MSU Masters Student Chosen to Direct Grammy-Winning Children’s Choir

MSU Community Music School has found a replacement children’s choir director for when the program’s founder, Mary Alice Stollak retires this spring.

According to excerpts from the article:

University officials sought applicants from as far away as Italy and Australia, but the search concluded with one of MSU’s own.

Kristin Zaryski, a MSU master’s student in choral conducting, was appointed as the new director, and will replace the program’s founder, Mary Alice Stollak, when she retires this spring. Zaryski will be the second director in the program’s 15-year history.

In her time as director, Stollak and the choir have won two Grammy Awards and have performed at venues such as Carnegie Hall in New York City and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Stollak built the MSU Children’s Choir into what MSU Community Music School Executive Director Rhonda Buckley called a world-class program.

Zaryski, who has a bachelor’s degree in music education and plans to receive her master’s this spring, has previously taught music in Florida, New York and Michigan. She has worked with the children’s choir before, acting as an accompanist and assistant conductor in the choir’s camp last summer. Working closely with Stollak during the camp was what Zaryski said inspired her to apply for the job.

Read the entire article here.