Fit for a King

St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., is nationally and internationally known for the excellence of its musical groups, including the the St. Olaf Band, which performs at the Princeton University Chapel Feb. 4.

By: Susan Van Dongen

"The
The St. Olaf Band will bring a taste of Minnesota to Princeton University Chapel.


   When Garrison Keillor — host of public radio’s A Prairie Home Companion — traveled to St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., for a broadcast, jokes about Norwegian cuisine and a high percentage of natural blondes were abundant.
   The music program at St. Olaf is no joke, though. The college is nationally and internationally known for the excellence of its musical groups, including the band, which began as a 14-member cornet ensemble in the 1890s. The editors of the St. Olaf collegiate yearbook concluded 95 years ago that "No education is complete without music; the time devoted to the Band is not wasted and will not be regretted."
   Nineteen-year-old trumpet player Carl Holmquist, a Lawrenceville native and sophomore at St. Olaf, certainly hasn’t regretted his choice of colleges, nor his decision to major in music — even though he puts in some grueling days.
   "I’m heading into one of the toughest semesters for an instrumental music education major," he says. "Some days I’ll leave my room at 8 a.m. and I might not come back until 10 p.m. In any given day I’ll have four classes in instrumental music performance. The band rehearses three days a week and I also play in jazz band, a brass quintet and a jazz combo. Throw all these things together and it gets pretty busy."
   All of this rehearsing makes for an exceptionally high level of musicianship, which the students will bring to Princeton Feb. 4 when the St. Olaf Band, conducted by Timothy Mahr, performs at the University Chapel. Also appearing with the St. Olaf Band will be guest organist John Ferguson, featured in David Malanka’s Symphony No. 4. The evening of music includes works by Richard Strauss and Camille St. Saens, as well as two new works commissioned by the band for this tour.
   It’s part of the band’s annual winter travels, which will also take them to Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center on Feb. 5.
   "We’re all extremely excited and we have been ever since we heard we were going to do the concert," Mr. Holmquist says. "I believe it’s the first time for the band at Lincoln Center, or any major hall in New York."
   This is not a group that just plays concerts for the local bingo games and kaffeeklatsches in Northfield. In 1906, they became the first American band to travel to Europe, where founder F. Melius Christiansen took them to perform for Norway’s King Haaken. In the band’s centennial year of 1990-91, they went to Great Britain, becoming the first college musical organization to play at the famed Aldeburgh Festival. They returned to the U.K. in the late ’90s, and next winter they’re planning a tour of Mexico.
   Mr. Holmquist says the non-music teachers understand the tradition and pride in the school’s musicians and are very understanding when they need to take time off from academics to perform. It’s part of a special culture of music and the arts at St. Olaf, something that attracted him to the college.

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The St. Olaf Band in rehearsal for its annual tour.


   "I knew about the music programs because my father also went to St. Olaf, but once I got here my expectations were far exceeded," he says. "It’s a very welcoming atmosphere."
   Mr. Holmquist has been playing music since childhood, but his interest in a musical career got a big boost at Lawrence High School, where band director Eric Haltmeier was a mentor.
   "I got a lot of motivation from him," says Mr. Holmquist, who hopes to teach instrumental music, theory and composition to high school and college musicians. "Being at St. Olaf’s has taken (my aspirations) to another level."
   The music program at St. Olaf’s has a strong regional connection. At least half a dozen area residents perform in the band, orchestra, choir or chamber groups. The local talent includes Rachel Hunsinger, Molly O’Grady and Austen Wilson from Princeton, Kristen Olsen from Pennington and Lawrenceville sisters Kirsten and Carolyn Pearson. Mr. Holmquist says a lot of the area musicians became aware of St. Olaf’s through their involvement with the youth choir at Nassau Presbyterian Church.
   It’s interesting that these talented young people chose a music school in the Midwest instead of one of the East Coast’s prestigious conservatories. Mr. Holmquist suspects the atmosphere at St. Olaf’s is very different from that of Juilliard or Peabody, one that might make for a more well-rounded individual, equally motivated but less driven.
   "The music department is very, very supportive," he says. "It’s a friendly atmosphere compared to a conservatory. Our goal as a group is to play expressively, to move people. It’s so much easier to do that with contributions from people of all different backgrounds, including non-music majors. People are not so technically minded, like you might find in the conservatories of the Northeast."
   Mr. Holmquist says some of Mr. Keillor’s remarks about Scandinavian culture and cuisine have an element of truth at St. Olaf’s. He’s seen traditional Norwegian holiday dish lutefisk on the menu around Christmas but he’s never tried it.
   "You do get lots of Norwegian food at the Christmas festivals," he says. "They do serve lutefisk — which is codfish soaked in lye — but they also offer a smorgasbord with all the trimmings for the sane people who don’t want to eat it."
   Coming from multi-cultural Central Jersey, Mr. Holmquist had to make a bit of an adjustment when it comes to finding ethnic foods. He says you can still enjoy decent pizza and bagels in Minnesota, though.
   "It’s not as good as you’d find in New York or Princeton, but it’s good enough," he says.
   Whatever they fortify themselves with, the young musicians from St. Olaf’s bring something distinct to their ensemble playing.
   "I think what we do is very unique," Mr. Holmquist says. "It’s a constantly changing medium. We do a lot of works that have been composed in the last 10 years. I do think it’s special, the degree to which the band can breathe life into so many different kinds of music. If people have a preconceived notion of a ‘band concert,’ they’ll be very surprised with what they hear from us."
The St. Olaf Band conducted by Timothy Mahr, performs at Princeton University Chapel, Nassau and Washington streets, Princeton, Feb. 4, 7 p.m. Tickets cost $20; $15 seniors; $10 students. For information, call (609) 771-3744. St. Olaf College on the Web: www.stolaf.edu