Grande Prairie Choral Arts is a not-for-profit organization in the Chicago Southland dedicated to providing excellent choral music and to promoting and furthering vocal and choral music education. Performance groups include the Grande Prairie Singers, an auditioned mixed choir for singers over the age of sixteen, as well as three children’s choirs for kindergarten through high school. The organization also maintains various ensembles available for outreach in the community.

The GPCA regular season consists of three main stage concerts presented at the Rich South High School auditorium in Richton Park and two Children’s Choir concerts presented at Prince of Peace Church in Chicago Heights. The GPCA includes singers from 25 communities and represents a wide variety of ethnic and religious backgrounds. The Grande Prairie Choral Arts performing groups are also pleased to be frequent collaborators with other Southland musical groups, including the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra, the Southwest Symphony Orchestra and various choral groups.

Review(s)
“The concert had an exciting finale when the Grande Prairie Singers joined the orchestra for Alexander Borodin’s ‘Polovtsian Dances’. The combination of the great playing of the orchestration (done by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov) and the superior voices of the chorus was electrifying and seemed more duet than voice with accompaniment”. The Star, May 20, 2004

The Grande Prairie Choral Arts “Love in Bloom” concert on May 1, like a delicious spring day, was the result of a perfect combination of many factors. Grande Prairie Choral Arts is blessed by a wealth of talent, not just in solo voices but also in ensemble. The depth of voices available allowed for creative vocal motion within the whole, as was sparkly evident in the Bahamian folk song, “Big Bunch, a Little Bunch,” and spiritually evocative in Gabrieli’s “Lieto godea.” Lyrics were clear and authentic; one did not need to turn to the well-presented notes to know what one was hearing. When the focus turned to solo voices, the audience was treated to not only competence but, in several cases, brilliance. Clearly Georgette Gladstone and Kelly Padden, whose moving rendition of the “Flower Duet” from Delibes “Lakmé” stole the show. Opening with Morley’s “Now is the month of Maying,” and closing with an adaptation of Mascagni as “Anthem for Spring,” the program amused, informed, inspired, and challenged. Prairie State College’s Valerie Nicholson’s arrangement of Cole Porter’s “Let’s Do It” illumined his hip tune and verse with a fresh and energized light. The debut of Chicagoan James Quinn’s three spring sections from his larger “cummings and going” addressed a modern choral controversy: Is the power of modern poetry and its focus on individual words lost with the imposition of music? In Quinn’s composition and Grande Prairie’s presentation, we have proof that such a coupling can be evocative. Thomas Venutolo, accompanist to the chorus, deserves mention as he and the voices moved more like lovers in a sensuous dance rather than the too faint-of-heart or too overbearing relationships often encountered. Under the artistic direction of Dr. Lisa Kristina, all these elements were brought together engagingly. What a delight it was to hear her own solo voice raised in counterpoint to the Barbershop Quartet in Meredith Wilson’s “Lida Rose/Will I Ever Tell You.” It is clear that the mature professionalism heard in the voices of the chorus has its definition in the quality of leadership found in Dr. Kristina. Some of the most important dates music lovers should have on their 2005-2006 concert calendars are the performances of Grande Prairie, so close to home, so close to perfect.

Educational Programs
In school performances
In school performances may be arranged...View Details

< Back to previous page.