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Choir

choir students group photo

Eastview High School has a rich tradition in the performing arts. Choir has played a major role in the lives of thousands of Eastview students. At Eastview, our philosophy is that every student has a place in choir. To facilitate this, we have non-auditioned choirs that are open to any EVHS student as well as highly select, auditioned choirs for the more advanced musician. We are proud that our choirs reflect a cross-section of the Eastview student body – artists, athletes, actors, dancers, scholars, females and males. The EVHS Choral Department is an active and vibrant part of the Eastview culture and has been identified throughout the Upper Midwest as an exemplary choral program.

There are over 450 students in grades 9-12 singing in one of Eastview’s six curricular choirs and five co-curricular choirs. All students receive small group lesson instruction as part of their grade. Private lessons are also available to students. In addition to choir activities, Eastview produces a musical every year, as well as BRAVO!, a musical revue that incorporates solo and chorus numbers, dance features and jazz band. Eastview students also participate in Solo & Ensemble Contest each spring, consistently earning top rating from judges.

2024-25 Links

Choir Handbook                    Choir Calendar                  2024-2025 Choir Spiritwear

Curricular Choirs

Eastview High School offers six curricular choirs that meet for 50 minutes daily throughout the school year. The choirs are structured to meet the needs of all levels of singers, regardless of prior experience. Each choir performs in one concert per quarter.

Freshmen Choraliers is open to any 9th grade treble singer at Eastview. No audition is necessary. The choir emphasizes the enjoyment of choral music and the development of the basic skills necessary for quality choral singing. Sight-reading and vocal independence are among the skills taught. This year, Choraliers has an enrollment of 150 students.
Directors – Ms. Douma & Ms. Cox

Chamber Choirs

In addition to the six curricular choirs that meet during the school day, Eastview has numerous opportunities for students who seek additional performance experiences. Some of our co-curricular activities include mainstage productions (see Musical and Bravo! webpages). Eastview also offers co-curricular chamber choirs.

Freshmen Select provides advanced 9th grade students with a mixed choir experience. In addition to being open to students in Freshmen Choraliers and Lightning Choir, students in band may also audition for membership in Freshmen Mixed. The choir meets for 45 minutes one or twice a week. Emphasis is placed on leadership and accelerated development of choral music skills. Director – Ms. Douma

Bella Voce is a treble choir comprised of singers from Elektra and Cantabile. Through the study of a variety of musical styles in a chamber choir setting, students develop listening skills and vocal technique essential for success as a vocal musician. Bella Voce rehearses Mondays at 5:00pm. Director – Ms. Cox

VoiceMale is a select group of male singers in grades 10-12. The choir is auditioned from students in Lightning Choir, Varsity Chorale and Concert Choir and is also open to10th grade singers who are in band. VoiceMale emphasizes vocal independence and the development of small-ensemble singing skills by studying pop, musical theater and jazz genres. VoiceMale rehearses Mondays at 5:00pm as well as the occasional Friday morning at 6:45am. Director – Mr. Douma

Muse is a select group of female singers in grades 10-12. The choir is auditioned from students in Elektra and Concert Choir. Muse offers an exciting and challenging chamber choir experience for its members. Acute musicianship and choral singing are two of the skills emphasized. Muse rehearses Mondays at 5:00pm. Director – Ms. Douma

Chamber Singers is the most advanced of the eleven choirs at Eastview High School. The choir draws its members from Concert Choir. Chamber Singers performs a variety of challenging literature, from Renaissance to contemporary genres. Chamber meets weekly from 5:00-6:45pm on Mondays with occasional sectionals, when needed. Director – Mr. Douma

Honors & Recognition

Eastview choirs have been held as a standard of excellence in Minnesota and the region. Special projects have included a collaboration with Chanticleer, a performance of Chichester Psalms with the Minnesota Orchestra, and a performance of a semi-staged opera with the Vocalessence Ensemble Singers under the direction of Philip Brunelle. Choirs have performed in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York, as well as venues in Hawaii, Chicago, Puerto Rico, the British Isles and the Czech Republic. In March of 2019, the Eastview Choir performed at St. Peter’s Abbey in Salzburg, Austria.  In March of 2022, the Eastview Choir performed in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.

