My Soul's Been Anchored in the Fjord: The St. Olaf Choir in Norway

Update #11

2005-06-21T13:46:00.000-07:00

Well, good readers, I am sad to announce that this will be my LAST blog from Norway, as twenty-four hours from now I will be on a plane to Iceland after flying to Oslo from Trondheim, and from there, finally, home. My voice is tired, my body is tired, and my face is starting to break out from the powder they made us put on under the TV lights, but still this trip has been a stunning success. I owe many people a huge debt of gratitude for giving me this once in a lifetime opportunity: my fellow choir members and our colleagues in the band and orchestra for being such a wonderful group with whom to spend three weeks smashed together and herded around; Professors Armstrong, Amundson and Mahr for doing the smashing and herding while still letting us have some fun (not to mention conducting some pretty decent concerts); Beej and Rich for pulling all the strings and holding the reins (forgive my mixed metaphor) from the very beginning of this process and over the past two years; President Thomforde for having huge support for the college's music organizations during his tenure and authorizing himself the tour price reduction that made it easier for many students to afford making it here; my parents and grandparents who have supported my music habit for as long as I've been singing (plus my brief stint behind a tuba in fifth-grade band). There is probably another metric ton of thanks to give out, but this is beginning to read like an Oscar acceptance speech, so I'll move on.

Yesterday was another long one, beginning with sectionals and a rehearsal with mezzo-soprano Randi Stene, with whom we are collaborating on one number, sandwiched around a very short reception with the Mayor of Trondheim in the former Archbishop's palace next to Nidaros. They served a strange kind of lefse fajita at the reception; we all very much enjoyed each others' breath at the subsequent rehearsal. After dinner, robing, pictures and makeup we could finally start the recording. The schedule for the program is very strict, and basically we get two shots at each song, one last night and one tonight. If there is a train wreck or a technical malfunction we'll redo a song, but essentially we run the whole program straight through. It's hard to say exactly how well things went, but Dr. Armstrong didn't schedule us for an extra rehearsal this afternoon, so it couldn't have been too bad.

Today I packed, finished some last-minute shopping for the family, and tried to come to grips with the fact that when I go to bed tomorrow night it will actually be dark outside. I don't think that jet lag will be as big of a problem when I get home, since this time I have some friendly knock-out pills on my side and won't be worrying about singing for royalty for once. Now I need to get out and say goodbye to the city/small town I have come to know well over the past week, since after tonight's session I will likely be ready to fall into bed. I will likely give a final debriefing once I reach the States, so it isn't goodbye just yet. Ha det, and see you all tomorrow!

Update #10: No Business Like Show Business

2005-06-19T22:59:00.000-07:00

I wish that I had shaved before tonight's dress rehearsal for two reasons. First, while what facial hair I have is essentially transparent under normal circumstances, under TV lights it becomes a radioactive, glowing beard that will eliminate what little face time I and my colleagues in the back row might be alotted in the program. Secondly, during every song my face begins to itch and by the final chord I must be visibly twitching from the irritation of it. Being the only male blogger I figured I ought to contribute something unique to my situation.

The rehearsals of the last two days have somewhat grueling; stopping and starting more than I did when I first drove a manual transmission, taking orders from across the cathedral rendered indecipherable by the room's reverberance, and being just plain long. Yesterday was more geared towards the audio aspect, today towards video and some basic logistics. Suprisingly though, the choir still doesn't sound like my voice feels; ridden hard and put away wet. There have still been many rewarding experiences. Singing in front of the great old Romantic organ played by Dr. Ferguson is almost as fun as singing with the orchestra. Almost. Nothing can quite top the feeling of five choirs and our orchestra going all-out, but this has its moments. Tomorrow we get a tour of the top of the spire way up above the cathedral. Once again, Jentikor is a simply lovely group to sing with and listen to. And you won't ever catch me complaining about the lack of morning rehearsals.

After a couple more rehearsals tomorrow the show will finally go up in the evening. I think I will be as excited for this as a real performance, since there will indeed be a real audience there to look on and be filmed looking happy and Christmasy. I need to find some way to get my hair consistent between the two nights of filming; it tends to do its own thing and rarely looks the same on consecutive days. I've considered getting a haircut, but those usually run at a minimum of 130 kroner (about 20 dollars), and as a college student the abhorration of paying anything over $10 runs deep in my veins. Yes, I think my time and effort would be better spent getting down the verses of Jeg Er So Glad (Dr. Armstrong referred to our Norwegian tonight as ''Ny ny ny Norsk'') and continuing to pop Ricola like candy. Ha det, and happy Father's Day!

