NDSU Alum receives McKnight Musician Fellowship
May 16, 2018
Congratulations to NDSU Alum, Clara Osowski, recent recipient of the McKnight Fellowship for Musicians award. The winners are selected through a process that began in January when 79 solo and ensemble musicians applied for the McKnight Fellowship with recordings, artist statements and resumes. From this group, nine finalists were selected by a panel of national judges to audition live on May 4. Following the audition, four recipients were awarded the $25,000 McKnight Fellowship for Musicians.
The McKnight Foundation, a Minnesota-based family foundation, seeks to improve the quality of life for present and future generations. The McKnight Foundation’s arts program is one of the oldest and largest of its kind in the country.
Clara Osowski, vocalist (mezzo-soprano), Brooklyn Center: Clara Osowski, who sings “from inside the music with unaffected purity and sincerity” (UK Telegraph), is an active soloist and chamber musician throughout the United States and Europe. In her most recent competition success in 2017, Clara became the first ever American prize winner when she placed second at Thomas Quasthoff’s International Das Lied Competition in Heidelberg, Germany, and in September she was awarded the Richard Tauber Prize for the best interpretation of Schubert Lieder at the Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation Song Competition in London. Recent recital appearances include the Dame Myra Hess Series in Chicago and the Schubert Club International Artist Series in St. Paul. Active also as an educator, Clara will be on faculty at Aspen Music Festival’s Professional Choral Institute in partnership with Seraphic Fire in August of 2018. She currently studies voice with Emma Small of Minneapolis.
Osowski received her Bachelor of Musical Arts degree with emphasis in Voice from North Dakota State University in 2008. She will be performing and collaborating with pianist, Tyler Wottrich, during the Chamber Music Festival, May 20-24th, 2018.
NDSU hosts the 2018 NDSU Chamber Music Festival between May 20-24
May 3, 2018
The Challey School of Music will host the NDSU Chamber Music Festival from Sunday May 20th through Thursday, May 24 with a series of free concerts featuring NDSU student pianists performing with world-class string players. In partnership with the Plains Art Museum, patrons are invited to attend a special concert at the museum on Thursday, May 24th and enjoy free admission to the museum after the show.
Guest artists for the 2018 NDSU Chamber Music Festival include Sonja Harasim, newly-appointed concertmaster of the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony Orchestra, rising star mezzo-soprano Clara Osowski, faculty from North Dakota State University and Concordia College, and some of the most sought-after chamber musicians from New York City and Denver, Colorado.
Many of history’s greatest composers wrote their most personal and powerful works for chamber ensemble. The NDSU Chamber Music Festival brings the Fargo-Moorhead community an intimate encounter with this exhilarating music.
Festival Schedule
BECKWITH RECITAL HALL | Free and open to the public
Sunday, May, 20, 2 PM
Wednesday, May 23, 7:30 PM
Thursday, May 24, 7:30 PM
PLAINS ART MUSEUM | Free and open to the public
Thursday, May 24, 12:00 PM
Click here for the full schedule.
“Chamber music is special in that these mighty composers have created personal works that implicate performer and listener alike as the music unfolds—at times moving, at times exciting or even humorous,” said Tyler Wottrich, festival artistic director and assistant professor of piano at NDSU. “We invite you to join us in the NDSU Chamber Music Festival’s fourth season as NDSU student pianists work with professional string players to bring this incredible music to life.”
Student pianists are invited to attend open rehearsals and social events with NDSU pianists and guest artists by contacting Tyler Wottrich at tyler.wottrich@ndsu.edu.
NDSU Challey School of Music presents “Children of Eden” choral event
April 18, 2018
NDSU Challey School of Music presents a choral event featuring the Madrigal Singers, University Chamber Singers, Cantemus and Statesmen together performing the music from “Children of Eden” on Friday, May 4th and Saturday, May 5th, 2018 at 7:30 P.M. Directed by Associate Director of Choral Activities, Mike Weber.
