Americana: In Perspective

[Danny McGuire] [David Worts] [Paula Kramer] [R E Grove] [Mark Frashier] [Linda Muir] [Art Gangel] [L D Winslow]
[Christine Hemphill] [Mark Van Order] [Wendy Sistrunk] [S Jeff Dary] [Elizabeth Leigh Dary]
[Rhianna Thomas] [Christi Cortina Evans] [Lara Steinel]
[M Suzanne Ryan (not pictured)] [Julie Sutton (not pictured)] [Mary Ann Warfield (taking picture)]

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Elizabeth Leigh Dary calls Republic, Missouri her hometown. She and Jeff, her husband, relocated to Lee's Summit a little over one year ago. Both are active in the Methodist Church. She is currently employed by the Belton School District. She has an extensive background in theater and music beginning with her education in voice and theater from Southwest Missouri State University, Springfield. She has performed in a number of musicals including roles in Annie, Cinderella, Man of La Mancha, Sound of Music and The King and I. Related to her theater background, her vocal experience includes solo performances for various church choirs and for the Smokey Valley Chapter of the Sweet Adelines. She also has special skills that she has been able to utilize throughout her career including choreographing and assistant directing at the Boot Hill Museum in Dodge City, Kansas. She would like to dedicate her performance with the Kansas City Singers production of Americana In Perspective to her family, her husband Jeff and especially to her grandmother Irene for saying ..."sing for me one more time." With Cherokee ancestry, Elizabeth's Great Great Grandmother was among the thousands of displaced Native Americans who walked the Trail of Tears. [top]

S Jeff Dary, originally from Wichita, Kansas, currently resides with his wife, Elizabeth, in Lee's Summit, Missouri. He is the vocal Music Director at Belton High School and holds current memberships in the Music Educators Association and the Missouri Choral Directors Association. Jeff has been teaching vocal music for the past ten years in Kansas and Missouri and will be directing his Belton High School class in their Spring Pops Concert, May 16^th and 17^th. Besides teaching, Jeff's background in theater and music is extensive. He holds a Bachelor of Music Education (vocal/instrumental) from Friends University, Wichita, KS, where he also performed for four years with the "Singing Quakers." Active in both professional and community theater, Jeff has held starring roles in a number of musicals including the part of John Wilkes Booth in Assassins and John Adams in 1776 (Jeff is also a descendant of John Adams). He also directed several choral groups in Kansas and was director of entertainment at the Boot Hill Museum in Dodge City, Kansas. He would like to thank his mother for her encouragement and help, his friends for their critique and his wife Elizabeth for eight wonderful years of love and support. [top]

Christi Cortina Evans is a native of Kansas City Missouri and currently resides in Raytown, Missouri. Christi holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Broadcasting from Northwest Missouri State University located in Maryville, Missouri. She has served as a Court Appointed Special Advocate for Children with the Jackson County CASA Project for two and one half years. Her choral experience has been with various church choirs and gospel singing groups including "Just Us Friends" as well as performing and recording with "maR+Ram & The Saints" gospel group. Christi auditioned for Kansas City Singers for the opportunity to increase her vocal skills and grow as a performer. Her ancestry consists of African-American-Native American. [top]

Mark Frashier was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri. He is self-employed in the home construction and remodeling industry. Mark finds that being part of a professional choral group helps him find balance in his life through cultural experience. Mark's love for singing started during his high school years as a member of his school choir and later into college as he continued developing his vocal skills. Mark sang two seasons with William Baker's Kansas City Festival Singers and is currently a member of the Fine Arts Chorale. Mark has been able to trace his descendant nationalities as as English and Cherokee. [top]

Art Gangel grew up in Paola, Kansas. While attending Paola High School he began his acting in musical theater playing diverse roles from Tevye in Fiddler in the Roof to Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls while attending Colby Community College, Colby, Kansas. His singing experience, also diverse, ranges from singing period music at the Kansas City Renaissance Festival with the choral ensemble 'Madrigalia Bar Nonne' for the past four seasons to Cantor and bass section leader for the choir at St. James Catholic Church in Kansas City, Missouri. Art is also a radio personality and has performed voice overs for KQLS and KTCC Radio, both in Colby, Kansas. He is currently employed by the Sprint Corporation in their E/Solutions Division. He lives with his wife Kendall in the Midtown area of Kansas City. They have been married for six years. Art will be singing baritone with the Kansas City Singers. Art comes from an Austrian-Irish heritage. [top]

