund committee and serves on the editorial board for Melisma, the professional journal for North Central ACDA.
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