Update #9: Beginning of the End

2005-06-18T13:49:00.000-07:00

Last night was the emotional final concert in this historic tour for both our college and the country of Norway. President Thomforde gave a tear-blotted devotional for the three ensembles before the concert. ''My musical skills are few'', said the Reverend, ''but I do know how to clap'', and most everyone was sobbing before the program even started. The audience who were able to cram themselves into the cathedral's limited seating were very appreciative, but it seemed that at that point the ensembles' greatest supporters with each other, with each set ending with the two groups sitting out noisily leading the ovation and immediately leaving their chairs at the back of the cathedral. The bonds that have been created on this tour are incredible, and I don't think that comraderie will leave anyone's hearts any time soon.

Now the sole Oles left in Trondheim, the choir had a long day of rehearsals today. We had our first encounter with the angelic Jenticor, whose sound has a sweetness and innocence that in songs like Stay With Us is just heavenly. It's a bit surreal but still kind of fun to be getting in the Christmas spirit in mid-June, and a few of us wore our new Norwegian sweaters to rehearsal today to make that atmosphere all the more palpable. I even get to hold a candle for the last few numbers, which is something I've always envied from the singers in past videotaped Christmas Festivals.

I have a feeling that the next few days will go by extremely quickly and before I know it I'll be on a plane headed back home. I confess I wasn't looking forward much to this Christmas program taping, but the rehearsals and performances now seem very happy and exciting and don't involve waking up as early as I had imagined, so this is a bit of a pleasant surprise. But home sounds like more of a good idea every day, so it's probably a good thing I decided not to stay in Europe for a longer time than is the case. Plus I'll need the extra paychecks this summer after buying that sweater - uff da, that hurts.

Ha det everyone, I'm happily off to bed.

Update #8: To Hell and Back

2005-06-16T21:33:00.000-07:00

Today we took a trip to Stiklestad, the site (about two hours from Trondheim) where King Olav Haraldsson, aka St. Olav, was martyred in a battle in the year 1030. A church now stands at the site, with an information center nearby and a huge outdoor ampitheater where the re-enactment of the battle draws a great deal of visitors every summer (think Defeat of Jesse James Days, but with a cast of a couple hundred). It was interesting to hear about the man for whom our college is named - apparently he gained sainthood a record year and five days after his death, when his body was exhumed to be moved to Nidaros (now Trondheim, at the site where the Cathedral is now) and had stayed undecomposed. The three music groups played a joint concert (the band can SING, too!) to a small but very appreciative audience. En route to Trondheim we stopped in the small suburb called Hell and, in tribute to the famous photo from the band's 1906 tour, snapped a group picture in front of the sign on the town's train station. Many, many awful jokes ensued; it took us miles to get them out of our system.

Tonight after a hearty dinner of bread, cheese, salami and Nugatti from the local grocery store, the choir had its first rehearsal in the immense Nidaros Cathedral. Though the current version wasn't built until the mid-nineteenth century, the building is in the Gothic style with dozens of statues and gargoyles on the western face, a stunning circular stained-glass window above the organ, and mind-blowing acoustics. I'm sure that Frank Martin's Sanctus is still ringing through the corners of the great stone sanctuary. This building is to be our second home for the next week, as we will be singing our last joint concert, a worship service and a Christmas special there between tomorrow and Tuesday. I'm still getting used to singing Christmas songs in June, but things are finally coming together in that aspect and I'm starting to get the some of the warm feelings that Christmas Festival always leaves me with, so hopefully though the season is off I can still find a way to make the event special.

Let me just reiterate how gorgeous the weather here has been. Though a few clouds hovered somewhat ominously upon our return to Trondheim this afternoon, the rainless streak following our tour remains intact. I think I can consider my life a success once I am able to buy a summer home here, probably in Molde or Loen.

Ha det and God bless!