R E Grove is the Artistic Director of The Kansas City Singers. He attended the University of Missouri Conservatory of Music where he received a B. M. in Music Composition and Theory and pursued Graduate Studies in Music Composition. In addition to composition, his studies included piano, acting, voice and dance with subsequent training from William Jewell College, Missouri State Ballet, and the Westport Ballet. Bob also holds a Master of Arts from the UMKC Professional Writing Program. During his years at the Conservatory, Bob was founder and president of the UMKC Composer's Guild, a founding member of the University Singers, and President of the student body. In recent years, Bob has performed with many ensembles, including the Dickens Carolers, Madrigalia Bar Nonne, Kansas City Festival Singers, Kansas City Symphony Chorus, and the Fine Arts Chorale. His recent stage work includes several Gorilla Theatre productions, Starlight Theatre productions of Jekyll & Hyde, and Phantom, Wordsinger Production's Servante & Nod, and Civic Opera Theater of Kansas City productions of The Wise Women, The Pirates of Penzance, and A Little Night Music. By combining vocal music with acting techniques, Bob feels that the Kansas City Singers gives a more powerful and relevant choral performance. He looks forward to the creative process, whether it is performing, directing, or the writing of music, software and literature. [top]

Christine Hemphill calls St. Louis, Missouri home. She is currently attending the University of Missouri Conservatory of Music under the vocal performance degree program. She is hard at work on finishing her sophomore year. She performed in her high school choir and was a member of the St. Louis Symphony Children's Choir. She has played piano for twelve years and has studied dance as well. She has a menagerie back home in St. Louis that includes two dogs, three cats and one brother. Her favorite color is green to match her eyes. Her hobby is knitting scarves which may explain her fondness for sheep. She can be seen and heard singing with both the UMKC Missouri Women's Chorale and Chamber Chorale. Christine claims a German and Irish heritage. [top]

Danny McGuire is the next to the youngest performer with the Kansas City Singers. He lives in Kansas City, Missouri and is in his senior year at Bishop Miege High School. He has participated in high school musicals including Guys and Dolls and My Fair Lady. For the past two years he has performed with the Madrigal Singers of Bishop Miege High School as well as performing featured solo parts in concerts and Masses. He has also been taking private voice lessons with Dr. Charles Beard of the University of Missouri Kansas City. In 2001, Danny received top rating in vocal solo competition at the Kansas Regional Competition and a two rating for vocal solo at the Kansas State competition. At eighteen, Danny has attained Eagle Scout rank with the Boy Scouts of America and enjoys volunteering his time assisting in soup kitchens as well as Boy Scout Service Projects and Habitat for Humanity. He discovered that he wanted a career on stage while performing the part of the lead villain in an 8^th grade melodrama. Danny is a mix of English, French, German and Irish who came to America by way of Newfoundland. [top]

Paula Kramer is originally from Tulsa, Oklahoma and has made Lake Quivira, Kansas her home with her husband DuWayne and children David and Kelli. She is a graduate of Kansas University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Applied Voice along with private vocal study with faculty at the University of Missouri Conservatory of Music. She worked as a private vocal instructor for twenty-five years and was Adjunct Voice Faculty at Kansas City Community College for five years. Paula has been a member of the Tulsa Opera Chorus, a one time member of the Kansas City Chorale and has performed as a soloist in several churches throughout the Greater Kansas City area. She has played piano since the age of seven and did a season of dance while working as a Cabaret performer for Six Flags over Mid-America. She is currently a member of the Junior League of Wyandotte and Johnson Counties in Kansas and is a member of the Sigma Alpha Iota, Kansas Alumnae Chapter. Paula's family came to America from Germany. [top]

Linda Muir was born in Hartford, Connecticut and grew up down river in Glastonbury. Linda studied music at Shenandoah Conservatory of Music in Winchester, Virginia where she was a touring member of the Shenandoah Singers. She received her Bachelor of Music degree at Keene State College in Keene, New Hampshire. In addition to a degree in voice performance, she performed on the piano, in chamber ensembles on the harpsichord, and modern dance productions as well. Linda has performed in the Connecticut Opera Company and the Brattleboro Opera Theatre in Brattleboro, Vermont. Since moving to the Midwest, Linda has since performed with the Northland Community Choir here in Kansas City as well as church soloist for the Lee's Summit Christian Church Chancel Choir where she currently resides with her husband Adrian and their three daughters; Sarah, Haley and Abigail. One of Linda's ancestor was aboard the Mayflower, got drunk and fell overboard but was successfully fished out of the ocean. She is also a distant relative of John Wilkes Booth. [top]

