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 fifty-three students from the Colleges of Arts and Science, Education, Engineering, Kinesiology, and Edwards School of Business, as well as majors in the Department of Music.

Over the past thirteen years the Greystone Singers have been national semifinalists in such competitions as the biennial CBC National Radio Competition for Amateur Choirs and the Association of Canadian Choral Communities National Choral Competition, also winning second prize in the University Choirs category in May 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. Next July the choir is planning a performance and cultural tour of Switzerland and the Netherlands along with the University of Saskatchewan Wind Orchestra.

Auditions for 2012-13 will be held Wednesday-Friday, September 5-7, 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 2012 - 2013

2012 Fall Term:

• Fall Music Retreat, Resurrection Lutheran Church: Friday, September 14, 6:30-9:00 PM; Saturday, September 15, 9:30-12:00, 1:00-4:00 PM; Sunday, September 16, 1:30-4:30 PM.

• Sing National Anthem at Mayor's Gala in TCU Place, Saturday, September 22, 7:00 PM.

• Campus Concert with Wind Orchestra in Quance Theatre, Friday, September 28, 7:30 PM.

• Sing for President's installation at Fall Convocation, TCU Place, Saturday, October 27, 9:00 AM.

• Concert at Queen's House of Retreats, Thursday, November 22, 8:30 PM.

• Fall Concert in Knox United Church, Sunday, December 2, 3:00 PM. (Tickets are available from chorus members, McNally-Robinson booksellers, or at the door.)

2013 Winter Term:

• Winter Music Retreat, Resurrection Lutheran Church: Friday, January 4, 6:30-9:00 PM; Saturday, January 5, 9:30-4:00 PM; Sunday, January 6, 1:30-4:30 PM

• Workshop with Elmer Iseler Singers (Toronto), Thursday, January 31 (during rehearsal).

• Greystone Singers co-present- Elmer Iseler Singers - January 31 - Knox United Church - 7:30 PM http://www.saskatoonchambersingers.ca/eis

• Sing for Kaplan Collection opening and celebration, Saturday, March 9, 1:30 PM, Quance Theatre.

• Sing National Anthem at National University Cup Hockey Championship Final, Credit Union Place, Thursday, March 17, 5:30 PM.

• Private concert, Thursday, March 28, Convo Hall, 4:00 PM.

• Concert at Frances Morrison (Main) Library, Friday, April 5, 2:00-3:00 PM.

• Recording at Knox United Church, Saturday, April 6, 1:30-4:30 PM.

• Spring Concert in Knox United Church: Sunday, April 7, 3:00 PM. Call is 1:45 PM. (Tickets are available from chorus members, McNally-Robinson booksellers, or at the door.)

• Tour to Interlaken (Switzerland), Heidelberg (Germany), Kerkrade (Netherlands), and Brussels with the Wind Orchestra, July 7 - 16, 2013.

 

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