Stephen Schwartz’s two-act musical explores biblical themes of parent-child relationships between the “Father” and Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and Adam and Eve and their children Cain and Abel.
The second act further explores the complexity of these relationships through a depiction between Noah and his son Japheth on the Ark. This partially staged show sheds a bittersweet view on the conflict between rebellious children and their parents, and how the parents respond to the children they love so deeply. In the end, the most important message from one of the songs is that “the hardest part of love…..is the letting go.”
Both performances are at Festival Concert Hall located in NDSU’s Reineke Fine Arts Center, 12th Avenue North and Bolley Drive. Tickets are available at https://ndsu.showare.com/ or by calling the NDSU Performing Arts Box Office at 701-231-7969.
Purchase tickets: Adults $20, Seniors $15, Students $10, NDSU Students Free with I.D.
Theatre NDSU presents Junie B. Jones in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells!
April 13, 2018
Theatre NDSU, the production company at North Dakota State University, presents a show for the whole family: “Junie B. Jones in Jingle Bells, Batman Smells!” on April 20th and 21st and the 26th-28th. Performances are held in Askanase Auditorium in Askanase Hall.
It’s holiday time and Junie B. Jones can’t wait for her class Secret Santa gift exchange. But wait! Junie B.’s arch nemesis, that tattletale May, keeps getting in the way of all her fun. Junie B. comes up with a way to teach May a lesson. Little does she know, Junie B. will also learn a very special holiday lesson along the way.
Based on the popular book “Junie B., First Grader: Jingle Bells, Batman Smells! (P.S. So Does May)” by Barbara Park.
Tickets for the show are $8 for students/children, $12 for seniors and $15 for adults. Tickets are available through the NDSU Box Office at (701) 231-7969 or online at ndsu.showare.com
Askanase Hall is located at the corner of 12th Avenue North and Albrecht Blvd.
Music At NDSU finalist in Midwest Book Awards
April 11, 2018
The Midwest Independent Publishing Association (MIPA) has announced the finalists for the 28th Annual Midwest Book Awards. The awards recognize quality in independent publishing in the Midwest.
Congratulations to Dr. Groves and NDSU Press for their work, Music At NDSU, nominated as a finalist in the Arts/Photography/Coffee Table Books category.
Winners will be announced on Saturday, May 12, 2018, at the Midwest Book Awards Gala in Saint Paul.
Dr. Robert Groves combines thorough research with personal insights for an engaging record of the rise of music as a field of study at NDSU. From its beginnings with mid-1890s campus music clubs, to the formation in 1903 of an official Department of Music, up to the designation of the School of Music in 2012 and beyond, Groves brings the history of the Challey School of Music to life. Featuring more than 200 photos capturing the past century of student musicians and faculty, Music at NDSU is filled with historical high notes sure to resonate with readers.
The book is available for purchase through NDSU Press.
Challey School of Music students win 12 awards at student auditions
April 10, 2018
Students and teachers from the NDSU Challey School of Music recently competed in the North Dakota National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) competition. NDSU singers won twelve awards in seven categories, winning first place in six categories, second place in five, and third place in one.
The mission of NATS is to “ encourage the highest standards of the vocal art and of ethical principles in the teaching of singing; and to promote vocal education and research at all levels, both for the enrichment of the general public and for the professional advancement of the talented”.
NDSU faculty recognized include Dr. Mariane Lemieux-Wottrich and Dr. Robert Jones, teachers of students awarded.
Below lists the full details of the awarded recipients,
1st Year Women:
1st Place: Lauren Craig
3rd Place: Ella Dostal
1st Year Men:
1st Place: Brady Ritland
2nd Place: Anthony Peralta
2nd Year Women:
2nd place: Margaret Brink
2nd Year Men:
1st Place: Elijah O’ Sullivan
2nd Place: Alex Barta
3rd Year Women:
1st Place: Tessa Hartl
2nd Place: Jacee Engels
4th/5th Year Women:
1st Place: Kellani Arnold
2nd Place: Karly Ritland
Advanced Men:
1st Place: Tyrie Williams
NDSU Professor Emeritus of music, passes away at 85
March 12, 2018
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, March 17th at 2:00 P.M. at the Unitarian Universalist Church, located at 121 9th St. S., Fargo. Arrangements are made by Washburn – McReavy Funeral Chapel in Minneapolis, MN.