Update #7: Molde, Kristiansund, Trondheim

2005-06-15T11:08:00.000-07:00

We are now on what might be considered the home stretch, though we still have a week left here. However, today the choir checked into its last hotel of the trip, where we will be staying for seven nights, our last joint concert and the TV special recording sessions. This is still kind of hard to grasp; not only that our voyage will soon be over but also the concept of spending more than one or two days in one place. I definitely won't mind spending a few extra days in the hotel where they're putting us, though. The room I'm in is beautiful and, after a trip to the Rema 1000, is now well-stocked with bread, cheese, salami, and Nugatti (the Norwegian version of Nutella) for the next few days' meals.

Our day in Molde was absolutely fabulous. After dinner and the concert, the district and municipal governments treated all three organizations to a cruise of the fjord on their largest ferry ship. Keep in mind that there are nearly three hundred of us and it didn't feel crowded at all, so this was no small deal. There were free sandwiches and soda, plus a dessert food that is like a folded-over pancake filled with sugary goo. We set out a little after 11 pm, watched the midnight sun set over the distant mountains, and returned at close to 1 in the morning. I sincerely wondered whether I had died during the concert and was actually riding the ferry to heaven.

Though no one was in much of a hurry to leave the gorgeous little town (which felt more like the California coast than the Norway coast), we rolled out of town yesterday afternoon for the short drive to Kristiansund (not to be confused with Kristiansand). Our final full concert together was very emotional, but quite a few people had fallen somewhat ill due to either a virus or food poisoning (the Band and Orchestra had a similar outbreak, so it might have been something from the boat). Everyone seems fine today, but there was rough going for a little while.

Now we start our last days with our colleagues in the other ensembles, and it will be very sad to see them go. I have very much enjoyed watching the Band and Orchestra play in our joint concerts, and have gotten to know a lot of people with whom I wasn't very familiar before but am looking forward to seeing again in a couple of months.

Ha det everyone!

Update #6: Bergen, Loen, and Molde

2005-06-13T17:50:00.000-07:00

Wow, what to say about the past few days. Well, we sang our concert Saturday night in Bergen's Grieghallen. A fun place to sing acoustically, but one of the worst halls asthetically that I've ever sung in. The main decorative motif in the place is grey concrete, and the place ends up looking like a parking garage. But it sounded fine as I said, and all three ensembles had very good sets. I love these joint concerts because I get to hear the band and orchestra rock out, and not have the choir as the center of attention all the time.

The scenery of the last two days' travels has been the most stunning thus far. Yesterday we stayed pretty much in the narrow strip between the mountains and the fjords, and all three ensembles spent the night in Loen, a tiny town squashed between rock and water. There was a short folkdancing show put on by a local group, and a bonfire a little later. I wound up on a late-night hike with three of my friends from the Band (Merry, Doug and Keeley), and got some spectacular views of the sun setting over the fjord after midnight in one of the most memorable evenings I've had here yet.

I would have loved to have stayed a few more days (or weeks) in Loen, but everyone had to pack up and roll out early this morning for our trip to Molda. For this we headed more inland and through the mountains, where the snow on either side of the road piled up past the windows of the bus. Coming back down the mountain was all the more thrilling, and the bus driver got a well-deserved cheer for bringing us down the narrow, winding road in one piece.

Molda is, in a word, paradise. I'm not sure if the current weather is abnormal, but it's about 65 degrees and beautifully clear. Across the street from the hotel is a fjord, and across the fjord are mountains, resulting in about the most wonderful sight I could ever hope to wake up to in the morning. We also need to leave here tomorrow, unfortunately, but not before a concert and a boat cruise this evening that I'm sure will be breathtaking. Time to go get ready for the concert. Ha det!

Update # 5: Stavanger and Bergen

2005-06-10T21:55:00.000-07:00

Apologies for another dry spell in updating. I gave myself a day off in Kristiansand figuring I'd be able to write from my host stay in Stavanger but it didn't end up happening that way and now it's my second day in Bergen, so at least I've got lots to write about.