M Suzanne Ryan is a professional dance artist who grew up in Kansas City, Missouri and currently resides in Bonner Springs, Kansas. Suzanne is involved with theater in the area of dance and movement. She received her B.F.A. in Dance from the University of New Mexico. Her performance experience has been local, national and international. She is currently the Artistic Director, and choreographer with 'Reach'...a movement collective, featuring a variety of dance performances including modern, tap, improvisation, multi-media and sacred dance. She was formerly with 'aha! dance theatre' as choreographer and performer. Suzanne also has been a member of a number of dance troupes in New Mexico and Texas and has traveled to Mukogwa Gakuin, Sasebo, Kobe in Japan to perform in the American Festival. She proudly accepts her Scots, German, English and Irish heritage which she enjoys celebrating. In 1640 a distant relative by the name of George Little arrived from England. He was one of over 250,000 Europeans that were sold to colonists as "indentured servants." The word 'Slavery' was not used until the 18^th century. White and black, alike, were sold into slavery from c.1600 until Abraham Lincoln declared all slaves to be free. [top]

Wendy Sistrunk calls Manhattan, Kansas her hometown. Her love for music took her to the completion of a Bachelor in Music from Kansas State University at Manhattan and then on to Arizona State University for a Master's degree. Wendy also holds a Master of Library Science from Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts. She has been a Music Catalog Librarian at the University of Missouri, Kansas City since 1996 and serves in the capacity of Music Librarian for the International Fraternity of Mu Phi Epsilon. Her performance experience is varied. Wendy has performed as a soloist and in the choruses of many operas and other fine music ensembles. She is currently a member of the Fine Arts Chorale and Madrigalia Bar Nonne. Wendy is the General Manager for Kansas City Singers. As an interesting side note on her family heritage, Wendy traces her family lineage back to John Graham, 5^th Duke of Montrose. For his loyalty to Bonnie Prince Charles, John Graham was executed in Edinburgh, Scotland. Wendy's family eventually relocated to the United States but she still considers "Charlie As Her Darling." One of Wendy's ancestors was the doctor that treated Abraham Lincoln the night that John Wilkes Booth shot him. [top]

Lara Steinel is from St. Louis, Missouri and has lived in Washington D.C. before settling in Lenexa, Kansas. Lara received her education at Kansas University where she obtained a Bachelor degree in Music Education (choral conducting). She has performed on stage in various venues; most notably she spent 10 years with VOCE, a 24-voice chamber choir in suburban Washington D.C. where she also served a three year term on the Board of Directors. She continues to perform in the chamber and festival choirs at the Shenandoah Bach Festival in Harrisonburg, Virginia each June. Lara has spent most of her career working for the Kansas City Star, USA Today, and The Washington Post. She also taught choral music at Blue Valley High School. Lara lives with her husband Daniel V. Steinel in Lenexa, Kansas. She has served as a soprano soloist and section leader at the Colonial Church in Prairie Village, Kansas. She studies voice with Un Chong Yi Christopher. In her spare time she is an enthusiastic advocate for arts education and funding. She also enjoys bead work, primarily jewelry, by commission. Although she is adopted, Lara proudly claims a Jewish heritage that came with her family from Russia. [top]

Julie Sutton is originally from Ottawa, Kansas. She now resides in Overland Park. She is in her fourth year teaching music in an elementary school in Olathe. She is a member of Delta Delta Delta National Fraternity, National Educators Association (NEA) and the PEO Women's Philanthropic Organization. Julie used to sing as a soloist at Romano's Macaroni Grill. She has performed with the William Baker Kansas City Festival Singers for three years and with the Dickens Caroler's for two years. She has a diverse background in performing; from choir during her high school years to more recent performances in Shawnee Mission Theatre in the Park in a production of South Pacific to the Shawnee Barn Players production of Secret Garden. For fun, Julie took her spring break to go ice climbing. She would like to thank her friends and family for their never-ending support and encouragement in yet another performance endeavor. Julie is from an English and German heritage. [top]

