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Welcome to the new Accent!
Fall 2009 |
For many years, the Accent newsletter kept many of you informed about what was going on in the Northwestern College Department of Music. We are very pleased to revive it in a 21st century format as an online newsletter. Northwestern College has a long tradition of musical excellence. Last year, we sat down as a music faculty to talk about what makes our department unique. The result of those discussions was a new mission statement that succinctly states our purpose: "The Northwestern College Department of Music teaches, mentors, and equips students to think, perform, lead and worship with creativity and conviction, to the glory of God." Those of you who have been away from campus for a while will be happy to know that we still have many of the same faculty faithfully serving the Lord and training students to "think, perform, lead and worship." There are also new faces (like mine!) who have come in more recent years to join in that effort. This year's homecoming celebration will include a Department of Music reunion on Saturday, Sept. 26 at 10 a.m. in the Nazareth Hall Blue Room. The event is for all current and former staff, faculty and students (both music majors and ensemble members). The reunion is free, but you do need to register on the Alumni Relations website or by calling 651-631-5151. I hope you'll make plans to attend. I look forward to seeing you again or meeting you for the first time. If you haven't been in touch for a while, please drop us a line and let us know what you are up to. Or, better yet, attend one or more events this year. A full lineup of this year's events can be found below or at nwc.edu/music.
Sincerely,
Jeremy Kolwinska, D.M.A.
Chair, Department of Music
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STUDENT NEWS |
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Senior vocal performance major Barrett Radziun performed at two different summer festivals, California's SongFest and the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival. Highlights included working with distinguished faculty Martin Katz and Margo Garrett, and singing the role of Al Joad in the Mid-Pacific World Premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon's "The Grapes of Wrath" opera suite.
Senior music education major John Guidry was accepted into the Minnesota Chorale this summer and performed with the Minnesota Orchestra and Minnesota Chorale's August 1 concert production of Verdi's Aida, Andrew Litton conducting.
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| COLLEGE CHOIR |
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FALL 2009 Upcoming featured performance in the American Choral Directors Association Star of the North's inaugural Minnesota Collegiate Choral Festival on November 14, 2009, at Benson Great Hall in Arden Hills. This is a benefit concert for the F. Melius Christiansen endowment fund for ACDA-MN. Tickets are now on sale at the Benson Great Hall ticket office.
SPRING 2010 Exciting plans are shaping up for a long-anticipated Baltic Tour in May 2010 with concerts in Latvia, Estonia and Finland. For information on joining the Northwestern College Choir on this concert tour, contact Julie Johnson jjjohnson@nwc.edu
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| FALL MUSIC EVENTS |
SEPTEMBER
26 Department of Music Reunion* 10 a.m. | Blue Room
26 Showcase* featuring Dept. of Music ensembles
7:30 p.m. | Ericksen Center
27 Homecoming Worship Service
10 a.m. | Maranatha Hall
28 Christmas at Northwestern tickets go on sale.**
8 a.m.
OCTOBER
12 Faculty Artist Series 7:30 p.m. | Nazareth Chapel
Matthew Wilson, horn
Melody Wolleat Johnson, soprano
Jan Possehl Scholl, clarinet
Janet Scovill, piano
with The Minneapolis Horn Quartet
22 Piano Tour Homecoming Concert
1:20 p.m. | Nazareth Chapel
29 Senior Recital 1:20 p.m. | Nazareth Chapel
NOVEMBER
12 Senior Recital 1:20 p.m. | Nazareth Chapel
12 Orchestra Concert 7:30 p.m. | Maranatha Hall
Children's Concert featuring Peter and the Wolf
14 College Choir at MCCF***
7 p.m. | Benson Great Hall
14 Jazz Band Concert
7:30 p.m. | Maranatha Hall
17 Chamber Ensemble Recital
7 p.m. | Nazareth Chapel
19 Senior Recital 1:20 p.m. | Nazareth Chapel
20 College Choir, Women's Chorale, Varsity Men's
Chorus Concert
7:30 p.m. | Maranatha Hall
21 Symphonic Band Concert
7:30 p.m. | Maranatha Hall
DECEMBER
4 Christmas at Northwestern**
7:30 p.m. | Maranatha Hall
5 Christmas at Northwestern**
7:30 p.m. | Maranatha Hall
6 Christmas at Northwestern**
3:00 p.m. | Maranatha Hall
6 Dinner in the Blue Room**
5:30 p.m. | Blue Room
10 Chamber Winds Recital
1:20 p.m. | Nazareth Chapel
**Purchase Tickets at nwc.edu/tickets or 651-631-5151
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| Faculty News
The Northwestern College (NWC) Department of Music faculty were busy with summer activities. Timothy Sawyer served as the associate director of the Oregon Bach Festival master class in conducting under German maestro Helmuth Rilling. Phil Norris, D.M.A., taught trumpet and performed at the Masterworks Festival in Winona Lake, Indiana. And Catherine McCord Larsen taught voice at the Lutheran Summer Music Academy & Festival in Decorah, Iowa.
