Conducted by Dr. Gerald Langner, the Greystone Singers is a mixed-voice choir open by audition to all University of Saskatchewan students who love singing and enjoy learning a challenging and varied repertoire—from traditional and classical to sacred and secular, including folk songs and spirituals in a variety of languages and styles. Since 1958, when they were first organized, nearly two thousand young men and women have sung with this award-winning ensemble. This year's choir consists of forty-seven students from the Colleges of Arts and Science, Education, Engineering, Agriculture, Kinesiology, Edwards School of Business, Graduate Studies, and majors in Drama as well as in the Department of Music.

This past spring the choir won first prize in the Mixed-Voice Collegiate Choirs category of the biennial ACCC-CBC National Competition for Amateur Choirs; over the past fourteen years they have been national semifinalists also winning second prize in 2006 and 2010. Besides performing at many local events, festivals, and with the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra, the “Greystones” annually tour throughout Saskatchewan. They make frequent appearances elsewhere in Canada, and occasionally visit the United States, Europe, and other countries, including Cuba. In February 2007 the choir performed in Vienna, Salzburg, Prague, and at Mazaryk University in Brno. In May 2010 they toured China performing in Shanghai, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Beijing Institute of Technology, and the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music, followed by an invited performance in Saskatoon at Podium—the national biennial convention of the Association of Canadian Choral Communities. In July 2013 they toured in Europe along with the Wind Orchestra, performing in Interlaken, Switzerland and Kerkrade, Netherlands.

Auditions for 2013-14 will be held Wednesday-Friday, September 4-6, during the first week of classes. Signup sheets will be posted at the Department of Music, Rm 1045 Education Building. The ten-minute audition consists of a range check, ear testing, sight singing, and an unaccompanied solo of the singer's choice to demonstrate range and musicality. Weekly rehearsals are Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:30 to 3:50 PM in Quance Theatre, Education Building, with one extra hour sectional rehearsal TBA.

Concerts and Events for 2013 - 2014

2013 Fall Term:

• September 13 (Friday), 6:30-9:00 PM; September 14 (Saturday), 9:30-12:00, 1:30-4:30 PM; September 15 (Sunday), 1:30-4:30 PM: Fall Music Retreat, Resurrection Lutheran Church.

• October 3 (Thursday), 7:30 PM: Campus Concert with Wind Orchestra, Quance Theatre.

• November 21 (Thursday), 8:30 PM: Concert at Queen's House of Retreats.

• November 22 (Friday evening) until November 24 (Sunday afternoon): Fall tour. Locations TBA.
• December 1 (Sunday), 3:00 PM: Fall Concert in Knox United Church with U Chorus. (Tickets are available from chorus members, McNally-Robinson booksellers, or at the door.)

 

2014 Winter Term:

• January 10 (Friday), 6:30-9:00 PM; January 11 (Saturday), 9:30-4:00 PM; January 12 (Sunday), 1:30-4:30 PM: Winter Music Retreat, Resurrection Lutheran Church.

• March 2 (Sunday), 7:30 PM: Concert in Prince Albert with Jazz Ensemble.

• March 6 (Thursday), March 7 (Friday), 7:30-10:00 PM, March 8 (Saturday) 10:00 AM-12:00 PM: Rehearsals for Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony with SSO, U Chorus, Saskatoon Chamber Singers.
• March 8 (Saturday), 7:30 PM: Concert at TCU Place (Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony) with SSO, U Chorus, Saskatoon Chamber Singers.

• March 22 (Saturday), 1:30-4:30 PM: Recording at Knox United Church.

• March 23 (Sunday), 3:00 PM: Spring Concert at Knox United Church. (Tickets are available from chorus members, McNally-Robinson booksellers, or at the door.)

 

For pictures from their recent tour to China and other photos, click here.

For pictures and sound bites of the Greystone Singers 50th Anniversary Celebration on March 21, 2009, click here.

You can view pictures of the Greystone Singer's tour to Austria and the Czech Republic and listen to a sound clip of their concert in the Salzburg Dom (Cathedral).

For pictures from the Greystone Singers with Kenny Rogers click here.

The Greystone Singers can be heard on their latest CD, In The Greystone Tradition: Vol 3, which is comprised of works by John Ness Beck, Anton Bruckner, Charles Villiers Stanford, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Georg Gottfried Wagner, Lodovico Viadana, G.F. Lvovsky, Randall Thompson, Feodosiy Antonovich Rubtsov, Albert Hammond and Mike Hazelwood, two Chinese folk songs; Canadian composers Keith Bissell, Leonard Enns, Oscar Peterson, Leon Dubinsky, Saskatchewan composers Peter Stoicheff and Paul Suchan; and spirituals arranged by Moses Hogan, William Dawson, Robert Shaw, Eugene Thamon Simpson, William Henry Smith, and Keith Hampton.

If you would like to purchase our CD (the cost is $15 available from the Department of Music, or $20 to have it mailed—postage included), or from iTunes (search under "Greystone Singers") If you would like more information, contact Gerald Langner at 966-8352 or emailgerald.langner@usask.ca.

... Some Greystone History