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The Department of Music is pleased to present the Gustavus Choir’s Home Concert, Saturday, May 3, at 7:30 p.m. in Christ Chapel. This concert features guest conductor Robert Scholz and concludes the choir’s annual concert tour which included concerts throughout the Midwest.

Now in its 76th year, the Gustavus Choir is one of six choirs in an active and highly integrated choral program at the college. Under the leadership of Dr. Gregory Aune, the choir has toured extensively throughout the continental United States, and internationally in South Africa and Italy. In January 2007, the choir spent three weeks touring and performing in Spain and Portugal. During this year’s tour, the choir will be conducted by Dr. Robert Scholz while Aune is on a leave of absence.

The schedule for this year’s tour included stops in Rochester, Milwaukee, Cary, Illinois, and St. Paul. In addition to the tour, the Gustavus Choir will also present this home concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 3 at Christ Chapel. In recent years, the choir has toured throughout the United States and presented concert tours in Spain, Portugal, Italy, South Africa and Sweden.

Among the selections on this year’s tour program, Dr. Scholz has included Charles Stanford’s Magnificat, Egil Hovland’s The Glory of the Father, Eric Whitacre’s Cloudburst, Stephen Paulus’ Pilgrim’s Hymn, and Kenneth Jennings’ The Lord is the Everlasting God. The Choir concludes the program with Sure on This Shining Night by Morten Lauridsen, the Resurrection Samba by Georg Riedel and the traditional closer, F. Melius Christiansen’s Praise to the Lord.

The importance of music in the Gustavus undergraduate curriculum has long been recognized. Nearly one third of its more than 2,500 students register for courses in theory, history, appreciation, pedagogy, and performance of music each year and participate in some 30 performing ensembles.

The college’s Department of Music is housed in the Schaefer Fine Arts Center. The center’s music wing features the 475-seat Jussi Bjorling Recital Hall; a fully computerized music lab for students in music theory, composing/arranging, and class piano; class and rehearsal rooms; 30 private practice rooms; and the Lund Music Library, which contains more than 20,000 music recordings, 45,000 scores and anthologies, a music reference section, and listening equipment.]]>

Gustavus Symphony Conductor Warren Friesen

The three international touring ensembles at Gustavus Adolphus College will present the 2008 Gustavus Music Showcase at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 9 at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis. Performances by the Gustavus Symphony Orchestra and conductor Warren Friesen, the Gustavus Wind Orchestra and conductor Douglas Nimmo and the Gustavus Choir with guest conductor Robert Scholz will feature works from a recent tour to China by the Symphony and spring concert tours by the Wind Orchestra and Choir.

Among the selections to be performed are Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings, Eric Whitacre’s Cloudbursts, and David Holsinger’s The Death Tree, featuring long-time Gustavus professor of voice, baritone Michael Jorgensen. The Death Tree is the second movement of Holsinger’s The Easter Symphony which was commissioned by Gustavus Adolphus College and premiered by the college’s ensembles in 1995.

This event is a unique opportunity for music lovers and students of all ages, along with Gustavus students, alumni, parents, and friends, to celebrate the work of the student musicians in the Gustavus Department of Music. Members of the audience will have the opportunity to meet with those students and the conductors of the ensembles at a post-concert reception at Orchestra Hall.

Tickets for the concert are now on sale through the Orchestra Hall box office and may be purchased in-person, online, and via fax or phone. Tickets are $22 for adults and $12 for children ages 6-18 and current Gustavus students with a valid I.D. To purchase tickets contact the Orchestra Hall box office at 612-371-5656, or go online to www.minnesotaorchestra.org/boxoffice/. Tickets for the Gustavus Music Showcase will also be available at Orchestra Hall on the day of the performance.