Our last day in Kirstiansand was the Norwegian independence day, and we sang at a ceremony with a twenty-one gun salute. More specifically, they fired three large artillery cannons individually twenty-one times that nearly knocked me backwards fifteen feet away from the sheer force of the blast. The ceremony concluded with the officers each drinking a beer, something that never transferred to the American tradition somehow. The Kristiansand Domkirke concert was spectacular, and without the weird glitches that flavored the Arendal show and also in a much nicer and reverberant singing space. There were a couple of moments when I felt like I would lift off the ground or fall off the back of the riser or something with the sheer brilliance of the sound that I heard and felt. The Norwegian equivalent to a standing ovation is to start clapping rhythmically in unison, something I've mostly gotten used to but sometimes I still want to start looking around to see where the football match has broken out.

Stavanger was a very short stay, rolling into town at one in the afternoon and rolling out at ten the next morning. The domkirke there is gorgeous, with the most elaborate pulpit that has the whole creation story engraved on it. Our host family was very nice and would have been great to stay with for a few more days, but as it was our bonding with them was pretty much limited to watching ''Lost'' and figuring out the laundry machine (which, by the way, takes about an hour and a half here, so give your Maytag repairman a big hug the next time you see him). It was a good day to have a six-hour bus ride, however, since it rained pretty much the whole way, which made the scenery all the more misty and romantic and like out of Lord of the Rings, which is I guess what Tokein had in mind.

So now I sit in Bergen, the only city I've been to where it's necessary to carry both sunglasses and an umbrella wherever you go. It is a gorgeous city with the feeling of an old village, with colorful wooden buildings, cobblestone pedestrian streets with lots of shopping, narrow paths between houses that give the impression of a winding canyon, and a busy fish market by the harbor. We got a bus tour of the city today as well as Troldhaugen, the residence and resting place of Edvard and Nina Grieg. I learned that he was only 154 centimeters tall (about 5 foot 3), and had a book of Beethoven's 32 sonatas on his piano bench to sit on and give him inspiration while he composed. We are singing tomorrow night at the concert hall named after him, which looks gray and not terribly interesting from the street but from above is shaped like a grand piano. Clever.

It's unbelievable that we are only halfway through our trip. The experiences I've had so far singing and exploring the country, both with others and on my own, could alone make me die a happy man having encountered then. Lucky me that I have another eleven days of them in all new places. I hope everyone back home is weathering the storms that I hear have been in abundance. The rain here is somehow different than it is in Minnesota. More...European, is the only way I can describe it. Ha det and hope to hear from you all soon.

Fourth Update: Kristiansand and Lillesand

2005-06-06T22:33:00.000-07:00

If the fact that I'm finally just now getting a grasp of the Norwegian keyboard is somehow related to how well I'm picking up the language, I think I have a long way to go. I've learned a few very simple things, but I'll be up a creek if I ever have to say much more than the equivalents of ''thank you'', ''excuse me'', and ''one coffee, please''. If there is any way I can find to fit Norwegian classes in at school I will take them, because the next time I come here (and there will be a next time, that is for sure) I would like to be more prepared.

Today was much more low-key. We took a two-hour boat cruise to Lillesand to begin the day, and though it was chilly on the water and drizzled on and off, those of us with raincoats and sea legs enough to stand on the open top deck braved the elements as for as long as we could to see the gorgeous rocky coastline and wooded hills pass by. Thankfully there was warm seafood chowder waiting for us at a luch hosted by the mayor of Lillesand immediately after we pulled ashore. We then sang for a bustling town square crowd after hearing a few songs from a shanty-singing sailor chorus. Back in Kristiansand we toured a tiny church that is in fact the oldest in Norway, believed to have been built in the days of King Olav in the eleventh century. We finally were brought to the building of the city's archives, which is currently a museum concentrating on the building's days as Gestapo headquarters during the German occupation of Norway from 1940 to 1945. It was a somber and touching presentation, made more so because the tour guides were children of Norwegian men and women who were arrested, taken to and tortured in that building. Being an all-out geek for history and especially that of the World Wars, this stop was one of my favorites so far on this trip, and at a place I probably wouldn't have known existed if I had come here on my own.

I have gained some appreciation for some foods since coming here, and I hope this will remain when I return to the States. The first is fish. It's not something I eat a whole lot at home, and definitely not the trout and herring that I have eaten here. This is probably because it's never really done well at school; as hard as they try, Bon Appetit just doesn't have the knack for fish. The second is bread. There is loads and loads bread at every meal here, with just about anything you can think of to put on it; from meat to cheese to fish to jam to bacon in a tube to my dormroom staple Nutella. So if by chance you don't like a meal you're given here, you can always just load up on bread and it will never get old. Finally there's this stuff called Drikke Yoghurt. I don't know if something like it is available in the States, but it's very creamy yogurt that comes in a carton and you drink it like a glass of milk or the thick blue stuff they drink in Star Wars. Simple concept yet massively underappreciated, and I'll have to scour Northfield's supermarkets for its equivalent after I get back home.

