Greg Sojka
Greg Sojka is delighted to join the Grinnell College music faculty! A native Iowan, Greg spent most of his professional career in the Pacific Northwest, where he was active as a performer, university/private voice instructor, conductor, clinician, writer and administrator.
Greg has sung professionally with several organizations and opera companies (most notably, Seattle,Tacoma and Kitsap Operas), been a regular soloist with Rainier Family Opera, Tacoma Master Chorale/Symphony, Missouri Symphony, and been a featured soloist and clinician for the internationally-renowned Seattle Men’s Chorus singing to sold-out crowds of 5000 in Benaroya Hall, He taught for several years on the voice faculty of Pacific Lutheran University, where his students were featured soloists and competition winners (student Tyler Gubsch was a four year recipient of the esteemed Mary Baker Russell scholarship, the highest honor of PLU's Music Dept). While pursuing doctoral studies in voice and conducting, Sojka taught studio voice, class voice and lyric diction, mentored graduate teaching fellows in their pedagogy, coordinated the 100-level voice program, and conducted/performed with ensembles at the University of Oregon. Greg served as chorus master for Eugene (OR) Opera to highly praised productions of Barber of Seville, Beatrice et Benedict and Lucia di Lammermoor. Additionally, he has taught voice at Drake University, Stephens College and the University of Missouri-Columbia; he was featured in several roles with Missouri's Show Me Opera.
As Director of Music Ministries at Eugene's First Congregational and Seattle's Lake Burien Presbyterian, Sojka led large, vibrant inter-generational communities of volunteer and professional musicians. He conducted several ensembles and supervised immensely talented music staffs. Highlights include conducting several choral/orchestral masterworks, as well as musical styles including Taize, gospel, jazz, Appalachian/Southern Harmony, contemporary, classical and more. He has collaborated with some of the NW region's most notable musicians and ensembles.
Sojka assumed leadership of the Eugene Women’s Choral Society in 2015. He conducted this historic, 100 voice chorus in choral/orchestral works (Mozart’s Missa Brevis in B-flat, Kean’s American Mass, Schubert’s Mass in G, Porpora’s Magnificat and pieces by Michael Haydn), selections from Broadway musicals, and in choral works from classic composers to contemporary masters. Sojka’s programming choices for the WCS ranged from tributes to the late Lesley Gore, Leonard Cohen, Debbie Reynolds, and Aretha Franklin, to 1930s jazz cabaret, 1940s pop/theater (featuring Eugene legend Siri Vik), mid-century American songbook love songs (featuring international jazz sensation Halie Loren), to a 2016 inauguration weekend concert exploring various aspects of the American Dream (through works from notable American musicians and wordsmiths Carly Simon, the Squirrel Nut Zippers, Irving Berlin, Sojourner Truth, Emma Lazarus, and Susan B. Anthony).
Sojka's students have gone on to be successful at some of the nation's top graduate schools, and as performers, teachers, composers, conductors, and music enthusiasts. He now teaches voice on the music faculty at the prestigious Grinnell College.