When the artistic director of Grand Forks Master Chorale looked for music for the choir's performance of "A Scandinavian Christmas," set for tonight and Sunday, he didn't have to look far. He just turned to his choir.
In this part of the world, Joshua Bronfman found plenty of Master Chorale members who had family ties and heritage from Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark.
Bronfman was familiar with the Scandinavian choral traditions of Europe (he's writing his doctoral dissertation on a Swedish composer) but didn't know so much about the area "transplants" from Scandinavia and their culture on the Great Plains, he said.
"I had a very hard time finding music because so much of my knowledge base is European," Bronfman said. He would find a piece he liked, try to order the music and find it was too expensive. So he plumbed his choir members and found a Scandinavian Christmas concert CD recorded by a chamber choir in Seattle.
"A Scandinavian Christmas," set for 8 tonight in Sacred Heart Catholic Church in East Grand Forks and 8 p.m. Sunday in St. Michael's Catholic Church in Grand Forks, is being organized like a nondenominational religious service, he said. The choir performance will be interspersed with a message of faith and inspiration from the Rev. Deanna Wildermuth, administrative pastor of Grand Forks Sharon Lutheran Church.
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If you're Scandinavian by heritage, a lot of these songs will be familiar to you, Bronfman said.
"We have a mix of carols that are very common, so that anyone growing up in Scandinavia, or in one of the Scandinavian communities of the Upper Midwest, will recognize them," he said.
For instance, the Norwegian folk carol, "I Am So Glad on Christmas Eve" - "Jeg er sa Glad," arranged by Paul J. Christiansen, and "Sang til Juletreet" ("Song of the Christmas Tree") both are on the program.
Some of the carols will be sung in English and some in their native tongue; either way, choir members seem comfortable, Bronfman said.
"The Master Chorale is tentative when they sing in French, but they're really not tentative at all when they sing in the Scandinavian languages," he said. "And no where else but in this region here and Minneapolis would that be true."
The second half of the concert will be a sing-along, he said. All in all, he said, audiences can expect a concert that "feels very connected to the community."
Bronfman is director of choral activities at UND. Currently, he's completing his doctoral degree in choral music education and choral conducting with Florida State University, studying with Andre Thomas, Rodney Eichenberger, Judy Bowers and Clifford Madsen.
Accompanist Sara Bloom has a master's degree in music in piano performance from UND, teaches piano and is an independent accompanist for area soloists.