Tomorrow is another busy day, with two long rehearsals (one for the upcoming Christmas special recording - have to get that music learned sometime!) and a full concert at the Kristiansand Domekirken. I've seen notices for the concerts in a couple of local papers and posters hung around concert halls, plus we've had spectacular audiences so far, so the PR people here must be doing their jobs, unlike how I hear they did on the choir's last international tour. I like being able to get to know each city a little bit, and the hotels they've put us up in so far have been very much worth spending two or three nights in. I just hope it's not too much of a shock when I get home and step on a bathroom floor without heated tiles!

Third Update: Larvik, Arendal, Kristiansand

2005-06-05T16:12:00.000-07:00

Today was like a day right out of our domestic tour, which is kind of fun to do once but is thankfully a rare occurance. We sang for the morning church service in Larvik (and I thought Boe Chapel services were long - this was pushing two hours!) and immediately set out for Arendal for our concert this evening. The concert was a bit of a comedy of errors to start out, but ended up being our best one so far on this trip. When we first stepped out in front of the very full audience (a good amount of whom I'm guessing were there for the concert hall, which has only been around since March of this year), the stage lights were so bright that we couldn't even see Dr. Armstrong's face, much less the people to whom we were singing. So he asked them from his podium to turn them down, and had Paul (our resident Norwegian major) repeat the request in Norsk. Another byproduct of the bright lights was a very warm stage, and when we asked them to turn on the ventilation system it began emitting a hum at almost (but not quite) A-flat, the key of one of our peices. The funniest moment, though, was when the choir came on for the third set, and about half the audience had yet to return from intermission! We stood politely on the risers for about three minutes while the rest filed in. I'm guessing it was not a fun night to be a stage manager.

But despite all the strange miscues that for some reason always seem to pile up in a short amount of time, the choir stayed very relaxed and comfortable, and everyone seemed to go out there ready to have some fun. We knew from the start that this would be a difficult hall to sing in, with very dry and unforgiving acoustical properties, but despite this the group was able to keep focus, fix some tuning issues on a few songs that had nagged at us from the beginning of tour, and put on a very energetic concert that for many of us brought back memories of the middle of February's tour, when despite a positively insane schedule we were able to put together a string of very fine concerts.

The evening was capped off by a happy twist to our usual post-concert routine. Instead of singing the benediction in the dressing room after coming offstage, we all changed out of our robes and headed across the street to the gorgeous Arendal Cathedral, where the reverberation time challenges that of the Skoglund racquetball courts. We then rode the busses here to Kristiansand, the site of our next concert, and were lucky enough to witness a gorgeous sunset at 10:30 at night.

That's all I have to write for this evening. The hotel we're in has free Internet access on a nicely hidden-away computer, so I ought to be able to post regularly for the next couple of days. Ha det!

Second Update: Larvik

2005-06-04T23:48:00.000-07:00

I'm back everyone! I'm sitting in a pretty little farm home outside of Larvik, near the southern point of the country. In contrast to all the excitement and adjustments of my first few days in Oslo, the last couple of days have been extremely fresh and relaxing. After a two-hour bus ride out of the city, we pulled into Larvik, boyhood hometown of St. Olaf Music Department founder F. Melius Christiansen, at about 7 in the evening to meet our first of two host families on the trip. The stay could not have been more pleasing. My good friends Jeremy and Bethany and myself are staying with the Monsen family, consisting of father Ole, mother Kristin, sons Lars (15) and Stian (17), and an adorable little 6-year old girl, Nora. They have been wonderfully accomidating to us and we have many common interests, chiefly musical: Jeremy is currently jamming on Stian's drum set while I have made some fans in the house with the old nylon-string guitar they have lying around.

