While pursuing a violin performance degree at Boston University, J Michael Compton was overheard singing his violin music at pitch, and was promptly thrust into Boston's flourishing early music scene. His first professional post was in the choir of First and Second Church in the Back-Bay neighborhood. In the Twin Cities, he has performed with several early music groups, and joined The Gregorian Singers in its early years as an all-male ensemble. Michael studied organ with the late Howard Don Small, Canon Musician Emeritus at the Cathedral Church of St. Mark, and he has served as Director of Music at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church for 28 years. He enjoys editing and performing neglected baroque masterpieces as well as composing new works, including a setting of the Passion and a Celtic Mass. Michael continues to perform on both modern and baroque violin. His other interests include antique-collecting and photography.
Gabrielle Doran has been singing in choirs since high school, where she sang with the Trinity School Chamber Singers in Bloomington. From there she went on to join the University of Minnesota Women's Chorus. Her particular love for early music grew during her several years with the Waltham Abbey Singers in St. Paul. She then spent four years in Boston as a member of The Oriana Consort, and she also helped start a Gregorian chant schola at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Waltham, MA. Gabby joined the Gregorian Singers in 2011. She has also sung with Exultate, Hymnos Vocal Ensemble, and the Cathedral of Saint Paul. She lives in St. Paul with her husband and two young daughters.
Elina Kala joined the Gregorian Singers in 2002, and has returned this season after a short hiatus. She is also a cantor at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis and sings with Schola Cantorum. She serves as a liturgical singer at St.Paul's on the Hill Episcopal Church in St. Paul and sings and plays mandolin and guitar in Saana Ensemble, a Finnish women's folk group. She has also sung with VocalEssence, Kantorei, Waltham Abbey Singers, and Central Minnesota Chorale, as well as various church choirs. Elina moved to Minnesota from Finland in 1991 after graduating from the University of Jyväskylä with M.S. in Psychology. She also studied music at Jyväskylä Conservatory. For the past ten years she has been employed at Hazelden Center for Youth and Families in Plymouth as a licensed marriage and family therapist and a drug and alcohol counselor. She enjoys yoga, condo living and sweating in sauna with other expat Finns.
Diane Koschak is in her twelfth season with the Gregorian Singers. She is also a member of The Singers, the Minnesota Chorale Artists, and is the soprano section leader with the St. Louis, King of France choir. She has also been a member of The Minnesota Chorale, the Rose Ensemble, Consortium Carissimi, and the Waltham Abbey Singers, as well as performing freelance work. Diane has a Vocal Music Education degree from Bemidji State University, and a Masters in Education from St. Mary's University. During the day, she teaches elementary music at Valley Crossing Community School in Woodbury. Diane is the soprano soloist in The Gregorian Singers’ performance of Handel’s Chandos Anthem X, The Lord Is My Light.
Tiffany Skidmore received a B.A. in Vocal Performance and Music Composition from Gonzaga University and a M.A. in Music Composition from Eastern Washington University. She is completing a Ph.D. in Music Composition at the University of Minnesota, studying with James Dillon. Her work has been has been featured in the Hildegard von Bingen Festival of Women in the Arts and the Rimon Artist Salon, and has been performed throughout Europe and the United States by the CSU Stanislaus Concert Chorale, the EWU Concert Chorale, Opus7 Vocal Ensemble, the Kiev Philharmonic, and members of the Spokane Symphony and the Hark Quartet. She has sung for the Spokane and Coeur d’Alene Opera companies, the Spokane Symphony Chorale, and numerous other large and small ensembles. She currently sings with the Minnesota Chorale and Hymnos Vocal Ensemble.
Lauren Vick attended St. Olaf College, where she was a member of the Manitou Singers, the St. Olaf Cantorei, The Early Music Singers, served as an officer in the St. Olaf Choir under Dr. Anton Armstrong, and studied voice with Margaret Eaves-Smith. Lauren has been a member of several ensembles throughout the Twin Cities, including The Rose Ensemble, The SPCO Chorale, The Singers, Minnesota Choral Artists, Consortium Carissimi, The Cathedral Choir of Saint Paul, and The Basilica Cathedral Choir. She is excited to add The Gregorian Singers to that list! Lauren holds section leader positions at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral, and in the Schola Cantorum at the Basilica of St. Mary. Her degree is in Theatre, and she recently founded the Buoyant Theatre Collective. Lauren works during the day as a Financial Coach with Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota in St. Paul.
Founding Artistic Director Monte Mason received a Bachelor's Degree in piano performance at Macalester College in 1971. After additional musical studies at the University of Minnesota, he left academia to pursue perfomance opportunities, including the formation of The Gregorian Singers at age 23. The abiding factors in this decision included a personal and professional ken to learn more about chant and to experience its performance. Howard Don Small, organist/choirmaster at St. Mark's Cathedral in Minneapolis, was instrumental in allowing this experiment to take place in the lovely visual and acoustic setting of the cathedral. Almost forty years later, the rest has been history. Other positions and passions include organist/choirmaster at St. Martin's by the Lake, Minnetonka Beach, composer, editor, piano teacher, writer, botanist, and maintaining various odd collections in his home in South Minneapolis.
Mary Mason graduated from Macalester College, where she received a B.A. in music, studying piano with Donald Betts, and singing in the Concert Choir under the direction of Dale Warland. She participated in several performances with the Minnesota Orchestra, including the U.S. premiere of Krzysztof Penderecki’s St. Luke Passion at Carnegie Hall. After college, she embarked on consecutive careers in law and aviation, while continuing to sing in choirs that included St. Mark’s Cathedral Choir under Howard Don Small, and an early spinoff of the Gregorian Singers, The St. Cecilia Singers. She is also a member of St. John’s Oratorio Chorus. She is now retired from Delta Air Lines but continues to teach part-time at Metropolitan State University.
