FREE Courtroom Concert featuring Naomi Karstad and Dolce Wind Quintet
Thursday, January 25, 12:00PM
Landmark Center Courtroom 317
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Thursday, January 25, 2018, 12pm
Featuring Naomi Karstad, soprano and Dolce Wind Quintet (Nancy Wucherpfennig, flute; Megan Dvorak, oboe; Karen Hansen, clarinet; Vicki Wheeler, horn; Ford Campbell, bassoon)
Program:
I. Naomi Karstad
Songs by Valborg Aulin and Elfrida Andree
II. Dolce Wind Quintet
Sempre Dolce (2017) — Steven Amundson (1955 –)
I. Conspirare in motu
II. Alphorn Amore
III. Wheel a Jig
About the Artists:
Naomi Karstad has most recently been seen in community gardens throughout Minnesota with the Picnic Operetta as “Carly Davidson/Donna Anna” in “Donald Giovanni in Cornlandia”.
She has also performed with a variety of ensembles including the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota Youth Symphony, Bach Society, Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Dakota Valley Symphony, Century College Symphony, and in recital. She sang the role of Margaret in the Minnesota premier of Libby Larsen’s opera “Eric Hermannson’s Soul” with the University of Minnesota Opera and has sung with the Minnesota Opera Chorus. Currently, she sings with Sonomento, and is the choir director at Christ on Capitol Hill Lutheran Church in St. Paul.
Since 1995, Dolce Wind Quintet has been entertaining and educating audiences of all ages through recitals, school concerts, receptions, worship services, charity benefits, soirées, pub nights and festivals. Dolce regularly performs for the Schubert Club Courtroom Concert series, Fridays in the Valley concert series, Summer Salon at Presbyterian Church of the Apostles in Burnsville, the Munsinger/Clemens Gardens summer series in St. Cloud and the international Vintage Band Festival in Northfield. Dolce also has performed on summer artists series in Hayward and Bayfield, Wis. The members of Dolce are all busy freelance musicians who perform with multiple orchestras and chamber ensembles in the region. While serving as Class Notes Artists for Classical Minnesota Public Radio in 2013-14 and 2016-17, Dolce performed dozens of concerts for thousands of school children who do not otherwise get to hear live professional music. Dolce also performed on the MPR stage at the Minnesota State Fair in 2013 and 2014, and in 2015 was live on-air from the Fair. Dolce was the house band for MPR’s 2010 Taste of the Holidays Concert at the Fitzgerald Theater and was featured on the station’s Holiday Sampler broadcast in 2009. In 2007 Dolce performed live on-air during MPR Day in Rochester and for MPR’s Music Alive event at Calhoun Square in Minneapolis.
Composer Steven Amundson is professor of music theory and conducting at St. Olaf College and conductor of the St. Olaf Orchestra, recognized as one the finest undergraduate orchestras in the United States. Steve previously held conducting posts at the University of Virginia and with the Tacoma Youth Symphony in Washington. He is the founding conductor of the Metropolitan Symphony in Minnesota and served as music director and conductor of the Bloomington Symphony from 1984 to 1997. On the occasion of its 50th Anniversary, the Bloomington Symphony commissioned Steve to write a piece, which he titled Handprints. Dolce and BSO members Karen Hansen, Becky Jyrkas and Ford Campbell performed that premiere. Steve’s orchestral compositions have received more than 700 performances by professional orchestras in the United States, Canada and the UK. His works also include music for handbells, children’s chorus and jazz vocalists! Steve has been a conductor for the Interlochen National Arts Camp and has served as guest conductor for many All-State Orchestra festivals. He has also guest conducted professional ensembles including the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Duluth-Superior Symphony Orchestra, Fargo/Moorhead Symphony and Minneapolis Pops Orchestra. Steve did his musical studies at Luther College, Northwestern University, University of Virginia, Aspen Music School in Colorado and the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria.
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[icon color=”Accent-Color” size=”small” image=”icon-info-sign”] Concert Info
October through April
Thursdays from 12pm – 1pm
Courtroom 317, Landmark Center
FREE ADMISSION
Hosted by Abbie Betinis.
View the Frequently Asked Questions about the Courtroom Concerts.
Seating is limited and first come first served. Doors open at 11:30. Please call if you are attending as a group of 10 or more (651.292.3267).
Schedule & Programs Subject to Change
About the Host:
Composer Abbie Betinis writes music called “inventive, richly melodic” (The New York Times), “superb, whirling, soaring” (Tacoma News Tribune), and “the highlight” of the program (Boston Globe). With over 50 commissioned works for ensembles such as Cantus, the New England Philharmonic, and The Rose Ensemble, Abbie has been awarded a McKnight Composer Fellowship, grants from the American Composers Forum, ASCAP, and Jerome Foundation, and was recently listed in NPR Music’s Top 100 Composers Under 40. A resident of Saint Paul, she is adjunct professor of composition at Concordia University, and was composer-in-residence with the Schubert Club from 2005-2017.
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