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Tours energize St. Olaf Band, Choir for home concerts

By David Gonnerman '90
February 10, 2004

The St. Olaf Band and St. Olaf Choir will perform their home concerts this weekend. The band, under conductor Timothy Mahr, will play on Saturday, Feb. 14, at 8 p.m. in Skoglund Auditorium. The choir, conducted by Anton Armstrong, will sing on Sunday, Feb. 15, at 7:30 p.m. in Boe Memorial Chapel. Guest artist Keith McCutchen will accompany the choir on piano. Both concerts are free and open to the public; arrive early to ensure a seat at the choir concert.

MahrMexico
In Puebla, Mexico, St. Olaf Band members had the opportunity to practice side-by-side with music teachers of a Mexican ensemble called CECAMBA. St. Olaf Band Conductor Timothy Mahr, above, took the podium for a solo by one of the CECAMBA members.
The band will play the program of their Jan. 16-29 tour of Mexico, which included concerts in Guanajuato, Mexico City, Cuetzalan, San Miguel Tzinacapan, Puebla, Cuernavaca and Acapulco. The home concert will feature two senior trumpet soloists: Allison Hall playing "La Virgen de la Macarena" by Bernardino Bautista Monterde and John Whaley performing "Prayer of St. Gregory" by Alan Hovhaness. Also on the program are "La Fiesta Mexicana" by H. Owen Reed, "El Salón México" by Aaron Copland, "Overture to Candide" by Leonard Bernstein, Mahr's "The View From the Mountaintop" and "Noisy Wheels of Joy" by Eric Whitacre. The program will end with an arrangement of Jerry Herman's "Hello, Dolly!"

"The enthusiastic response of the Mexican audiences who demanded encores at each concert affirmed that we were crossing language barriers with expressive music-making," said Mahr of the emotional tour. "I was also touched by the personal growth I perceived in each band member," he added. "Our final full group class session was marked by tearful confessions from students of how attitudes and preconceptions had changed. It was amazing!"

The choir will return to St. Olaf from their current tour to Florida after a concert in Madison, Wis., on Saturday. The choir program includes "Ave Verum Corpus" by William Byrd, J.S.Bach's "Lobet den Herrn," "Be Thou A Smooth Way" by Ralph Johnson, "Little Birds" by Whitacre and McCutchen's arrangement of "Amazing Grace."

Mahr, a 1977 and '78 graduate of St. Olaf, teaches composition, conducting and music education. Previous to his 1994 appointment at St. Olaf, he was Director of Bands at the University of Minnesota, Duluth. Mahr has over 50 compositions to his credit, many of which are performed regularly by professional armed service bands, major college and university bands, all-state bands and ensembles in eighteen countries on four continents. The St. Olaf Band has produced nine recordings under Mahr's baton. Mahr is also the principal conductor of the Twin Cities-based Minnesota Symphonic Winds.

Armstrong, a 1978 graduate of St. Olaf, became conductor of the St. Olaf Choir in 1990. He is editor of a multicultural choral series for Earthsongs Publications and coedits the revised St. Olaf Choral Series for Augsburg Fortress Publishers. Since returning to St. Olaf, Armstrong has taken the St. Olaf Choir on tour throughout the United States and to Denmark, Norway, Australia, New Zealand and Central Europe. He also conducted the ensemble in a critically acclaimed concert performance at the Sixth World Symposium on Choral Music in Minnesota in 2002. The choir has made 11 recordings during Armstrong's tenure as conductor, including the ensemble's first international recording, released in January 2003, by Linn Records of England.

McCutchen teaches theory, ear training and jazz piano at St. Olaf, where he conducts the St. Olaf Gospel Choir. As a jazz pianist McCutchen has performed behind Mel Torme, Doc Severinson, Diane Shurr and Richard Davis. McCutchen received the Al Smith Fellowship for his arrangements of the music of John Coltrane and Miles Davis, and he has toured Spain as pianist and arranger with the American Spiritual Ensemble.

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-646-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.