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Choir to tour Sweden, Norway
SCSU's Concert Choir will be singing overseas this spring during a two-week tour that will take them to Scandinavia.
According to Concert Choir conductor Michael Tamte-Horan, there are several reasons why SCSU premieres choral ensemble tours, including music-related and travel-related reasons.
"Every four years each of our major ensembles has a chance to take a national tour, and this is the year Concert Choir gets to do that, " said Tamte-Horan. "They gain musically through repeated performances and in addition they learn what anyone else learns by simply traveling abroad."
In the past, music groups from SCSU have performed in global venues such as the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Russia, Mexico and the People's Republic of China. The Concert Choir's decision to tour Scandinavia came after making several considerations.
"We looked at a variety of issues: cost, interest and background of students and what students would like," Tamte-Horan said. "We also considered England and South Africa as possible venues."
The Concert Choir will have approximately six performances, and will take place in either Norway or Sweden with most of the venues being area churches.
"We're never sure about the audience size. It really depends on the interest and size of the community," Tamte-Horan said.
The trip has undergone a lot of preparation for the choir, both in terms of music and finances.
"Some students have been preparing for three years in terms of finances. We've been fundraising with spaghetti dinners, performing in the community and working at the Metrodome," Tamte-Horan said.
"Then there is the musical preparation which we have been working on all year by taking some pieces from our fall semester and incorporated them into the tour program which is memorized."
The tour program consists primarily of sacred music and is an hour long with 15 selections.
"All of the music will be a capella and the music comes from a number of different cultures and countries such as Latvia, Poland, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and some early revolutionary American music, as well as African American spirituals. There will be three sacred traditions: orthodoxy, Judaism and Christianity," Tamte-Horan said.
The Concert Choir will be leaving for their Scandinavian tour May 13 and returning May 25, but SCSU students and faculty have an opportunity to hear the ensemble April 28 in Kimberly A. Ritsche Auditorium at 4 p.m. There will be an $8 general admission charge and $5 charge for students and faculty with an ID to help finance the trip.
"The fact that we can do something like this at a state institution, which is typically done by private institution, means a great deal to the choir and to the organization," Tamte-Horan said. "Tours like this give us a chance to continue to grow and continue to get better."
Kristen J. Kubisiak can be reached at: [email protected]
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