FREE Courtroom Concert featuring Tjärnblom
Thursday, February 17, 12:00PM
Landmark Center, Cortile
Please Note: This concert will be held in the Landmark Center Cortile (1st floor).
About the Artists
Tjärnblom, Swedish for “woodland lake flower”, is a Scandinavian-style string band featuring a beautiful blend of Nyckelharpa, Octave Mandolin, Harmonium and Cello. They travel a modern “Snoose Boulevard Highway” in a musical journey, and play a repertoire of both old and new Swedish, Finnish, and Minnesota tunes for dancing and for listening. They’ve performed across the state of Minnesota, and have appeared on Minnesota Public Radio’s A Prairie Home Companion show. The name Tjärnblom is in honor of the Swedish grandfather of one of the band members.
About the Program:
Tjärnblom’s concert program features Swedish, Finnish and Minnesota-made tunes played on nyckelharpa, mandolin/guitar, cello and harmonium. The repertoire dates mostly to the 19th and 20th centuries, with a few recently composed selections in the mix. Many of the tunes are made for dancing — waltz, schottische, polska, långdans; others, for processionals, and some just for listening. Often, selections are named for a person, place, or event.
Tjärnblom’s arrangements draw on traditional styles that sometimes go in nontraditional directions. The instrumentation features Swedish nyckelharpa, a folk instrument with 4 playing strings, 37 keys and 12 resonating strings, played with a short bow. Mandolin, guitar, cello and harmonium, a portable type of pump organ, play countermelodies, harmony and rhythm. On occasion, näverlur, a birchbark natural horn, and water drum, add unique sound color. Tjärnblom presents Nordic music with a Minnesota twist!
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 is also a two-time McKnight Artist Fellow, and has won grants from the American Composers Forum, ASCAP, and Jerome Foundation, and at age 31, was listed in NPR Music’s Top 100 Composers Under 40. Abbie has been a Composer-in-Residence with New York State School Music Association, The Rose Ensemble, The Singers-Minnesota Choral Artists, and Schubert Club. In 2019, she will be the American Composers Forum’s ChoralQuest composer, visiting schools around the U.S. to write new choral music with middle school singers.
Originally from Wisconsin, Abbie is a graduate of St. Olaf College (B.A.), the University of Minnesota (M.A.), and holds a diplôme from the European American Musical Alliance Institute in Paris, France. She lives in Minnesota, where she is Adjunct Professor of Composition at Concordia University-St Paul and executive director of Justice Choir.
View the Frequently Asked Questions about the Courtroom Concerts.
Seating is limited and first come first served. Please plan on arriving early.
Schedule & Programs Subject to Change