Olson was hired in 1967 to be the new principal voice teacher and to direct the department’s new Opera Workshop. Olson was a noted vocal pedagogue and specialist in vocal literature and vocal health for singers. He performed faculty recitals each year until his retirement in 1994.
Olson earned his Bachelors of Arts and Masters of Art at the University of Arizona in Tucson, and was awarded a fellowship to the University of Illinois where he earned his Doctorate in Music in 1974. He trained at the Conservatory of Music in Vienna, Austria and also Studied with Oren Brown of Julliard.
He loved to perform and sang with the Duluth Symphony, the Omaha Civic Opera, Milwaukie Skylight Opera, the FM Civic Opera, and was guest soloist with the Vienna Boys Choir, to name a few. Teaching became his true passion and he taught voice for 40 plus years at: the Bergen Teaching College in Bergen, Norway, NDSU (where he served as department head in his last two years), MSU, UND, MIU and did extensive work in vocal therapy at the Voice Institute in Fargo (of which he was a founding member). He loved his work, he loved his students and they loved him in return.
“I always regarded Bob as a mentor who had built and maintained a successful voice department at NDSU,” said Robert Jones, voice professor. “I have always respected his work as a voice professional, and when I came to NDSU in 1995, I aspired to carry on his legacy. His teaching excellence lives on through the careers of many of his students. Bob was an inspiration to all in the vocal/choral profession who knew him. He will indeed be missed.”
Composer Jocelyn Hagen to perform March 28 at NDSU
March 6, 2018
Fargo, N.D. – Composer Jocelyn Hagen will present a performance of her works on Wednesday, March 28 at 7:30 p.m. in NDSU’s Beckwith Recital Hall. The recital is free and open to the public. Hagen is artist-in-residence for the NDSU Challey School of Music.
Hagen will sing her compositions at the performance, which will include guest artists Timothy C. Takach, composer/vocalist; Cicely Parnas, cellist; and Spearfisher, electronic musician/composer/pianist.
A native of Valley City, ND, Jocelyn Hagen composes music that has been described as “simply magical” (Fanfare Magazine) and “dramatic and deeply moving” (Star Tribune, Minneapolis/St. Paul). Her first forays into composition were via songwriting, and this is very evident in her work. The majority of her compositional output is for the voice: solo, chamber and choral. In 2015, Test Pilot, her dance opera collaboration with choreographer Penelope Freeh, received a Sage Award for “Outstanding Design,” and the panel declared the work “a tour de force of originality.” She now resides in Minneapolis, and her work has been performed all over the world, including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York City.
Hagen is a two-time winner of prestigious McKnight Artist Fellowships in 2010 and 2014. She has also received grants and awards from ASCAP, the American Composers Forum, Minnesota Music Educators Association, the Jerome Foundation, VocalEssence, the Young New Yorkers Chorus, the Yale Glee Club, the Lotte Lehman Foundation, the Sorel Medallion Competition, the Cincinnati Camerata, the University of Minnesota, and the San Francisco Song Festival.
Her commissions include Conspirare, The Minnesota Orchestra, the American Choral Directors Associations of Minnesota, Georgia, Connecticut and Texas, the North Dakota Music Teacher’s Association, Cantus, the Boston Brass, and the ensembles at North Dakota State University, to name a few. Her work is independently published through JH Music, Graphite Publishing, G. Schirmer, Santa Barbara Music Publishing, Fred Bock Music Publishing, and Boosey and Hawkes.
