The final official event marking the inauguration of Gustavus president Jim Peterson is a concert at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis at 4 p.m. on Sunday, April 18. The concert follows an inaugural reception at the Minneapolis Hilton Hotel for Twin Cities-area alumni and features the highly regarded choral ensemble VocalEssence and the Gustavus Symphony Orchestra in a performance of 1982 Gustavus graduate Steve Heitzeg’s ambitious Nobel Symphony.
The Nobel Symphony was commissioned by Gustavus Adolphus College to honor the 100th anniversary of the Nobel Prizes and was premiered at the College’s 37th Nobel Conference in October 2001, shortly after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Heitzeg’s commitment to peace, human rights, and justice drove his musical vision. He based each of the symphony’s six movements on a different Nobel Prize, taking his choral texts from the writings of Nobel laureates such as Mother Theresa, Elie Wiesel, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.
The April 18 performance at Orchestra Hall features a 150-voice chorus comprising VocalEssence and the Minnesota Boychoir, with the Gustavus Symphony Orchestra, conducted by VocalEssence artistic director Philip Brunelle. VocalEssence is partnering with electronic media artist Piotr Szyhalski of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) to produce a complex visual, interactive interpretation of Heitzeg’s symphony that includes film, photography, motion graphics, animation, and sound to provide a new richness to the work.
The afternoon concert also includes a selection of works by other notable area composers, including Stephen Paulus and Dominick Argento, performed by VocalEssence.
Tickets are $20, $27, and $35 and are available through the Orchestra Hall Box Office; order by calling 612/371-5656 or 800/292-4141, or by visiting the VocalEssence website at www.vocalessence.org. Ticket service charges apply. Student and group discounts are available.
75 percent of Gustavus students ultimately decide to attend graduate or professional school.
The Gustavus women's soccer team battled the Macalester Scots to a scoreless tie through 89 minutes, but the Scots' Emily Humphries scored her first collegiate goal with 40 seconds left in regulation play handing the Gusties a heartbreaking 1-0 loss. The Gusties fall to 6-5-2 overall and 2-4-1, while Macalester improves to 9-3-2 overall and 4-2-1 in the MIAC.
The Gustavus men's golf team wrapped up its fall season with an 11th place finish at its own 20-team Twin Cities Classic. The tournament was scheduled to begin on Saturday, however cold and snow canceled the first round. On Sunday, an 18-hole round was played at the Links at Northfork in Ramsey, Minn., but the snow forecast for Monday forced the cancellation of the final round and Saint John's who fired a team score of 289 was declared the winner. Gustavus posted a total of 302.