Cheryl Kelley, Ph.D., performed Mendelssohn's A Midsummer Night's Dream with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra in June (bassoon). She also performed Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 (contrabassoon) and Dukas' The Sorcerer's Apprentice with the Minnesota Orchestra during Sommerfest.
Monte Mumford was engaged in several professional music consulting activities in both Australia and New Zealand this summer. He served as guest conductor at the Australian Music Festival, held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He also served as brass instructor and consultant, offering master classes, professional development and rehearsal/teaching clinics. In July he presented a paper at the Australian National Music Conference in Melbourne, Victoria.
Jeremy Kolwinska, D.M.A., (trombone) performed with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra for the opening two weeks of its 2009-10 season, performing Mozart's Overture to The Magic Flute and Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 during the first week. Cheryl Kelley (contrabassoon) also performed on the Beethoven Symphony. For the second week, Kolwinska performed as principal trombone for L'Enfance du Christ by Hector Berlioz.
Phil Norris, trumpet, and Matthew Wilson, horn, played for the Minnesota Orchestra and Minnesota Chorale's August 1 concert production of Verdi's Aida, Andrew Litton conducting, as part of the off-stage brass ensemble. Barbara J. Rogers, D.M.A., composer and instructor in piano at NWC, gave a presentation entitled "RUTH: The Making of an Opera" at the Minnesota Music Teachers Association State Convention. Recalling the successful 2008 world premiere performances of the opera, Ruth, by the Northwestern College Opera Workshop, Choir, and Orchestra, she surveyed both the creative and production processes from conception to realization. She spoke of the creation of the opera as a manifestation of her faith, relating highlights of the journey and compositional choices at the piano. In conclusion, she showed an excerpt of the recently completed DVD recording. [To purchase a copy of the Ruth DVD, you may contact the music office at music@nwc.edu.] Timothy Sawyer, Director of Choral Activities, traveled to Ukraine May 16-31, and conducted three Ukrainian youth choir festivals in three cities: Dnipropetrovsk, Kyiv and Vinnitsya, with nearly 400 singers participating. |
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Alumni News
Hannah Nelson Lu '03, soprano, has been a professional singer with Houston Opera-to-Go program for two years and sings in the Houston Grand Opera Chorus. She received her masters degree in vocal performance from Rice University (top 10 USA graduate vocal program), studying with Stephen King. While at NWC, she earned a number of awards, including first places in National Association of Teachers of Singing contest (NATS), NWC Concerto-Aria winner and was Northwestern College's first (and only to date) district Metropolitan Opera Audition winner, a national competition competing against current Minnesota Opera Resident Artists and other professional opera singers from the region.
April Fredrick '02, soprano, is finishing her doctorate at the Royal Academy of Music in London. Her thesis is on the songs of British composer, Ivor Gurney. She has been featured as a soprano soloist throughout Great Britain and performs with her violin in various ensembles as well. She completed her master's degree from RAM in 2005. Fredrick was also a semi-finalist in London's Wigmore Hall International Song Competition in September. She represents our school very well both in her fine talents and solid Christian values. |
If you have noteworthy news to share with us about students or alumni, please send your comments to labunce@nwc.edu.
God bless you,
Lori Bunce
Project Coordinator, Concerts & Recitals/Ensemble Tours
Northwestern College |
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