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

Over the past number of years the Greystone Singers have been national semifinalists over the past ten years 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 Jiatong University, Beijing Institute of Technology, and the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music, followed by a performance in Saskatoon at Podiuim—the national biennial convention of the Association of Canadian Choral Communities.

Auditions for 2011-12 will be held Wednesday-Friday, September 7-9 during the first week of classes and signup sheets will be posted at the Department of Music, Rm 1032 Education Building. The ten-minute audition consists of a range check, ear training, sight singing, and a short unaccompanied solo of the singer's choice. 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 2011 - 2012

2011 Fall Term:

• Fall Music Retreat, Resurrection Lutheran Church: Friday, September 16, 6:30-9:00 PM; Saturday, September 17, 9:30-12:00, 1:00-4:00 PM; Sunday, September 18, 1:30-4:30 PM.

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

• UNIFEST Concert in Quance Theatre, Friday, November 18, 6:00 PM and 8:00 PM.

• Concert at Queen's House of Retreats, Thursday, November 24, 8:30 PM.

• Fall Concert in Knox United Church, Sunday, December 4, 3:00 PM. (Tickets are available from chorus members, McNally-Robinson booksellers, or at the door.)

2012 Winter Term:

• Winter Music Retreat, Resurrection Lutheran Church: Friday, January 5, 6:30-9:00 PM; Saturday, January 6, 9:30-4:00 PM; Sunday, January 7, 2:00-5:00 PM.

• College of Education Awards Ceremony at Hilton Garden Inn, Saturday, January 28, 1:30 PM.

• Performance at Samaritan Place, Thursday, February 16, 3:00 PM.

• Winter tour, Regina Trinity Lutheran Church on Friday, February 17, 7:30 PM; Gravelbourg Cathedral on Saturday, February 18, 7:30 PM; Weyburn Grace United Church on Sunday, February 19, 2:30 PM.

• Performance at National Brier Men's Curling Championship Opening Ceremonies, Credit Union Place, Saturday, March 3, 10:00 AM.
• Recording at Knox United Church, Saturday, March 3, 1:30-4:30 PM.

• Winter Concert in Knox United Church: Sunday, March 4, 3:00 PM. Call is 1:45 PM. (Tickets are available from chorus members, McNally-Robinson booksellers, or at the door.)

• Performance at Saskatoon Public Library on Friday, March 23, 2:00 PM.
• Performance of Brahm's Requiem with Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra and University and Community Chorus at TCU Place, Sunday, March 18, 7:30 PM. Rehearsals (at TCU) Friday, March 16, 7:30-10:00; Saturday, March 17, 7:30-10; Sunday, March 18, 1:00-3:30. (Tickets are available from the Symphony or TCU Place Box Office.)

• Graduate Concert-Recital, Graham Codling, conductor, Quance Theatre, Education, Thursday, April 5, 7:30 PM.

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 $10 available from the Department of Music, or $15 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 email gerald.langner@usask.ca.

... Some Greystone History