Eastview’s choirs have been selected to perform at numerous conferences, including ACDA of MN’s Fall Conference (2000, 2010), MMEA’s Mid-Winter Clinic (2001, 2006, 2009, and 2018) and the divisional conference of NC-ACDA (2010, 2014). Eastview choirs have also performed at both the Dorian Vocal and Dorian Choral festivals at Luther College, as well as the St. Olaf Choral Festival.

Since Eastview High School opened in 1997, no other high school in the state of Minnesota has sent more students to All-State music ensembles.  Eastview students are highly involved in the Solo & Ensemble Contest, annually earning numerous Superior ratings. Eastview’s chamber choirs also have a tradition of successful performance at Contest, often coming away with Best of Site recognition.

Dakota Valley Choral Festival

Since 1978, ISD 196 high schools choral programs have joined forces for the production of a mini-major work with a professional orchestra and guest conductor.  As the school district grew in size, so did the festival.  It now features the Concert Choir from each of the four district high schools (Rosemount, Apple Valley, Eagan and Eastview) and the Dakota Valley Festival Children’s Choir.  Held in the Fall, the festival performs for a standing-room only audience at Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church in Apple Valley.

Touring

Eastview choirs regularly travel and tour. Every three years, the program offers a large tour open to students in grades 10-12. In March of 2022, the Eastview Choral Program toured throughout Italy. Previous tours have been to Austria and Germany, Puerto Rico, Hawaii and New York City. In March of 2025, the Choir will travel to Greece.

Musical Theatre

Eastview Theater produces one musical each year that boasts the involvement of 125-200 students. We select musicals to challenge and showcase the skills of our actors, singers, dancers, instrumentalists, technicians, and costumers. We also keep a keen eye on providing a variety of musical theater styles over a student’s four-year tenure. There are students in literally every area of our Performing Arts Center during our performances. Behind and above the seats are students running lights, spotlights, and assisting our audio mixer. Backstage, technicians are getting ready to shift scenery on and off. On the stage, performers are getting ready to move on. Under the stage, instrumentalists accompany our performers, and play transitional music. On the left and right, performers and costumers scurry to change costumes, adjust make-up, and warm up for their performances. There truly is a place for everyone to succeed in our musical theater program.

As members of the Spotlight Musical Theater Program, our musicals have earned more than 130 company, group, and ensemble awards. Most notably, we have earned the coveted Overall Outstanding Production Award for each of the productions entered as well as the Outstanding Student Orchestra each and every year. See Awards and Honors for details.

If you would like to learn more about our program, tour our facility, or just talk about theater, please contact Scott Durocher at scott.durocher@district196.org.

Choir Staff

Greg Douma

Greg Douma is in his 27th year as a music educator, the last 23 of which having been at Eastview High School in Apple Valley, MN. He directs five choirs: Concert Choir, Chamber Singers, Encore, Lightning Choir and VoiceMale. Mr. Douma also teaches voice lessons and is the director of BRAVO!, Eastview’s annual, full-staged musical revue. He serves as Department Leader for the Music & Dance Department at Eastview.  Each year, Mr. Douma prepares the EVHS Concert Choir for the Dakota Valley Choral Festival, a District 196 tradition that sees the four district high school concert choirs combine for the a performance of a major work with a professional orchestra and guest conductor. Choirs under Mr. Douma’s direction have been invited to perform at numerous conferences and events, including the MMEA Mid-Winter Conference (2006, 2009 and 2018), ACDA of MN Fall Conference (2010), the Dorian Vocal Festival, the Dorian Choral Invitational and projects with Chanticleer and the Vocalessence Ensemble Singers. In 2005, he was recognized by ACDA of MN as Outstanding Young Choral Director of the Year. In 2014, Mr. Douma directed Concert Choir at the divisional conference of NC-ACDA in Des Moines, one of four high school choirs from the six-state region selected to perform at the conference.  In January of 2016, he conducted the Wisconsin Children’s All-State Choir in Appleton, Wisconsin, and served as the 9-10 TBB Honor Choir conductor in 2022 for ACDA-MN.

