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After highlighting a variety of activities in last week’s column, I will share my observations in these next two columns about a few of those events. As many of you are aware, the Minnesota Symphony Orchestra is based in the Twin Cities, while the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra is based in the Twin Ports. On the other hand, the Minnesota Ballet has been a Duluth-based dance program since its inception as the Duluth Civic Ballet in 1965. The name was upgraded in 1994, and the 2015/16 season will be the 50th anniversary of this major midwestern ballet company.

As I mentioned last week, the 35th Annual Spring Student Performance of the School of the Minnesota Ballet took place at the DECC on Friday, May 15. The sheer number of dancers from pre-ballet to older teens was stunning. The Passing of Time, choreographed by Lila Ann Coates White, was a moving opener. White’s understated use of dance movement progressed through several age levels, demonstrating how much improvement takes place over time.
The spectacular finale came from L. Minkus’ musical celebration of Don Quixote, classically choreographed by M. Petipa as long ago as 1869. Instructor Suzie Baer staged these excerpts, which had all the sparkle of a company production. We are all very fortunate that Director Robert Gardner and his staff continue to make the Minnesota Ballet one of the sparkling treasures of the northland.
Then on Saturday and Sunday, the Duluth-based Arrowhead Chorale performed at UMD’s Weber Music Hall. This final concert of the Chorale’s 25th season featured four challenging works exploring the concept of creation – from the beginning of life on planet earth to the more specific creation of musical expression. Seven Singing Apprentices from local high schools were selected to join the Chorale for this program.
In the late 1940s, composer Aaron Copland chose to set the first chapter of the biblical Genesis for unaccompanied choir and soprano solo. Rachel Inselman, whose voice is rich and lovely in Weber Hall, sang the complex solo part. Fast, slow, high, low, rhythmic, melodic, all characterized her part, with the choir acting as a Greek chorus, reinforcing her pronouncements with a certain affirmation.

Fast forward to 2012, when local musician/teacher Liz Jaakola created an operetta, Mishomis, based on Ojibwe legends. Original man goes forward to do the essential naming of the beings, the waters, the plants on Mother Earth. Meanwhile, pianist Velda Bell keeps an irregular drum beat on the piano, reminding us of the delicate balance between life and death as equals in the creative process.
An unpublished piece by Robert S. Cohen – Genesis(Part I: Creation) – added two trumpets and three percussionists to the choral mix. The percussionists kept the notion of creation in flux, while the trumpets heralded the beginning of life on the planet. The lights explode, the animals come forth in all their variety, and ultimately, male and female humans appear as WE. This was a very complex and multi-rhythmic work, trying to use musical composition/creation to move from a sense of formlessness to a sense of meaningful life on earth.


 Music Director Stanley Wold chose to close the concert with ‘Thou Whose Harmony Is the Music of the Spheres,’ by Canadian composer Stephen Chatman. Accompanied solely by oboist Madeline Cherne, the chorale sang of a new harmony that might bring fresh courage and rejoicing into a world that is too much characterized by harshness and discord. Twenty-five continuous years of Arrowhead Chorale, and still going strong. Next week I’ll reflect on some current theatrical delights.