The Singers
 

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 since 1983. 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 three children.

Elina Kala joined The Gregorian Singers in 2002. She also sings at Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis as a cantor, and in Schola Cantorum and the cathedral choir. She moved to Minnesota from Finland in1991 and has since sung in many choirs and ensembles, including  Waltham Abbey Singers, Kantorei, VocalEssence, and Saana Ensemble.  She works at Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation helping addicted youth and their families as a licensed marital and family therapist and a drug and alcohol counselor. She loves to bike to Central Library to check out Scandinavian mysteries, to visit Cedar Cultural Center for world music, and to swim across Lake Nokomis.  She is a fan of Ylvis, bhangra, yoga, sauna, xx-skiing, mushroom hunting, and knitting.  She has a special place in her heart for cats and goats.

Nick Karageorgiou is in his second season with The Gregorian Singers. Nick studied at Indiana University, where he worked with NOTU and performed Philip Glass's Akhnaten with IU Opera. His education at Indiana University led him to various choral ensembles throughout the US and abroad, including The Rose Ensemble,  The Basilica of Mary's Schola Cantorum, and VocalEssence. In April, he participated in the Tallis Scholars Masterclass at Carnegie Hall, led by Peter Phillips. Nick recently sang with Helmuth Rilling and the 2. Weimarer Bachkantaten-Akademie, finishing its last concert at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, Germany. When not working, he enjoys making homemade bean dip and chips, playing soccer, and practicing German with friends and family.


Tiffany M. Skidmore holds degrees in Vocal Performance and Music Composition from Gonzaga University, Eastern Washington University, and the University of Minnesota. As a vocalist she has sung for the Spokane and Coeur d’Alene Opera companies, the Spokane Symphony Chorale, and many other ensembles.  She has studied composition with acclaimed Scottish composer James Dillon, and her work has been featured in master classes with Brian Ferneyhough, Chaya Czernowin, and Julio Estrada. She has been a featured composer in the Hildegard von Bingen Festival of Women in the Arts and the Rimon Artist Salon, and her work has been performed throughout Europe and the United States. She is a member of the American Composers Forum and a founding member of the Minneapolis composer collective, 113.  She is currently a member of The Gregorian Singers’ Board of Directors.

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 and sang 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 as a pilot instructor but continues to teach part-time at Metropolitan State University. She also serves on The Gregorian Singers’ Board of Directors.

Steven Hodulik is a cantor and section leader at the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes and sings with the Apollo Male Chorus and the Minnesota Chorale, and regularly performs as a soloist. He sang the role of the Page in Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors with the Minnesota Chorale, the James Sewell Ballet, and the St Paul Chamber Orchestra for five seasons, and again in the fall of 2014, this time with the Minnesota Orchestra.  He reappeared as the Page in the SOAR Regional Arts production of Amahl this fall.  Other solos include King Aragorn in Howard Shore's Lord of the Rings Symphony and Uncle Yakuside in Puccini's Madama Butterfly. Upcoming choral performances include Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Minnesota Orchestra and Carmina Burana with the Minnesota Dance Theatre.  This is his twelfth season with the Gregorian Singers.


Katie Eakright graduated from the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire with a Bachelor's Degree in Music Education.  While at UWEC, she was a member of the Women's Concert Choral, the Symphonic Choir, and the Vocal Jazz Ensemble.  After graduating from college, she moved to the Twin Cities Area and began singing with Exultate Chamber Choir and Orchestra, of which she is still a member. She has also sung with Hymnos Vocal Ensemble.  Currently, she works in customer service in the Annuities division of a large insurance company, and serves on The Gregorian Singers’ Board of Directors.

Karla Cole is the Director of Music at St. Christopher’s Episcopal Church in Roseville, presiding over a bustling music ministry of singers and handbell ringers as well as The Gift of Music concert series. She is a former piano faculty member of Simpson College and holds degrees in piano performance from Texas Wesleyan University and Drake University. She has sung with the Des Moines Vocal Arts Ensemble and Consortium Carissimi. In addition, she is a busy chamber musician and accompanist and the mother of a dog, two cats and a couple of college students, in order of neediness.


The Gregorian Singers 4542 Blaisdell Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55419-5031  tgs@thegregoriansingers.org



Since moving to Minnesota in 2013, Jack Vishneski has specialized in the middle voices of the choral world, singing tenor, alto, and countertenor for repertoire ranging from the 12th century to the present. Jack earned a BA in History, Music, and Ethnomusicology from Beloit College, and an MA in Music from the University of Minnesota. In addition to The Gregorian Singers, he regularly sings with St. Clements' Episcopal Church, MPLS-Impulse, and Consortium Carissimi. When at work, Jack serves as a technical analysis consultant and freelance audio engineer. At play, he cooks, bikes, does yoga, wrestles his cat, and plays nerdy board games.

Adriana Pohl began her vocal pursuits in 5th grade, singing in school choirs and in Twin Cities area community children's choirs, including Bel Canto Voices and Partners in Praise Girls' Choir.  In college she was a member of the Harvard University Choir and Choral Fellows, and in her final year there founded and directed Camerata Obscura, an 8-voice early music ensemble.  While in Boston, she also guest-performed with the Boston Choral Ensemble and Canto Armonico and attended the Tallis Scholars Summer School in 2012.  She currently resides in St. Paul and sings with the Basilica of St. Mary Cathedral Choir and Schola Cantorum, as well as the Minnesota Chorale. She works at the Science Museum of Minnesota in St. Paul.

Since the age of 12, Henry Dougherty has been continuously engaged in choral singing, performing as soloist and chorister for 40+ years in 15 choirs, in styles ranging from ancient church music to urban gospel and almost everything in between.  Past ensembles have included The Augsburg College Choir, the  Minnesota Chorale, The Basilica of St. Mary Choir and Schola Cantorum.  To celebrate his 40th anniversary of singing, Henry chose to perform in four choirs in the 2014/15 season: the choir of St. Luke's, Minneapolis (Episcopal), Hymnus Angelicus, The Basilica choir, and of course The Gregorian Singers, of which he has been a member, off and on, since 1995.

Originally from Portland, Oregon, Kevin Seal has been the University Chapel Organist for the University of St. Thomas and Staff Pianist for the music department since 2010, and performs as an organ recitalist and with various ensembles throughout the Twin CitiesBefore moving to the Twin Cities,he Director of Music and Liturgy for the Catholic community in Faribault. While in Portland, he worked with the Portland Symphonic Boychoir and the award-winning liturgical choir Cantores In Ecclesia.  He earned a Bachelor of Music degree from St. Olaf College, studying with John Ferguson and Anton Armstrong, and is currently a candidate for the Master’s of Music degree at the University of Minnesota.  He also serves as a member of The Gregorian Singers’ Board of Directors. Kevin lives in St. Paul with his wife Elizabeth and their two Shetland Sheepdogs, Ciera and Zander.