Our Music Ministry

The PRCC music ministry is committed to providing the highest quality music for the glory of God. We strive to offer a variety of musical styles, languages and levels. Everyone is welcome to join us. Music programs exist for adults and children of all ages.


For more information please contact our Minister of Music, Sasha Gerritson: 
sasha@parkridgecommunitychurch.org.

Music Groups at PRCC

  • Chancel Choir


    The Chancel Choir is comprised of professional and volunteer singers high school age and older. The groups sings from September to May at the 10 am service. Our choir has toured several U.S. cities and international choral festivals.

    The Chancel Choir rehearses Thursdays from 7:30 to 9:30 pm.​

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  • Junior Choir


    The Junior Choir is open to children in 3rd to 6th grade. In addition to singing periodically in the Sunday services, the choristers learn choral singing, how to read music, performance techniques and singing in worship.

     

    The Junior Choir rehearses on Tuesdays from 4:00-5:00 PM.​

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  • Bells on High


    The Bells on High is our long standing adult handbell ensemble. Our Handbell choir has a full complement of instruments consisting of 4 octaves of Schulmerich handbells and 3 octaves of Malmark choir chimes. The group is a member of the Handbell Musicians of America.

     

    They meet weekly on Thursdays from 6:15 - 7:30 PM, September through May.

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Music Staff

  • Sasha Gerritson

    Minister of Music

    sasha@parkridgecommunitychurch.org

    Sasha is the Music Minister at Park Ridge Community Church, where she conducts five choirs and oversees the Music Ministry. She is a full-time professor at Northeastern Illinois University in the Music Department, teaching Opera, Music Theory and Sight-Singing.

    More About Sasha

    Sasha served as the Executive Director of a not-for-profit children’s group called The Happiness Club which uses the mediums of music, dance and drama to teach kids positive values and give them a safe haven with constructive activities. She also worked for ten years as the Department Chair and Director of the Vocal Program for the MERIT School of Music. In 1998, while attending DePaul University, Sasha was recruited to be assistant to Maestro Daniel Barenboim at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and at the Staatsoper in Berlin. She held this position for two years. She holds degrees in Opera Performance, French and Vocal Pedagogy from Northeastern Illinois University (BA, MA) and DePaul University (PC), and has studied choral conducting at Westminster College in New Jersey.


    In addition to her teaching career, Sasha enjoys an extensive solo performing career (both as a Soprano and Choral Conductor) not only in Chicago, but also in Mexico, England, Scotland, Germany and many parts of South America. She has sung the National Anthem at the Chicago Cubs games many times and has performed leading roles with many of the area’s opera companies. In Summer 2005 she was a featured soloist at the Ravinia Festival in world premier music by Ron Combs in association with the Ruth Page Dance Foundation. In 2006, Sasha sang the role of Flora in La Traviata at the Athenaeum Theatre in Chicago. Sasha appeared with the legendary Mr. William Warfield in excerpts from Porgy and Bess with the Lake Shore Symphony. She has sung under the baton of Sr. Ruben Gonzalez (former concertmaster of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra) in the United States premier of his opera Cartas Marcadas. She has also sung leading roles in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Don Giovanni, Le Nozze di Figaro, La Bohème, La Traviata, Falstaff, Die Fledermaus and many more.


  • Sandy Bowen

    Bells on High Director

    Sandy’s involvement with handbells began in the early 1980’s when PRCC acquired their first set of handbells as a memorial gift. After ringing under the direction of Jerome Butera for several years, she became the director of the various handbell groups.

  • Andrew & Angie Weber

    Sunday School Music Directors (Soprano & Bass Soloists)

    Andrew and Angie have been singing with the PRCC Chancel Choir since 2000. In addition to being section leaders in the choir they also lead the music at the 8:30 worship service and teach the Sunday School music. Andrew has been teaching Elementary Music in the Melrose Park School District since 1999. Angie is an Adjunct Professor in the Music Department at Northeastern Illinois University. She is also the Music Education Coordinator at the Elmhurst Park District. There she teaches voice, piano, and ukulele. For more info on Angie and Andrew Weber check out their website.

  • Lorenzo Formosa

    Baritone Soloist

    Originally from a suburb of Detroit, Michigan, Lorenzo graduated from Wayne State University with a degree in vocal performance. He has performed with the Santa Fe Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre and Opera Omaha. In 1987 he was selected as a cantor in the celebration of the Eucharistic Liturgy with Pope John Paul II at the Pontiac Silverdome, Michigan. In September 2001, the Aon Corporation called upon Lorenzo to sing their memorial service at the Cathedral of St. Patrick, New York, honoring their employees lost in the 9/11 tragedy at the World Trade Center. In addition to stage and concert performances around the country and the Chicagoland area, he was a member of Chicago's 2016 Olympic Bid Committee serving as the Guest Services Manager. He currently works in IT Security for USBank. You can visit his website here.

  • Sarah Hibbard

    Soprano Soloist

    Sarah Hibbard is a masterful musician whose voice has been described as a shimmering soprano with a resounding quality reminiscent of the golden age of singing. The Albuquerque Journal declared her to have “a brilliant sound and thorough-going technique, clearly a star in the making.” In Chicago she was praised for her “charismatic acting technique and her verismo singing.” Performances include, Gilda in Rigoletto with the Haifa Symphony in Israel, Frasquita in Carmen with Denyce Graves at Opera Charleston, Summer of Knoxville with Chicago Sinfonietta and the Verdi Requiem with Evanston Symphony. ​ Sarah’s operatic portrayals of past seasons include Violetta in La Traviata, Nedda in Pagliacci, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni, Mimi in La Bohème, the Countess in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro and Della in Gift of the Magi. ​ In addition to her performance credentials, Sarah completed her doctorate in performance and teaches at College of Lake County as a music professor.

  • Alex Honzen

    Bass Soloist

    Alex Honzen has appeared as Tevye (Fiddler on the Roof) with Music Theatre Works (formerly Light Opera Works) , as well as principal and featured roles in that company’s productions of Yeoman of the Guard, Man of La Mancha, Iolanthe, The Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado and Oklahoma, among others. Other lyric stage credits include DuPage Opera Theatre (Scarpia in Tosca), Chamber Opera Chicago (Man of La Mancha, Pride & Prejudice, The Consul), DaCorneto Opera (Melitone in La Forza del Destino), American Opera Group (Escamillo in La Tragedie de Carmen) and Bowen Park Opera (Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro). He has also appeared as a soloist with orchestras both in the US and abroad in Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, the Bach B-minor mass, the Mozart requiem and other works. Non-singing work has included roles with the Around the Coyote Festival, Mammals Theatre Co. and the Studio Theatre in Washington, DC as well as voiceover and television credits.