GREAT LAKES YOUTH CHOIR

Celebrating the bridge-building joy of music!

T
he Great Lakes Youth Choir is an auditioned choir for youth aged 13-20 who love to sing and develop friendships throughout northern Michigan and around the world. The 2020-21 year will begin on October 1, 2020.

The Great Lakes Youth Choir, formerly the Little Traverse Youth Choir, is the host choir for Voices Without Borders' Children of the World in Harmony Festivals and has toured internationally to Ireland (Dublin Choral Festival) and Scotland (American Celebration of Music in Scotland) in 2018, French-speaking Canada and New York in 2013, and has been honored to perform with the Northern Michigan Chorale, the Little Traverse Choral Society, the Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra and Chorus and Broadway singers, Sir Franc D'Ambrosio and Matthew Morrison. The choir was thrilled to accept an invitation to perform at Carnegie Hall in NYC in June, 2020. Unfortunately, that trip was cancelled due to the novel coronavirus.

Meet our Director! Monica has served as the Director of Arts and Music Ministry at First Presbyterian Church in Harbor Springs since 
January 2017. Her previous home was in Muncie, IN whe
re she studied f
or her doctoral degree in choral conducting at Ball State University. During her time in Indiana she served as the Director of Music at Hazelwood Christian Church in Muncie for four years. She has also directed several choirs in the Chicago area.

 

Monica is originally from Romania where she started her music education as a young child. Together with her parents and older sister she moved to the States in 1997, settling in the Chicago suburbs.  She received her undergraduate degree in Piano Performance from DePaul University, master’s degree from Andrews University, Berrien Springs MI, in both choral conducting and piano performance, and is working on her dissertation to complete her doctoral degree. Monica’s interests are music, drawing, literature on the power of music, history of arts, jogging, cross-country skiing, and cooking. She and her husband have two young children. She loves spending time with her babies, reading to them, and teaching them songs.

 

For more information, please contact the Choir's Director, Monica Pavel-Kissinger, by e-mail at monicapk@greatlakesyouthchoir.org.                               
Stand Together Tour 2013


LTYC Highlights
  • June, 2018 International Tour of Ireland & Scotland
  • Children of the World in Harmony International Choir and Dance Festivals (2010-2012 and 2014, 2017, 2019)
  • 2016 "A Journey in Song" Tour of Northern Michigan
  • Master Classes with Mr. Franc D'Ambrosio and Mr. Michael Tilley (2014, 2015, 2019)
  • Performed with singer/actor, Mr. Franc D'Ambrosio, well-known for his role as the "Phantom" in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera (2015, 2019)
  • Performed with Broadway and television performer, Matthew Morrison at the Great Lakes Center for the Arts (2018)
  • Performed at the Community Open House as part of the grand opening of the Great Lakes Center for the Arts (2018)
  • Voices Without Borders "Getting to Know You" International Cultural Exchange with Sol Art Children's Choir of Hanoi, Vietnam (2015)
  • Performances with the Young Americans (2010-2012)
  • Joint concerts with the Little Traverse Choral Society and the Northern Michigan Chorale
  • International Concert Tour to French-speaking Canada (2013)
  • Concert tours to Traverse City, Frankfurt, Lansing and the Detroit area (2011-12)
  •  Performances prior to the Messiah concerts, presented by the Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra and Chorus (2011 and 2012)
  • National Anthem for the Harlem Globetrotters (2012)
  • Performed Carmina Burana with the Great Lakes Chamber Orchestra & Chorus (2012)
  • Performances at a variety of local events/venues including the Charlevoix Venetian Festival, Petoskey's Historic Festival, Petoskey's Downtown Holiday Open House, Hospice, The Perry Hotel, Rotary and Hestia
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