Christopher Jackson has a master’s degree in choral conducting from the University of Minnesota and a doctorate in choral conducting from the University of Arizona. Since 1997, Chris has directed a variety of choral ensembles, and has taught private voice lessons at both the high school and university levels. He has sung in a number of choral ensembles, including the Dale Warland Singers from 1998-2001 and VocalEssence in 2008. In 2006, Chris was a co-recipient of the Julius Herford Prize for outstanding choral dissertation for his doctoral thesis on the motets of Luca Marenzio. When not singing in the Gregorian Singers, Chris is music director at United Methodist Church of Peace in Richfield and is a receptionist at Edina Eye Physicians and Surgeons in Edina. In his spare time, Chris enjoys spending time with his wife and two children.
After receiving degrees in music history and theory, and following further study in trumpet and and composition, baritone Steven Hodulik has settled into a career in vocal music. As a choral singer, he appeared for two summers at the Aspen Music Festival, sang in Mexico City with the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico, at the America Cantat III festival in Caracas, Venezuela, and twice at Carnegie Hall. He sang the role of the Page in Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors for five seasons with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and that of King Aragorn in Howard Shore's Lord of the Rings Symphony with the Minnesota Orchestra. He currently sings with the Minnesota Chorale, the Minnesota Beethoven Festival Chorale, the St. Paul Vocal Forum, and at the Cathedral of St. Paul as a choir section leader, cantor, chant precentor, and serves there as occasional organist. He has sung with the Gregorian Singers since 2004.
Matthew Fleming was born and raised in the wine country of Napa, CA. Upon completion of high school, Matthew braved the arctic winds of Moorhead, Minnesota in order to attend Concordia College where he studied Music and English Literature and sang under Rene Clausen with The Concordia Choir. Matthew has performed as a chorister and soloist with The Singers: Minnesota Choral Artists, the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, the Napa Valley Chorale, the Minnesota Chorale and various collegiate ensembles. He lives in St. Paul with his wife Hannah and his dog Fitzgerald. Matthew is a student at Luther Seminary, pursuing ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America.
Matt Smith received a Bachelor of Music degree from Wartburg College in 1999 with an emphasis in vocal performance. He served as a tenor section leader for the Wartburg Choir under the direction of Dr. Paul Torkelson and twice accompanied them on month-long European choral tours. Soon after graduation he became interested in carpentry and now runs his own general contracting company. Along the way he has served as tenor section leader/soloist for Our Lady of Grace Church in Edina and has sung with The Gregorian Singers in 2003 and 2004. His passions are family, disc golf, all types of music, and spending time outdoors.
Brian Link first sang with the Gregorian Singers in 1979, and subsequently earned a degree from Indiana University in Early Music Vocal Performance, studying under Walter Cassel and Paul Elliott. He was soloist/section leader in the Christ Church Cathedral Choir of Men & Boys in Indianapolis, and has been featured as a soloist with the Portland Baroque Orchestra, the Boston Early Music Festival and Exhibition, and the Twin Cities groups Ex Machina, Concentus Musicus, Bach Society and Consortium Carissimi. As a choir director he has led The Waltham Abbey Singers, Ensemble Polaris and Collegium V. He recently retired from his tenor position with Vocalessence, and is currently alto soloist/section leader at the church of St. Louis, King of France in St. Paul.
Andrew Fredel is the Director of Music and Worship at Gethsemane Episcopal Church in downtown Minneapolis. He also works with David Engen and Associates, providing organ tuning and maintenance services. Before coming to the Twin Cities, he was Director of Music at St. Peter's Church-in-the-Loop, in downtown Chicago from 1999-2011, a Franciscan church well-known for rich and meaningful music and worship. From 2003-2010, he was Artistic Director of Chicago Choral Artists. Andrew's experiences as a singer focus largely on Early Music. He continues as a founding member of Schola Antiqua of Chicago. This past August, he toured eastern Germany as tenor soloist with the Bach Cantata Choir of Grace Lutheran Church, River Forest (Chicago), IL, performing Cantata 45 of J.S. Bach at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig.
Nick Chalmers has sung with The Singers-Minnesota Choral Artists and the Minnesota Opera Chorus, and has been section leader with the Chorus of Opera Memphis. Recent engagements include The Mirandola Ensemble and Glorious Revolution Baroque. Currently, Nick sings with the The Rose Ensemble, teaches private voice at St. Francis High School, and is cantor and tenor section leader and directs the St. Anne’s and St. Thomas Choirs at The Cathedral of St. Paul. Nick is the tenor soloist in The Gregorian Singers’ performance of Handel’s Chandos Anthem X, The Lord Is My Light.
Garrick Comeaux attended Concordia College in Moorhead, and sang under the direction of Paul J. Christiansen, then pursued vocal studies at Indiana University Music School in Bloomington. In 1981 he moved to Rome, where his studies in voice continued at the Music Conservatories of Santa Cecilia in Rome and F. Morlacchi in Perugia. He moved to Munich Germany in 1986, continuing vocal studies and performing as a member of the Bayerischer Rundfunk Konzertchor. In 1996, he founded Consortium Carissimi in Rome with the aim of presenting music of the early Roman Baroque. In 2007, having returned to Minnesota, he founded the Twin Cities’ Consortium Carissimi, and remains its Artistic Director. He is also the director of Liturgy and Music at St. Joachim and Anne Catholic Parish in Shakopee Minnesota, and is an instructor in Augsburg College’s music department.
The Gregorian Singers 75 Inglewood Street Long Lake, MN 55356-9421 tgs@thegregoriansingers.org