Today the family showed us around Larvik and the neighboring town. We went to a beautiful rock-covered beach featuring several ancient Viking burial sites (and apparently the only decent surfing conditions to be found in Norway), a memorial building dedicated to Norwegian merchant seamen lost in the two World Wars, and aboard a big Russian sailboat moored in Larvik's harbor. This evening we sang an energetic concert to a very warm and enthusiastic audience that packed the little Larvik Kirken. We got a personal welcome (and a bouquet) from the Mayor of Larvik, and many compliments on our singing and Norwegian diction.

To give some impression of what the weather has been like for the past few days, all of the Pacific Northwesterners in the choir have been talking about how much it looks like home to them. But the constant drizzle of the coastal regions has done nothing to dampen our spirits, and though I'll miss Larvik and the Monsens, I'm looking forward to getting on across the country and seeing what else is out there waiting for us.

On that note I'll sign off for the evening, since the usual post-concert high is finally winding down and tomorrow is a big day, with a church service in the morning and a full concert in the evening. God bless to all of you reading. Ha det!

First Update: Oslo

2005-06-03T12:15:00.000-07:00

Hei Hei! I apologize for my lack of posting thus far, but finding Internet access has proven to be somewhat difficult. Internet cafes are somewhat less abundant than they made it seem beforehand, and I finally discovered the location of the public library yesterday - after it had closed.

The experience has been wonderful so far! Monday and Tuesday's flights went off without a hitch, but was I ever tired afterwards. I got little sleep on the voyage and was about ready to keel over by the time we got to our hotel on Tuesday afternoon. It took me about a day for my mind to even grasp how far I had travelled and where (and when) I was, let alone for my body to recover from it!

In light of all this, Wednesday night's concert seemed to kind of sneak up on me, but it seemed to go off very well. From what I heard, the Queen showed more enthusiasm for our groups than she generally does for the concerts she attends. I think I can get used to the pacing of this trip, at least more so than our domestic tour last winter - nine concerts in 21 days is a lot easier to deal with than 15 concerts in 16 days.

When I haven't been singing or sleeping, I've been wandering the streets of Oslo with my comrades. Wednesday morning was spent walking up and down the main thouroughfare, Carl Johannes Gate. There are tons of shops and cafes, and though the prices kept me away from most of it, there is certainly enough to take in visually to not need to spend any money. We also walked towards Akke Brygge, the commercial district next to the shipping wharf. The view everywhere is breathtaking, and everybody everywhere is extremely friendly and most of them speak English.

Yesterday was spent taking more organized tours. We began the day with a bus tour of Oslo, then walked around a large, sculpture-filled park and several museums. The Viking Museum contains several actual Viking ships excavated in archaeological digs near here, plus hundreds of other artifacts found along with them. The Norwegian Folk Museum is actually a number of old restored buildings, meant to give an accurate model of farms and villages from different periods of Norway's history. The most impressive building was a great wooden stav church. Boe Chapel would sure be something if it were modeled after this!

Today we leave for Larvik, and though I'll miss the city I've come to know fairly well for only having spent three days here, I'm excited to get out into the country, where the Norwegian tradition is more deeply rooted. Hopefully I'll get more chances to update in the future. Hope to hear from some of you soon!

2005-05-27T15:08:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! Welcome to the very first post of my assuredly riveting account of an excursion to Norway with the St. Olaf Choir, Band, and Orchestra. There isn't much to say yet since I'm still in Northfield, but I thought I would kick off the journal by telling a little about myself. I have just completed my sophomore year pursuing a bachelor of music degree in vocal performance. I have lived in Northfield all my life, and in fact grew up about two blocks down the street from the College. It has been an unbelievable year, my first singing with the St. Olaf Choir; but of all the exciting things that we've done this year (singing at Severance and Carnegie Halls, Los Angeles' new Disney Center, and the White House just to name a few), this trip is what I have looked forward to the most. I finally get a chance to see come to life the gorgeous land that previously existed only in postcards and calendars, the place that my previous (and a few current) generations of relatives called home. This will undoubtedly be a soul-touching experience that I will never forget.

But enough waxing sentimental - we haven't even sung in our farewell concert yet! I'm looking forward to reporting my experiences as we go along, and hope you all enjoy seeing this trip unfold through my eyes. If anyone has a question or comment along the way, or just wants to say hi, please feel free to leave a comment post and I'll try my best to answer. Ha det!