A Musical Mélange

I have much to catch up on, after not blogging for two weeks. Here’s an encapsulated version of our recent musical family activity:

• White Christmas: I can’t go any longer without bragging about my husband, Steve, and the amazing job he did in the Northfield Arts Guild’s production of Irving Berlin’s White Christmas. He played the lead role of Bob Wallace (the Bing Crosby character, if you’re familiar with the movie). Steve was on stage in almost every scene, was singing and dancing most of the time, and if he hadn’t captivated my heart 26 years ago when we met in college, he surely would have melted it with his performance in this show.

Steve and company from the “Blue Skies” number.

A hearty congratulations to all who played a role in making the show such a success – especially director Rachel Haider, choreographer Mary Hahn, and the music direction team of Jordan Boucher, Dan Dressen and Ina Selvelieva, who are all affiliated with the music department at St. Olaf College. Also, a special shout-out to Sebastian and the rest of the scene-changing crew!

As great as it was to see the show, I can’t deny that I’m glad it’s done. After months of rehearsals and three weekends of shows, Steve will now be home more often in the evenings! ... at least until the next show.

• Field trips: I took time off from writing-related work for two days last week, on the 13th (my birthday) and the 14th to chaperone two field trips. The first one was Louisa’s art class trip to Minneapolis. The students visited the Michael Birawer Gallery and explored the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, with special attention to Impressionist works.

Artist Michael Birawer talks to Louisa about his artistic process.

Birawer’s painting of Millennium Park in Chicago.

The second field trip was with Elias – the sixth grade field trip to the State Capitol and the Minnesota History Center. Obviously, I could not miss this one! The History Center is one of my favorite places, and I was excited to see the new exhibit, Then, Now, Wow, which did not disappoint.

Elias in the rotunda of the Minnesota State Capitol.

Cranking up the Model T at the Then, Now, Wow exhibit.

• Concerts and performances: Four of our five family members performed at Northfield’s Winter Walk on the evening of Dec. 6. Louisa and Sebastian played in a brass quintet, Louisa played in a French horn duo, Elias sang with the Northfield Middle School choir, and Steve was involved in a couple of performances at the Northfield Arts Guild.

The combined choirs at the Northfield Youth Choirs concert at Carleton’s Skinner Chapel.

Louisa and Sebastian, who both performed in the NYC concert.

Other big concerts were the Northfield Youth Choirs winter concert on Dec. 8 and the middle school and high school orchestra concert on Dec. 13. At that concert, Sebastian played in two groups, the symphony orchestra and a chamber group. And Louisa and some other high school band members joined the combined high school symphony and concert orchestras for the final number, “Selections from the Polar Express.”

To conclude this musical mélange, I leave you with a video of that lovely piece. Enjoy!