Press Information

Greater Kingston Chorus (GKC) is located on the north-eastern shore of Lake Ontario, in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. The Chorus is part of Region 16, one of Sweet Adelines’ largest regions in the world. The Region spans between Northern New York State and Southern Ontario.

Leading the chorus for over 25 years is Master Director Elaine Gain. She is assisted by Associate Director Paula Allen; Assistant Director, Nancy Watson; Head Choreographer, Sue Marriott; and Debbie Lloyd, President of GKC Board of Directors.

GKC is comprised of a dynamic group of women joined in the love of music and singing. There are approximately 70 members of varying age ranges (from Generation X’s to Baby Boomers to Seniors.) Their backgrounds are equally diverse ... nurses, students, teachers, work-at-home moms, government employees, retirees, entrepreneurs, etc. The music they sing is equally diverse from light rock, inspirational, show-tunes to country, pop music, etc.

This award-winning chorus is part of a first-class global organization Sweet Adelines International. This organization has nearly 600 choruses and 30,000 members from countries around the world. Each Spring, GKC competes at the regional level in Syracuse, New York with approximately 30 choruses from southern Ontario and northern New York State. In 1965, as Part of ‘Region 1’, The Kingston Chorus earned first place and hosted the Regional Competition in 1966. The next year, they had the honour of entertaining world travellers during the Canadian Centennial Celebration at Expo 67.

Over the past 19 years, GKC has placed consistently in the top 3 at the Regional Competitions. As the 1st place Regional Champion Chorus in 1994, they were one of only two Canadian choruses competing at the 1995 Sweet Adelines International 50th Anniversary Competition at the Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. This was followed, in 2000, by another 1st place Regional Championship which qualified GKC to again compete at the international level with choruses from around the world. That international contest took place in Portland, Oregon in 2001 and GKC placed 16th world-wide!

GKC’s high score as the second-place chorus at the 2006 regional contest placed them in the top 5 second-place choruses in the world! This placement qualified them to compete at the 2007 international competition. This took place at the Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta in October 2007, where they were one of only two Canadian choruses competing in this world championship event.

GKC considers itself an extended family, where members have formed life-long friendships and care for each other as a sister would. The chorus is extremely grateful to its charter members for their efforts in initiating this wonderful chorus. Both past and current members have committed much time and talents over the years resulting in a flourishing membership. It is a rewarding and fun-filled hobby!

Further information regarding the Chorus may be obtained from the Contact Us page here on the site.