Musiktidning Oct. 1988

              Official Journal of the American Union of Swedish Singers (USPS 368-840)
Vol. LXXXII CHICAGO, IL, OCTOBER, 1988 No. 8
- 9
9 f !?.« Seattle Setting
Perfect in June
To borrow from the title of a pop-ular
song of yesteryear, it was "the
right time and the right place" when
the Western Division staged its
Convention in S e a t t l e June 8
through 11. The weather was mild
and sunny, with the northwest's traditional precipita-tion
at a minimum, and the facilities were perfect.
The Best Western Executive Inn was an excellent
headquarters choice, two short blocks away from Seat-tle's
famous Space Needle, all the taste treats of the
Seattle Center and the terminus of the monorail. The
latter whisked you to Seattle's downtown and water-front
in minutes.
In addition it was an easy ride by Convention bus
or by car to the Swedish Club for the Sallskapsafton,
Individual Chorus Concert, on Thursday evening and
to the First Presbyterian Church for the Grand Con-cert
Friday evening.
Patricia Nordlund and Ralph Hade, co-chairpersons,
and the other members of the Seattle Convention Com-mittee
obviously did an outstanding job. Rachel Os-terlof,
with the assistance of Bertha Isackson and Runo
Nordenberg, put together a highly attractive Conven-tion
program book.
Altogether there \vere 60 men and 55 women a>
singers, plus spouses. Most were of course from Port-land
and Seattle, but Honorary Western Division
President Rolf Perciwall and John Helgeson, and their
wives made the day-and-a-half train trip from Salt
Lake City. Also, Osvald Granback led a contingent
of four singers from the Bellman Male Chorus in
Vancouver.
For a Convention opener on Wednesday evening,
the Seattle singers gave their version in song and
dialog of what the first Swedish marriage in the V.S.
PORTLAND CHORUSES PERFORM TOGETHER
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH PROVIDES COMFORTABLE CONCERT SITE (Photo by Rowland Studio)
might have been like in 1638. Whoever wrote the
''libretto" spiced it with generous portions of pure
ham for a cast that included Ella and Peter Reisinger,
Bernard Shattuck, Eivor Baillie and Gunner Nord-strom.
It was an evening filled with song and lots of
laughter.
Thursday evening it was time for the Sallskapsafton
at the Seattle Swedish Club. This included appear-ances
by the two Portland Choruses—Scandinavian
Male, directed by Stanley Trogen, and Scandia Ladies,
directed by Janet Rowland.
The Bellman Male Chorus was ably represented by
Tenor George Callaghan who performed these three
solos: Tonerna, How Great Thou Art and Return to
Sorrento. The latter was in Italian in tribute to his
wife's native land, while he sang Tonerna in Swedish.
Not bad for a native of Scotland.
The Portland women opened the program with Sea
Chanty, En gang jag seglar i hamn, It's a Sin to Tell
a Lie and Do Lord. The Portland men sang Standar-sang,
Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes (solo by Bob
Milam), Tonerna and Glad sasom fageln. Then the
two choruses combined their talents in Sommarsang
and I Believe/Ava Maria.
The evening's singing came to a traditional close
with all of the men joining forces in Sverige, led by
Director-in-Chief Ernest Anderson.
After the Friday morning rehearsals, the men had
lunch at the Swedish Club, while the women enjoyed
a picturesque luncheon at Salty's on Alki, on West
Seattle's shoreline. All of the ladies received a heart-shaped
cookie cutter, complete with recipe for Pep-parkakor.
The Eirst Presbyterian Church proved to be an
outstanding site for Friday night's Grand Concert.
Both the staging facilities and acoustics were perfect.
Likewise, the directors—Ernest Anderson for the men
and Florence Mesler for the women—performed their
chores exceptionally well. Also, there was fine solo
work by Florence Mesler (When Thou Comest), Paul
Safstrom (Landkj ending) and La Verne Anderson
(Psalm 24).
(Continued on page 8)