St. Peter, Minnesota
After more than 40 years of bringing great music to St. Peter and the surrounding area, the St. Peter Choral Society Board of Directors has chosen to discontinue the choir.
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We wish to thank all the amazing singers, instrumentalists, and rehearsal pianists who contributed their time and talent. We particularly honor Sara McKay and Annette Meeks for four decades of tireless effort and inspiring leadership.
We also want to thank everyone who attended our concerts, served on the Board, and generously contributed funding over the years. It would not have been possible without YOU!
Thank you for your support of the St. Peter Choral Society!
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We wish to thank all the amazing singers, instrumentalists, and rehearsal pianists who contributed their time and talent. We particularly honor Sara McKay and Annette Meeks for four decades of tireless effort and inspiring leadership.
We also want to thank everyone who attended our concerts, served on the Board, and generously contributed funding over the years. It would not have been possible without YOU!
Thank you for your support of the St. Peter Choral Society!
Saint Peter Choral Society
Since 1979 the artistic
mission of the Saint Peter Choral Society has been to provide residents of
Saint Peter and surrounding communities with an opportunity to perform choral
masterworks, and to promote interest in a variety of choral music for the enjoyment
and edification of the membership and the audiences.
Saint Peter Choral Society Membership Policy
The Saint Peter Choral Society is open to all who wish to sing. We invite new members to join without audition or membership fees. Also, our rehearsal and concert sites are handicapped accessible.
Contact Information
Sara McKay
500 West Jackson Street, Apt 217
Saint Peter, MN 56082
johnsaramckay@gmail.com
507-934-6176
History of the Choral Society
In September 1979, Gerry Hyers put a notice in the Saint Peter Herald asking how many people would like to sing Handel's Messiah, and over eighty people responded. Thus the Saint Peter Community Choir was formed.
Now in its 40th season, the Choir, now officially the Saint Peter Choral Society, continues to bring performances of a wide variety of great choral music to this area. Many of these performances, such as Mendelssohn's Elijah, Haydn's The Seasons, and Bach's St. John Passion, had not been previously performed here live.
Over five hundred singers, soloists and instrumentalists have participated in performances over the years that include Handel's Messiah with the Mankato Symphony Orchestra, Bach's Passions According to St. Matthew and St. John and Cantata 140, Brahms' Requiem and Neue Liebeslieder Waltzer and Gypsy Songs Opus 103, Mendelssohn's Elijah, Mozart's Requiem, Solemn Vespers and Missa Brevis in C, Vaughan Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem and Toward the Unknown Region, Britten's A Ceremony of Carols, Copland's In the Beginning, Coleridge-Taylor's Hiawatha's Wedding-Feast, Mechem's Singing Is So Good A Thing, John Rutter's Gloria and Requiem, Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, Gounod's Stabat Mater, Faure's Requiem, concert versions of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado, a program of Great Opera Choruses and Haydn's The Creation and The Seasons.
The Saint Peter Choral Society is also committed to performing the works of living American composers and has programmed works by Minnesota composers Carolyn Jennings, Eric Stokes, and Steve Heitzig, as well as Kirke Mechem, Paul Goldstaub, and a major work by John Biggs, Mass for Our Time. Our concert in memory of Minnesota composer and conductor Diane Loomer was featured at the Northern Voice Festival in St. Paul, MN, where the St. Peter Choral Society was selected as one of nine "headliner choirs."
For many years we have presented concerts of Christmas music for five retirement homes in St. Peter and have sung at dozens of community functions.
Activities of the Saint Peter Choral Society have been made possible by the voters of Minnesota through grants from the Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, and by the generosity of the Carl and Verna Schmidt Foundation, Cambria, the General Mills Foundation, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Foundation, Consolidated Communications Community Fund of the Mankato Area Foundation, and friends of the Saint Peter Choral Society.
What People Say
Our audience says:
"Fantastic concert again!" [Brahms/Mechem concert]
"Thank you for bringing this wonderful event to Montgomery. So Enjoyable" [Brahms/Mechem concert]
"Fabulous performance! When it was over, I still wanted more!" [St. John Passion]
"I moved here four years ago and I haven't missed one of your concerts!"
"This was an amazing event"
Our orchestra says:
"Thank you for the opportunity to perform the magnificent St. Matthew Passion with your talented choir and superb soloists."
"Kudos to Sara [McKay] and the SPCS for another absolutely beautiful concert."
Our choir members say:
"It is a great joy for me to be involved and I look forward to another year!"
St. Peter Choral Society - March 2018- performing Mozart's Requiem in the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, New Ulm, Minnesota. Photo by Art Sidner