![Program Program](http://skeie.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2013/08/Stav.Konserthus.403-4-1280x850.jpg)
By Michael Kyle ’85 Moving from Bergen to Voss on Tuesday, the Choir continues on the final legs of the Centennial tour to Norway. Voss, geographically located in the heart of the Norwegian fjord region, is stunning to say the least. Surrounded by snow-capped mountains, lakes and forests, adventurists from around the world come annually to take in all this city offers.
Stavanger Konserthus I hjertet av Stavanger finner man Stavanger konserthus; et samlingspunkt for alle som er glad i musikk og konserter! ? #stavangerkonserthus www.stavanger-konserthus.no. Get the Kaizers Orchestra Setlist of the concert at Stavanger Konserthus, Stavanger, Norway on February 8, 2013 from the Violeta Violeta Vol. III Tour and other Kaizers Orchestra Setlists for free on setlist.fm!
With little time to venture, the Choir still found their share of fun and cultural interaction with an opportunity to share a meal with the “groupie tour” (fans and parents following the Choir). Ellie Mears, relates “The groupie tour met us afterwards and we had a wonderful little banquet with them to celebrate their arrival and our singing. We sang the “Thank you” song after our meal, and one of the ladies who was preparing the food sang a folk tune from the area in response. It was such a cool song – I wish I had recorded it!”.
Paul Mori ’13, sings first tenor for the St.Olaf Choir. It’s not every day that you get to show your hometown to friends, especially when it’s in a different country. Bergen is one of my two hometowns as I am half Japanese, half Norwegian.
The rainy city is where my mother grew up, and it is where I have spent most of my summers. Just like any other hometown, Bergen is a special city that means different things to me. For example, the quiet suburb of the city is where my grandparents would welcome me, while adulthood is represented by the city center, where I worked for a year. Now, having spent three full days in Bergen with the choir, the city has become even more special. Initially, people asked me, “So how does it feel to be back in your hometown?” To be honest, it did not feel too extraordinary.
After all, I had been here plenty of times, and staying in a hotel in the heart of the busy city wasn’t exactly a normal homecoming. That said, I was completely fine with it. Now that I have graduated from St. Olaf, I have limited time left with my friends in the choir, and I wanted to be a part of their encounter with Bergen by showing them around, and that is precisely what I ended up doing. As a special treat, friends of Paul Mori ’13 (Evan Quinnell ’14, Anton Armstrong, Jon Erik Haines ’14, Rachel Dahlen ’13, Jamie Marshall ’14, Olivia Snortland ’14) and his Uncle, relax on a boat ride back to Bergen town center. We had two “free” days, and on the first one I showed people the city area.
Upon taking a group up to one of the seven mountains surrounding the city, I made them walk across the mountainside to my aunt’s house that looks over the entire city. There we ate pizza and chatted away until the sunset at 11pm! On another day I took Dr. Armstrong and a few friends to where I live in the suburb.
This turned out to be a spectacular day with weather that was nothing short of perfect, and for Bergen that is saying a lot. We ate prawns on the balcony with my family, swam in the lake (at least some of us did), and took my uncle’s boat back to the city. During these two days Bergen looked the same as it always did to me, but it felt very different. There is something fulfilling about sharing things you love with people you love, and I felt so blessed to have experienced this fulfillment in Bergen.
Paul Mori ’13 is joined by the audience as he sings the Bergen city anthem for an encore. “I felt that the concert gave me the chance to give something back to Bergen and enrich the city with our music,” he says. My hometown, however, was not the only thing that I was able to share. The concert in Grieg hall enabled me to share the music I love with my friends and family in Bergen, whom I also love. It was not my first time singing in Grieg Hall, but it felt slightly strange to stand in front of people from my city representing a college from across the Atlantic.
At the same time, I felt more strongly than ever that I was bringing something meaningful to the audience. The message and tradition embedded in the music contain powerful values that have become somewhat hidden in modern Norway. Although the audience was a fraction of the city’s population, I felt that the concert gave me the chance to give something back to Bergen and enrich the city with our music.
As we continue our Norway tour, Bergen will simply be one of many wonderful places that the choir has performed in. But for me, the choir’s visit will forever leave a mark that will make my hometown even more beautiful than it was before.
Kerry Auer ’13, here with a statue of Edvard Grieg, sings first soprano in the St. By Kerry Auer ’13 Savannah, Georgia Music is my first and greatest passion. It’s why I came to St. Olaf, why I chose to study vocal performance, and why I hoped to one day sing in this wonderful choir.
But if time allowed a second degree, I would have loved to study history. As a child, my parents dragged my siblings and me to every available museum, art gallery, monument, and historical sight. Their passion for knowledge was passed on at a very early age, and I now eagerly follow their example, taking every opportunity to learn something new about the places I visit.
Imagine my delight then, upon arriving in Norway ― a country with such a rich historical past. I’ve never left the United States before, so being able to walk into a building built as far back as the 13th century is an awe-inspiring experience for me. In Oslo, I visited no fewer than five different museums and still found time to take in other sights such as the Oslo Cathedral, Karl Johans Gate, and the Stortinget. Olaf Choir members Brett Eisenbeis ’13 and Christian Weeks ’13 act out a scene from Titanic while enjoying the beautiful sights. The choir arrived in Haugesund Thursday afternoon after driving a network of winding roads and then taking a quick ferry trip across the beautiful Norwegian shoreline during the journey from Stavanger. Haugesund has a historically strong bond to the sea.
Located on one of Norway’s busiest waterways, the strategically important sound of Karmsund, the shipping and herring trades established the town as a leader of trade and culture in the region. Today the herring is long gone, however, and the town is turning toward the petroleum industry, like its neighbor Stavanger. The city is host to some of Norway’s largest music and cultural events, including the Norwegian International Film Festival, international jazz festivals, and, this week, the St. Michael Kyle ’85 is vice president for enrollment and college relations at St.