Rhianna Thomas is from Sedalia, Missouri where she lived with her mother, younger brother, and step father until she began college. She is currently attending Avila College where she is in her junior year of study, working toward a certificate in elementary education and a minor in studio art. Also known as Rhianna Banana, she is a serious student who was awarded her school's St. Catherine Medal for academic excellence her sophomore year. She is teaching an after-school kindergarten class at Asbury Children's Center in Prairie Village, Kansas. She has had five years of private vocal training, was a member of the Avila Choir for one year, spent three years in high school show choir and two years in an a cappella choir in Sedalia. She was recently married to Chris Thomas whom she met her first year at Avila. Rhianna enjoys writing poetry and has had her poetry published for two consecutive years in The Scop, Avila's literary magazine. She also volunteers her time as a Youth Friend, befriending a student in the Kansas City area's school system and helps the elderly with Spring clean up through the Shepherd's Center. Her ancestry can be traced to both German and Native American heritage. [top]

Mark Van Order is from Rochester, New York. He has an extensive history in choral music. He performed his first solo at the age of nine and has been singing ever since. Mark holds a Bachelor of Arts from State University of New York, Oswego. He was active in both the college and chamber choir as well as community organizations including the Oswego Singers and Oswego Opera Theatre. La Boheme, La Traviata and the Mikado are among the operas and operettas in which Mark has performed. His post-college experience includes the Rochester Oratorio Society and Gay Men's Chorus, the Hudson Valley Community Chorus as well as experience in community theater where he served in various technical jobs and once played the part of "Teddy" in Arsenic and Old Lace. Mark relocated to Kansas City in 1996 and became a member of the Heartland Men's Chorus and All Souls Choir the same year where he can still be heard on a regular basis. Mark lives in a "Green Earth" environment, growing and harvesting herbs for use in alternative medicines. He follows Wiccan, earth based values. He looks forward to singing with the Kansas City Singers and the opportunity to be part of a mixed voice choral ensemble. Mark is a combination of Welsh and German. Both Mary Todd Lincoln and Abraham Lincoln appear on his family tree. [top]

Mary Ann Warfield grew up in Des Peres, Missouri and moved to Kansas City in 1982. She spent over 20 years in the accounting profession before returning to school to complete a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies. She is currently working on a Master of Arts degree, highly focused on cultural history. In addition to being Dramaturg and general stage-mom for the Kansas City Singers, Mary Ann is self-employed as a researcher with much of her work in recording and preserving the history of the built environment. Mary Ann considers her work to be important in understanding the cultures that we have all come from in order to aid in developing our future. It is with this philosophy that she approaches the research for the music presented by the Kansas City Singers. It is most exciting when links can be made between the music and the common person, giving the music a personal voice and a cultural context that can be personally relevant rather than a mere interpretation. Her ancestral heritage consists of Swiss and Hungarian. [top]

L D Winslow is from Independence, Missouri. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Education and has worked for twenty years in various capacities in the educational field. His love for music is demonstrated through his participation with various church and community choirs as well as his thirteen years as a participant in the Independence Messiah Chorus. He has sung in men's quartets and other small ensembles and was a member of the Central Missouri State University Chorus where he performed a role in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi. L. D. is very active in the lives of his three children where he performs the roles of father, coach, and avid fan. He gratefully acknowledges the encouragement he receives from his wife and family as he makes his professional debut with the Kansas City Singers. L.D.'s ancestor came over on the Mayflower and was one of the first governors of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. [top]

David Worts is the youngest member of the Kansas City Singers ensemble. David is a native Kansas Citian and lives with his parents, two older brothers and his dog. He is a junior at Center High School where he was formerly active in "Center Censations," a six voice a cappella pop group and just completed the musical Godspell, playing a dual role as St. John the Baptist and Judas. He also has represented his school in both group and solo competitions for state contests and conference choirs and will be going to state competition as solo and part of a sextet in 2002. David has had the distinction of performing in Carnegie Hall with the Independence Messiah Choir in 2000 where he has been a member for two years. He looks forward to performing with Kansas City Singers for the challenge and growth experience and hopes to make music a career as he feels that music is his life. David's ancestors are from Germany. [top]

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