Music at St. George's
The St. George's Choir
St. George's Bossier Masterworks Series
I-49 Brass
Guest Artists
Kermit Poling, choir director and organist
The St. George’s choir welcomes all to “make a joyful noise” through song, instrument, or handbells. The choir sings each week, featuring occasional soloists, and augments with additional musical accompaniment during Christmas and Easter. While Kermit usually selects music commensurate with our musical abilities, he also challenges us. At Christmas and Easter services, especially, we perform Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” and selections from Handel’s “Messiah.”
The St. George's Bossier Masterworks series welcomes church members and the Ark-La-Tex community alike, and features some of the finest performers in the region. Guest artists have included the I-49 Brass, guitarist Giovanni De Chiaro and the Festival String Quartet among others.
Giovanni De Chiaro
Winner of the 2019 Silver Medal from the Global Music Awards, Kermit Poling is an inspiring and passionate voice in American music. The classical music magazine Fanfare wrote, "the Romantic spirit lives, breathes and flourishes in Kermit Poling", remarking on his "quite natural musicianship."and a "Schubertian gift for melody." Indeed, Kermit's talents encompass conducting and composition along with years of virtuoso violin performances. After 24 seasons as Music Director of the South Arkansas Symphony, 34 seasons as the Shreveport Symphony's Associate Conductor, 27 years as SSO Concertmaster, and his many seasons as music director of the Marshall Symphony Orchestra and the Shreveport Metropolitan Ballet, few audiences in the Ark-La-Tex are unaware of his many talents.
Kermit conducts world-wide. In January, 2017 he conducted his debut recording with the London Symphony Orchestra for an album of his compositions for the Centaur label. Fanfare described the release as "a fabulous disc, splendidly recorded and executed." He has been featured with the Orchestra Filarmonia Veneta, the Orchestra of the Province of Lecco in Italy, the Symphony Orchestra of the State of Mexico, the Guanajuato Symphony Orchestra, the Shenzhen Symphony of China, and many other orchestras across the world and in the United States.