Outside of school, Mr. Douma is active as co-founder and artistic director of the Allegro Choral Academy, a youth non-profit music education/performance organization currently in its 16th season. Allegro has 3 choirs that meet weekly throughout the school year, as well as two summer camps and various outreach choirs. The organization serves students in grades 2-9. Mr. Douma has served the American Choral Directors Association as Repertoire & Resources Chair for Male Choirs at both the state and divisional levels. He was also on the teaching staff of the Youth Choral Academy, a summer project of the Oregon Bach Festival, under the direction of Helmuth Rilling and Anton Armstrong.

He graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in music education from Luther College, where we studied under Weston Noble, Timothy Peter, Sandra Peter and David Judisch. He received a Master of Arts in choral conducting from the University of Iowa, where we studied under William Hatcher and Timothy Stalter. He lives in Apple Valley with his wife, Kari, who is also a choir director, and their three daughters: Ella, Tess and Miri.

Schedule
6:45am: VoiceMale (periodic Fridays)
Period 1: Prep
Period 2: Department Leader meetings (Wednesdays)
Period 3: Lightning Choir
Period 4: Lessons
Period 5: Concert Choir
Period 6: Encore
Period 7: Lessons/Duty
2:40pm: BRAVO! (second semester)
5:30-8:00pm: Chamber Singers, VoiceMale and Choir Council (Mondays)

Contact:
Email: Gregory.Douma@district196.org
Phone: (952) 431-8953
Fax: (952) 431-8911

Kari Douma


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kari Douma is in her 26th year of teaching. Prior to working at Eastview High School, Ms. Douma was the direct of vocal music in Independence, IA, Centennial Middle School in Lino Lakes, and Eagan High School. At Eastview, Mrs. Douma directs Elektra, Encore, and Freshmen Choraliers treble choir along with Mrs. Lewison. She also conducts two chamber choirs: The Flagstaffs and Muse, the most select treble ensemble at Eastview. In addition to her choral directing responsibilities, Mrs. Douma teaches voice lessons and sectionals and is the vocal music director for Eastview’s award-winning musical theatre program. She is also the founding director of the Dakota Valley Festival Children’s Choir, an all-district elementary choir.

Mrs. Douma is co-founder of the Allegro Choral Academy, a youth non-profit music organization based in Dakota County, for which she directs Bel Canto (grades 6-9). She has served ACDA of MN as Repertoire & Standards Chair for Women’s Choirs as well as Editor of Star of the North, ACDA of MN’s journal. In 2007, the national conference of ACDA recognized Kari’s editorial work by awarding the journal Large State Newsletter of the Year. In the fall of 2014, Mrs. Douma conducted the Grades 4-6 State Honor Choir for ACDA of MN. Under her direction, Allegro’s Prima Voce choir performed at the Fall Conference of ACDA of MN in November 2019.

She received her Bachelor of Arts in music education at Luther College and her Masters of Teaching & Learning at St. Mary’s University. She lives in Apple Valley with her husband, also a choir director, and their three daughters: Ella, Tess and Miri.

Schedule:
Period 1: prep
Period 2: Freshmen Choraliers
Period 3: Lessons
Period 4: Elektra
Period 5: Lessons/Sectionals
Period 6: Encore
Period 7: Duty
2:40pm: Musical Theatre (first semester)
5:30-8:00pm: Muse, The Flagstaffs and Choir Council (Mondays)

Contact:
Email: Kari.Douma@district196.org
Phone: (952) 431-8953
Fax: (952) 431-8911

lorene lewison

headshot of Lorene Lewison

Contact:
Email: Lorene.Lewison@district196.org
Phone: (952) 431-8900
Fax: (952) 431-8911