Grosse Pointe South Choirs – About Us

Mrs. Ellen J. Bowen

Ellen J. Bowen: BM Voice and cello performance Ball State University, Indiana; M.S Guidance, Counseling Education; Butler University, Indiana; Master of Music, Choral and Instrumental Conducting Oakland University, Post Graduate Music Technology and Music Education University of Michigan, and Michigan State University.

At Grosse Pointe South her groups and soloists have been in the top 10 of the state in the Michigan School Vocal Music Association Solo and Ensemble Festivals. The Pointe Singers are the 1997, 1998 and 1999 National Showstoppers winners. Ellen is also the director of the All School musical which has a national reputation for excellence.

Ellen’s students have been accepted to the finest schools of music. In the past four years students have been accepted and are majoring in music at such fine universities as the Eastman School of Music, Indiana University, University of Michigan, College Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, New York University, and the North Carolina School for the Arts to name only a few.

Ellen, most recently, was responsible for the creation of a 25 station MIDI lab where over 50 students were trained in Music Technology I and II this year. Students are sequencing with the Korg Trinity 88 keyboard, Korg N364 workstations and Cakewalk Professional. Theory students are composing in Finale 2005 and Sonar Sequencing and using the latest equipment with DAT recorders. We all look forward to the development of a recording studio and the advancement of audio and video in our programming.

As the chairperson of the EPLC music curriculum committee, she was responsible for incorporating the National Music Standards into the music curriculum. Founder of the annual Madrigal Dinner, South maintains a complete program from beautiful costumes to original comic scripts to the boars head. In the years 2000-2003, The Pointe Singers, under Ellen Bowen’s direction performed 37 shows of the Holiday Pops Yuletide Festival and the Holiday Pops Concerts with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra at Detroit’s Historic Orchestra Hall today known as The Max.

Mrs. Bowen was the featured speaker at the Cincinnati American Choral Director’s Workshop on Thursday, Feb. 22, 2000. The choirs under Ellen Bowen’s leadership have won three National Show Choir titles, been named State finalist in both Choral, Small Ensemble and Soloist over 30 different times from 1986-present and have traveled to Spain and Italy. This year, 81 students will travel to Germany, Austria and Prague to perform six performances in celebration of Mozart’s 250th Birthday. The touring choir will perform in two cathedrals, two high schools, and two Performing Arts Centers.

Mrs. Bowen directs the All School musicals where the 2006 musical “West Side Story” will be performed April 4-9th at the Grosse Pointe Performing Arts Center.

As the chairperson for Show and Music Theater for the ACDA-MI. Ellen Bowen is the author of a tri annual article in the award winning magazine Bella Voce. She is a state and national judge for MSVMA and National Show Choir competitions.

Richard Wolf

 

Richard Wolf has served as the accompanist for Grosse Pointe South High School Choirs since August 2004. Prior to Grosse Pointe South, he served for 9 years as the accompanist at Rochester High School. Prior to his work at Rochester, he also served for one year as accompanist at Adams High School in Rochester Hills. In previous years Richard has also served as accompanist for the Troy Community Chorus and the Symphonia Chorale.

Richard is a 1992 graduate of Ball State University, where he studied choral music and piano, and a 1988 graduate of Eisenhower High School in Shelby Township. In addition to his work as an accompanist, he has also maintained an active interest in musical theater. For four years he served as musical director for Pontiac Theatre IV, providing direction for 6 shows during his tenure. Additionally he has worked with Rochester Community Schools Summer Musical Theatre program for 9 years in various positions, as well as played for performances of Grosse Pointe Summer Stock. Richard also served as vocal director for 12 musical theatre productions at Stevenson High School in Sterling Heights. Two shows for which he provided direction at Stevenson were selected to perform at the International Thespian Society conventions, and two shows were selected to perform at the Michigan Interscholastic Forensic Association One-Act Theatre Finals.

Richard also serves as a member of the Full Board of the Michigan School Vocal Music Association (MSVMA). From 1999 to 2003 he served MSVMA as District 16 Manager, where he supervised all District-level Solo & Ensemble Festivals and Choral Festivals for schools in Oakland, Macomb, St. Clair, and Wayne Counties (including Grosse Pointe). From 2003 to 2006 he served the organization as Region C and TTBB High School Honors Choir Supervisor, where he coordinated and supervised high school Honors Choir auditions for 7 counties in Southeast Michigan, as well as supervise the men’s High School State Honors Choir each January. Richard has also served MSVMA as its resident sightreading composer from 1999-2005 – all students and choirs who sightread at Honors Choir auditions, District Choral Festivals, and State Solo & Ensemble Festivals have sung his sightreading exercises at those festivals. He has written the High School Honors Choir Supervisors’ Manual and co-authored the District Managers’ Manual for the organization. Currently Richard serves MSVMA as Awards Supervisor, co-editor of the MSVMA Handbook (the primary resource for MSVMA members on rules, policies, and expectations of schools and directors), as a member of the Technology and Website Development Committee, and on its standing Policy Committee.

Church music is another of Richard’s active interests. He is currently the organist, cantor, and adult choir director at Trinity Lutheran Church in Richmond (where he has served since February 2004), where he leads music at all worship services (both contemporary and traditional worship), as well as re-building the Adult Choir after the choir’s absence in the congregation for many years. Previously he served as Director of Music at Abiding Presence Lutheran Church in Rochester Hills for 7 years, and has also served Lutheran and Catholic congregations in Shelby Township and Troy. Richard has also served on the Worship Committee for the Southeast Michigan Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, where he assisted in the planning of Synod-wide worship events.

As a choral singer, Richard has served as tenor section leader for the international award-winning Detroit Concert Choir (where he has also served as an associate accompanist), and has sung with the traveling competition choir (most recently competing in Gorizia, Italy in July 2004). He has also sung for 3 seasons with the Meadowbrook Festival Chorus (the summer chorus for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra) and with the Gil Jackson Chorale. He has sung under the direction of such noted directors as Gordon Nelson, Thomas Sheets, Steve Zegree, Charlene Archibeque, and Neeme Jarvi.

Richard currently lives in Harper Woods, and maintains an active rooting interest since childhood in the Chicago Cubs.

The program at Grosse Pointe South is supported by an active parent booster organization and other community organizations that volunteer time and offer financial support to continue the excellence. The funds raised by the G.P. South Choir Boosters are used to provide student scholarships and enable the program to engage the services of dance, theater and vocal music clinicians of national prominence and reputation to work with the students.

The vocal music program at Grosse Pointe South High School is only incidentally about the awards and accolades for high quality performances. The focus of the program is on the positive learning experiences and enrichment these students derive from the program. The program also gives the community an outstanding and proactive opportunity to support and participate in this outstanding educational process. The vocal music program at South has provided an incredibly enriching program to many hundreds of students. This program is about the look on the face of a young man or woman who has achieved something, on or off the stage, which they did not believe they were capable of achieving. Many of these young people have found, in this vocal music program, not only a creative outlet for their growing and developing talent, but a place where their confidence and self-esteem are constantly nurtured.