Musiktidning June 2009

              Volume CXVII June, 2009 No. 6
Published by the American Union of Swedish Singers
In its 117th year of Performing Svenska Sånger in America
The Viking Male Chorus and
Damkören will once again host a
Fall Foliage Festival this year. The
dates will be October 9th through
the 11th. In this non-convention
year it is a great time for AUSS
singers to get together for fellow-ship
and song. We have arranged a
$79.00 per night rate at the Clari-on
of Jamestown (formerly the Hol-iday
Inn) and that rate includes a
full continental breakfast each day.
We are hoping to keep the regis-tration
fee around $50.00 per per-son.
The weekend will follow essen-tially
the same schedule as previ-ous
weekends: A rehearsal Friday
evening and a hospitality room at
Fall Weekend To Return to
Jamestown, NY
the hotel afterwards. A dress re-hearsal
at the beautiful and histor-ic
First Congregational Church
will take place on Saturday morn-ing.
Saturday afternoon free time
to perhaps visit the Lucy-Desi
Museum (Jamestown is Lucille
Ball’s hometown) or anything else
you’d like to do. Saturday evening
is a pay-your own dinner at the
beautiful Viking Lake Park with a
social time afterwards. Sunday af-ternoon
a concert at 2:00 will be
followed by a dinner cruise on
Chautauqua Lake (included in the
registration fee). We will wind up
the day at the Celoron Legion,
which is where we now rehearse,
for snacks and a cash bar. We will
be sending out additional details
over the summer. We look forward
to seeing many of you this fall in
Jamestown.
by Don Nelson
Viking Male Chorus, Jamestown, NY
The Viking Male Chorus and Damkören pose at their Spring Concert. Director Mary Grace Brustrom is center-front.
Accompanist John Brustrom is the tall guy to the right of center. Banjo player Paul Sandstrom is seated in front.
Our chorus starts the singing sea-son
in May and our first rehearsal
had a fine turnout. Almost all
snowbirds are back and our new
singers will push us to 25 singers.
Our first concert will be on June
12 in Rutland. This will be our first
appearance in Vermont’s second
biggest city. They have traffic lights
and close to 20,000 people. They
even have parking meters. We will
be part of a city wide art program
and will sing in a nice art gallery.
Our Midsommar Fest will be at
the Landgrove Inn on Sunday, June
28. The Inn owners, Tom and Mau-reen
Checchia, are big fans of the
chorus and love to have us use their
Inn for events. We hold our Mid-sommar
Fest the day after the Inn
has a wedding so that we can use
the big tent. It is great to have a
weatherproof event.
This year we plan to sing in
neighboring towns, such as Rut-land,
so we can build up an audi-ence
for the 2010 E.D. Convention,
for which we are the hosts. We have
reserved a terrific motel in
Manchester, The Palmer House
(www.palmerhouse.com) as the
headquarters, and have an out-standing
concert hall at the nearby
Burr and Burton Academy. The
Convention will center on the
weekend of September 18, 2010,
and we invite all AUSS singers to
join us in the beautiful Green
Mountain State. It is the start of
the fall foliage season. We are busy
working on the details as well as
promoting this Convention with
choruses from Sweden. More in-formation
will follow in the fall.
Your former Musiktidning Edi-tor,
plus a few other things… från
väst Jämtland, Vermont
Calle Westberg
Opening Night for Nordic Harmoni, the
Best Swedish Chorus in Vermont
The Viking Male Chorus and
Damkören presented their Spring
Concert on Sunday, May 17, 2009
at First Lutheran Church in
Jamestown, NY.
Mixed numbers performed in-
Jamestown Choruses’ Spring Concert
by Amy Stenta
Damkören, Jamestown, NY
cluded Man Ska Leva, We’re the
Choir, Tonerna, Will the Circle be
Unbroken?, Å jänta å ja, Why Does
the Willow Tree Weep?, Tryggare
kan ingen vara and I Hear Ameri-ca
Singing.
Paul Sandstrom, a member of the
Viking Male Chorus, accompanied
some songs on the banjo: There’s
More Pretty Girls Than One, a
medley of three folk songs, Eliza
AUSS Foundation Meeting Details
The AUSS Cultural Heritage
Foundation annual meeting will
take place on Saturday, August 1
at 9:00 a.m. in the Kitty Hawk
Room on the Lower Level of the
Crowne Plaza O’Hare, 5440 N.
River Rd, Rosemont, IL.
Lunch will follow, which will in-clude
salad, choice of chicken pi-cata
or vegetable lasagna, and
sweets.
All Foundation members are en-couraged
to attend!
The Foundation Board will meet
the day before. Details have been
sent out to the board members.
Jane, Old Susannah and Riding in
a Buggy.
Damkören also performed Hjär-tats
saga during their portion of the
program.
Mary Grace “MG” Brustrom di-rected
the program. During inter-mission,
MG’s husband, John
Brustrom, who accompanied the
choruses, performed two selections
from Porgy and Bess.
Members of Nordic Harmoni pause for a break during rehearsal. Director, Ken Olsson, is in the back, on the far left.
This friendly group will host the 2010 Eastern Division Convention.