Christmas in Christ Chapel, 2007

The 35th annual Christmas in Christ Chapel celebration, “The Word Becomes Flesh” was held Friday, Nov. 30, Saturday, Dec. 1, and Sunday, Dec. 2. The worship celebration featured The Gustavus Choir, The Choir of Christ Chapel, The Lucia Singers, and The Gustavus Symphony Orchestra, among other talented performers.

The 2007 Christmas in Christ Chapel celebration will be broadcast 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday, Dec. 21 on Minnesota-Iowa Christian Broadcasting (KJLY-FM 104.5 Blue Earth). The service will be broadcast to its entire system, including the following affiliates:

KJYL, Eagle Grove, IA 100.7 FM
KJCY, Mason City, IA 95.5 FM
KJIA Spirit Lake, IA 88.9 FM
and translator stations in:
Storm Lake/Okoboji, IA 96.3 FM
Austin 98.3 FM
Mankato 107.1 FM
New Ulm, 94.1 FM
Mason City 92.5 FM
Owatonna 93.5 FM
St. Peter 97.9 FM
Sleepy Eye/Springfield, 92.3 FM)

On Monday, Dec. 24 on KMSU FM 89.7 (Minnesota State University, Mankato) will broadcast the entire service. This broadcast will be streamed live at kmsu.org.

Selections will also be broadcast from 12:30 to 1 p.m. Monday, Dec. 24 on KNUJ-AM 860, New Ulm.

Check with these stations’ web sites for specific broadcast dates and times:

KTOE AM 1420, Mankato (selections)
KSUM AM 1370, Fairmont (selections)
KDHL AM 920, Faribault (selections)
KRFO AM 1390, Owatonna (selections)
KQAD/KWOA AM 730, Worthington (complete service)
KLJR FM 97.7, Redwood Falls (complete service)
KLJR AM 1490, Redwood Falls (complete service)
KDNW FM 97.3, Duluth (selections)
KDNI FM 90.5, Duluth (selections)

The Gustavus Choir under the direction of Gregory Aune will open the concert and set the theme for the evening with Alberto Grau’s Kasar Mie La Gaji (The Earth is Tired) and Eric Whitacre’s Cloudbursts. Along with the music to the cartoon “Energetically Yours,” narrated by John Mason, the Gustavus Orchestra will perform the 2nd movement from Symphony to a Prairie Farm by Gustavus alumnus and composer Steven Heitzeg. This movement, “Green Rows on Black Farm, Not Arms” promotes the use of corn and other bio fuels as the sources of energy for ethanol. The Mill and Windmills will be performed by saxophone and string quartets. Completing the program, the symphony will perform David Dzubay’s Ra!.

John Mason is Weeknight News Anchor at KSTP-TV (5 Eyewitness News) in the Twin Cities. He has reported and anchored the News at stations around the country for nearly twenty-five years. John and his wife Laurie live outside St. Paul and are the parents of three daughters, two of whom are Gustavus students and members of the Gustavus Symphony Orchestra.

Tuesday’s Nobel Concert 2007, Energetically Yours, is free and open to the public. The performance is scheduled to begin at 8:00 p.m. in Christ Chapel.

The Gustavus Choir finishes its season on Sunday with a performance of chamber works for voice and chamber ensemble under the direction of Conductor Gregory Aune. It opens the concert with the Kyrie from Mass for Double Chorus by Frank Martin and continues with an arrangement for voice of Samuel Barber’s Agnus Dei from the Adagio for Strings. The Choir then presents In Virtutae Domini (In Thy Strength, O Lord) by Grzegorz G. Gorczycki and Mozart’s Regina Coeli.

The Choir continues its performance with Benjamin Britten’s Flower Songs, two songs for unaccompanied chorus and finishes with works by Stephen Paulus, Eric Whitacre, Ennio Morricone and an Alice Parker arrangement of Hark, I Hear the Harps Eternal.

Sunday’s performance by the Gustavus Choir is free and open to the public. It begins at 7:00 p.m. in Christ Chapel on the Gustavus Adolphus College campus.