The Land of Lakes Choirboy Nordic Choir, June 24, 2008

CLICK HERE to visit their website	THE NORDIC CHOIR A Special Summertime Treat

	We, at Trinity, were very fortunate to be able to host the Land of Lakes Choirboys Nordic Choir at Trinity on June 24^th at 7:00 p.m. The Nordic Choir is the Land of Lakes National Touring Choir. Each summer the Nordic Choir travels around the United States and Canada for several weeks. The members of this choir range in age from eight to fourteen and are probably some of the youngest touring choristers around. The boys learn music in several languages including Latin, German, French, Swahili, Spanish and English. They sing music in unison to four parts, accompanied and a cappella. One of Minnesota’s best-kept secrets, the Land of Lakes Choirboys is considered by many to be one of the premier boy choirs in the world, often spoken of in the same breath as the famous Vienna Boys’ Choir. This internationally known choir has performed to audiences throughout the United States and the world. Perhaps the most talked-about aspect of the Choir is its hauntingly beautiful sound, a unique combination of richness, clarity, depth and power. The Choir performed works ranging from Bach to A. Lloyd-Webber, including two that touched me deeply, the spiritual, Deep River, and the ballad, Shenandoah. The Camile Saint-Saens Tollite Hostias was wonderful. Their "special piece they've been working on," a spoof on the director based on the alphabet song, was a comical relief to the seriously beautiful concert they presented to an especially appreciative crowd.
The Nordic Choir featured boys from 8 to 12 (tiny to borderline teenagers) who sang with angelic clarity and precision.	The boys ended the program by coming out into the audience, shaking hands, beaming with smiles--all the while singing their thank-you song. Verrrrrry endearing!		Their recessional was musical and featured their signature smiley faces.
	The Program
	Psalm 100	R. Clausen
	Jesu, joy of Man's Desiring	J.S. Bach
	Tollite Hostias	C. Saint-Saens
	Deep River	J. Verrall
	At the River	A. Copland
	Shenandoah	Arr. E. Cocker
	Walzer der Freude	J. Strauss/Wirth
	Give Us Hope	J. Papoulis
	Morning Has Broken	J. Noble-White
	Sunrise Over America	L. Spevacek
	INTERMISSION
	Come Ye Sons of Art	H. Purcell
	Sound the Trumpet	H. Purcell
	Dirait-on	M. Lauridsen
	In Flanders Field	Arr. Emerson
	Go Down Moses	Arr. Hayes
	Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi	D. Childs
	Pie Jesu	A. Lloyd-Webber
	The Blessing of Aaron	Arr. A. Carpenter
	I'm Gonna Sing	M. Hogan
Jim Taylor, Trinity Director of Music, is presented with "a valuable, delicate gift memento" that we should "handle with extreme care" to remember the Land of Lakes Boy Choir by Choir Director Aaron Carpenter, who as a joke dropped it to the instant dismay of Jim!	___________________________________ Some of the Trinity families had the immense pleasure of the company of 2-4 boys for an overnight stay at the request of the Nordic Choir staff. To reduce the overhead of a 21-day tour, some of the concert sites were asked to provide bedrooms for the choristers and a bag lunch for the following day. Our pay-off was the opportunity to visit with the boys, get to know a bit of their background and how the Choirboy program fits into their sub-teen lifestyle. They are incredibly presentable young men who have been taught the manners and professional behavior of performers much older than themselves. They are most polite, respectful and obedient to the schedule they are on. They look you in the eye when they talk to you and even have polite, diplomatic ways of responding to questions they are not comfortable with. And they retain their endearing child-like personalities. For example, Peggy Reed stocked up on a few "Pop-Tarts" for breakfast although Tommy Reed was going to cook up a traditional Southern breakfast, complete with grits. Guess which was consumed with gusto. I cannot imagine a program which prepares boys to be able to fit into an adult world better than this one which the Land of Lakes Choirboy program provides.		Our choristers, Grant and Noah
The hosts returned the boys to the church at 8:30 a.m. the following morning for their trip to Nashville, the next stop.	Loading up		Early arrivals found games to play on the front lawn.
Their bus driver is the original founder of the Land of Lakes Choirboy program: Craig Carmody-Anderson	Click on the picture for the choristers posing for an overhead photo that reveals all the faces. Then, I asked them to make funny faces!
	Ed. Note: Melanie O'Rear accepted her assignment to find host families with bedrooms for the boys of the choir Tuesday night after the concert and discharged her duty well. Here's her note to all the host families and her assessment of this wonderful program: Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! From all the comments I just heard at the Church parking lot, the Tuscaloosa stop for the Nordic Choir was a huge success. Thank you so much for opening up your homes for these amazing boys. I hope your experience with your boys was as wonderful as ours. I marvel at how these young men can manage so well on a 3-week tour away from their families. Clearly, their entire organization runs like a well-oiled machine. Thanks again! Melanie
	And from our pastor: Hip Hip Hurray for Melanie and Jim!!! Here's a big thanks to Melanie and Jim for making this possible! On behalf of the church and all the host families, please know how much we appreciate your fine work!! This was a great success!! wg P.S. I spoke with the director, and he thinks they may come through here next year on their way to Florida. Iasked him to keep us in mind as a possible host church!! In addition, I will see that we send a small donation to the choir. They obviously see this as a ministry, a ministry that shapes boys into young men of high character. What a blessing!