3/4/2010 10:00 AM
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| The St. Olaf Vikings Chorus |
On Sunday, March 14th at 7:30 p.m. there will be Vespers / Evening Prayer at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church featuring the Viking Chorus from St. Olaf College under the direction of Dr. Christopher Aspaas. The service will include readings, reflections, hymns and anthems based around the theme, "Were You There." The men of the Viking Chorus will share such pieces as Steal Away, Mendelssohn's Laudate Pueri, and Robert Scholz's Were You There.
We are so pleased to be hosting this wonderful vocal ensemble from St. Olaf for a beautiful and meditative evening service. The Viking Chorus is made up of 70 freshmen men. They will be singing music which will reflect the beauty and depth of the Lenten season. We expect many parents and relatives of the choir to be here, but would love to have a warm group of Gloria Dei members to welcome them to our church. Please invite your friends and relatives to join us for this special musical and liturgical service!
ABOUT THE CHOIR...The Viking Chorus of St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, is a group of more than 80 first-year student men who have been organized to sing the highest quality literature. They perform a program of music that includes motets, cantata movements, and anthems, as well as contemporary choral pieces, spirituals, folksongs, and music traditionally associated with men's singing groups.
The Viking Chorus was founded in 1935 by Luther Onerheim '37, when a number of students gathered informally, flourishing for more than 30 years under student direction.
In 1968, Dr. Robert Scholz '61 returned to St. Olaf, and was given leadership of this ensemble. Several years later, the Viking Chorus changed from a four-year ensemble to an ensemble open only to first-year men.
In 2005, Dr. Christopher Aspaas '95 returned to St. Olaf and succeeded Dr. Scholz as conductor of the Viking Chorus (having sung in the ensemble as a first-year). In recent years the Viking Chorus has performed as a solo choir at the Associate Male Choruses of America Big Sing!, the Minnesota Music Educators Mid-Winter Clinic, the Intercollegiate Male Choruses Inc. National Seminar at the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire, and at the State Convention of the MN ACDA. In spring 2009, the Viking Chorus premiered a work by Mexican composer Jorge Cordoba Valencia in Orchestra Hall through the VocalEssence
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| Dr. Christopher Aspaas, Conductor |
ABOUT THE CONDUCTOR...
Dr. Christopher Aspaas, Assistant Professor of Choral/Vocal Music at St. Olaf College, received his Ph.D. in Choral Music Education at The Florida State University in Tallahassee, his M.M. in Choral Conducting from Michigan State University in East Lansing, his B.M. in Voice Performance from St. Olaf. Christopher has served on the faculties of Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington and Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts.
At St. Olaf, Aspaas conducts the Viking Chorus, an 88-voice ensemble of first-year student men, and also leads the Saint Olaf Chapel Choir, a 120-voice ensemble specializing in the performance of oratorio and larger multi-movement works. Most recently, Aspaas led the Chapel Choir and St. Olaf Orchestra in a performance of Felix Mendelssohn’s monumental oratorio, Elijah. In addition to conducting, he teaches choral literature, choral conducting, and private applied voice. In 2008, Aspaas was appointed as the Music Director and Conductor for Magnum Chorum, a Twin Cities choral ensemble who is “Transforming Audiences through Artistry and Spirit.”
His travels as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator have taken Christopher to Alaska, Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and the Sultanate of Oman. He has conducted All-State Choruses in South Dakota and Wisconsin, and is scheduled to lead All-State Choruses and Honor Choirs in Virginia, Kentucky, and Minnesota in 2009-2010.
Aspaas is also active as a tenor soloist, performing Bach cantatas with Helmuth Rilling and the Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra, the Evangelist roles in the John and Matthew Passions of Bach with the Bach Collegium of Fort Wayne, Ind., and other solo roles with the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra, the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, and the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra and the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic in Russia. Most recently, Aspaas traveled to San Luis Obispo, California for a performance of Franz Josef Haydn’s Theresienmesse and Johann Michael Haydn’s Requiem with the Cuesta Master Chorale and Orchestra.