For more information, please visit www.jocelynhagen.com.
NDSU Concert Choir announces 2018 Spring Tour
February 15, 2018
Fargo, N.D. – The NDSU Concert Choir and Madrigal Singers present the 2018 Spring Tour concert series in March, featuring dynamic choral works that include music by composers Kuhnau, Bach, Mendelssohn, Fissinger, Faure, Stanford, Gibbs and many more. The program also features a new work, “Our Rhyme”, by the composer Jacob Beranek , winner of the 2017 Fissinger Choral Composition Prize.
The Concert Choir, directed by Jo Ann Miller and the Madrigal Singers, directed by Michael Weber, will perform in Bismarck, ND; Spearfish, SD; Mitchell, SD; and Marshall, MN, culminating in their home concert on March 18th at 4:30 p.m. at Peace Lutheran Church in Fargo.
2018 Tour Schedule
Tuesday | March 13 | 7:00 p.m.
Saint Mary’s Church, 806 E Broadway Ave Bismarck, ND 58503
Wednesday | March 14 | 7:30 p.m.
with the Black Hills State University Choir, Dr. Jonathan Nero
Clare and Josef Meier Hall, Yellow Jacket Lane Spearfish, SD 57799
Thursday | March 15 | 7:30 p.m.
Holy Family Church, 222 N Kimball Street Mitchell, SD 57301
Friday | March 16 | 7:00 p.m.
First Lutheran Church, 100 Church Street Marshall, MN 56258
Sunday | March 18 | 4:30 p.m.
Peace Lutheran Church, 1011 12th Ave North Fargo, ND 58102
About the NDSU Concert Choir and Madrigal Singers
The NDSU Concert Choir has a distinguished tradition of performing eminent choral literature at the highest level of artistry. Under Jo Ann Miller’s direction, the choir has performed at state, regional and national music conferences, including eight North Central American Choral Directors Association conferences and the association’s national conference in San Antonio, Texas.
The 60-voice choir rehearses daily and performs several concerts each year on campus and during annual spring tours. The choir performs regularly with the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony and tours overseas every three years. Most recently, toured Croatia and Italy in 2012, Iceland and Scotland in 2015, and will tour Germany and Denmark this coming summer. The choir received the first place gold medal at the International Choral Competition in Zadar, Croatia, during the 2012 tour.
The NDSU Madrigal Singers is a highly selective ensemble that performs vocal chamber music from the Renaissance through the 21st century. Conducted by Michael Weber, the Madrigal Singers perform for numerous NDSU celebrations, tour each spring with the NDSU Concert Choir and also tour separately throughout the region.
North Dakota State University’s Challey School of Music
The NDSU Challey School of Music promotes high-quality teaching, artistic performance, outreach and scholarly excellence through its performances and degree programs. For more, visit ndsu.edu/performingarts.
Theatre NDSU presents “Tartuffe” by Moliere
February 13, 2018
Theatre NDSU, the production company at North Dakota State University, presents “Tartuffe” on February 22nd – 24th, February 28th, and March 1st -3rd. Performances are at 7:30 p.m. in the Walsh Studio Theatre in Askanase Hall.
Early 20th century American circus meets commedia dell’arte movement techniques in this reimagining of Moliere’s classic. The scheming con man Tartuffe charms his way into Orgon’s household with plans to marry his daughter, seduce his wife, and run off with his fortune. Despite Tartuffe’s appalling behavior, Orgon is blinded to the truth – will he see through Tartuffe’s pious mask before it’s too late? One of the world’s greatest plays, Molière’s hilarious farce takes an over-the-top twist that will include masks, a slap-stick, and polka dot tights.
Tickets for the show are $8 for students/children, $12 for seniors and $15 for adults. Tickets are available through the NDSU Box Office at (701) 231-7969 or online at ndsu.showare.com
Performance Location: Walsh Studio Theatre is located in Askanase Hall, at the corner of 12th Avenue North and Albrecht Blvd.