Ronnie Oliver, Jr. is a conductor and educator whose commitment to the advancement of the choral art through performance, mentoring, and teaching has spanned over 25 years. Dr. Oliver is currently on the choral conducting faculty at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City. He has served as a choral director and teacher of conducting at Westminster Choir College (Princeton, NJ), Western Michigan University, Western Kentucky University, Greensboro College (NC), and Texas Tech University.
Dr. Oliver received his Bachelor of Music Education degree from Murray State University in Murray, KY, and his Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting and the Ph. D. in Fine Arts from Texas Tech University. He studied conducting with Robert Baar, Gerald Welker, Vincent LaSelva (The Juilliard School) and Kenneth Davis. In addition, Dr. Oliver has participated in masterclasses and clinics with Paul Salamunovich, Robert Page, Dennis Keene, Helmuth Rilling, and Robert Shaw. He has conducted at Carnegie Hall four times, most recently in 2010 conducting Fauré’s Requiem with the Masterworks Festival Chorus and New York City Chamber Orchestra.
Dr. Oliver is an active member of the American Choral Directors Association, Music Educators National Conference, The National Collegiate Choral Organization, The College Music Society, Pi Kappa Lambda, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. |
Mary Kay Geston is Visiting Associate Professor of Choral Studies at University of Colorado at Boulder. At CU she directs University Singers and teaches conducting fundamentals and applied conducting. Prior to this appointment she was associate professor of music at Northwestern College, Saint Paul, Minnesota (1999 - 2011), where she conducted the Women’s Chorale and Chamber Singers, and taught advanced conducting, secondary choral methods, class voice, introduction to music, and supervised student teachers. She was director of choral activities at Northern State University, Aberdeen, South Dakota (1995 – 99), and in spring 2008 she conducted the St. Olaf College Manitou Singers. Geston has been an artistic advisor to Minnesota Chorale, artistic director of Great River Chorale, St. Cloud, Minnesota, and director of Voices of Experience, a choir for senior singers co-sponsored by MacPhail Center for Music and Minnesota Chorale. She received the doctor of musical arts degree in choral conducting and literature from University of Colorado, the master of music degree in choral conducting from University of Minnesota, and teaching certification and the bachelor of arts degree in vocal performance from North Dakota State University.
Choirs under Geston's direction have been selected to sing at state and divisional ACDA and MEA conferences in 2010, 2006, 2004, 2001, and 1999. In 2003 the Northwestern College Women's Chorale was invited to perform with Minnesota Orchestra and maestro Edo de Waart in Gustav Holst's The Planets. Dr. Geston is a frequent guest conductor and clinician, and in 2011 conducted the North Dakota All-State Women’s Choir, the University of Nebraska at Omaha Women's Honor Choir, and the Mississippi 8 Conference Festival Choir, among others. In 2009 - 10 she conducted all-state, honor, or festival choirs in Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin, and in January 2010 she was a clinician for the Korea International Choral Association in Daegu, South Korea. In February 2012 she will conduct the Kentucky MEA Junior High All-State Women's Choir.
Geston was a presenter at the Minnesota 2011 MEA Mid-Winter Conference, the Northwestern College 2011 Scholarship Symposium, the 2010 Iowa Choral Directors Association Summer Symposium, and 2010 North Dakota ACDA conference. In 2009 she was a headline presenter at the South Dakota MEA Conference, and in 2008 at the American Guild of Organists national conference, the North Central ACDA conference, and a seminar on Hugo Distler at Luther Seminary. Additionally, she was a panelist at the 2006 National Association of Teachers of Singing national conference.
Dr. Geston is a member of ACDA, MENC, MMEA, NCCO, NATS, and IFCM, and has served North Central ACDA as president-elect and as a member of the editorial board for Melisma. She was president, membership chair, Repertoire & Standards Chair for College and University, 50th Anniversary Committee chair, and a member of the F. Melius Christiansen Endowment Fund committee for ACDA of Minnesota. She is working with American choral conductor and composer Dale Warland on a book about the Dale Warland Singers. |
