Classical Christmas
Thursday, December 5, 2024 | 7p - 8:30p
Come celebrate a one-day exhibit featuring Christmas and Winter-themed artwork from the Minnesota Marine Art Museum collection. This concert will be a classical Christmas celebration featuring the famous Corelli Christmas Concerto and an Advent Cantata by J.S. Bach with the Winona State University Concert Chorale. It is sure to be a joyous celebration of the holiday season that will draw listeners into the exhilaration and magic of Christmas.
BACH: CANTATA 62: Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland
CORELLI: Christmas Concerto
BACH: Christmas Oratorio, Part III: Herrscher des Himmels, erhöre das Lallen
WSU Concert Chorale
Colleen Chester, Alan Dunbar, and David Walton, soloists
Single Concert Tickets
Tickets: $25
MMAM Members: $20
Students: $5
Season Tickets (4 concerts)
Tickets: $90
MMAM Members: $70
Students: $10
About the Musicians
Colleen Chester
A native of California, Colleen Chester is Assistant Professor and Director of Choral Activities at Winona State University.
Before graduate school, she was previously the Director of Vocal Music at San Luis Obispo High School and Laguna Middle School in San Luis Obispo, CA. While seeking her doctorate at Michigan State University, she conducted Viridis–the university’s non-auditioned treble ensemble–in addition to teaching courses in undergraduate conducting. At Winona State University, Dr. Chester conducts all three curricular ensembles—Treble Chorus, Concert Choir, and Vocal Chamber Ensemble—along with conducting, choral methods, and Women in Music courses.
Her passion for engaging singers at all levels has led to her work with numerous non-profit organizations, including Choral Arts Initiative, San Luis Obispo Master Chorale and SLO Opera, Hillsdale Arts Chorale, and Oregon Bach Festival. She has also served on state ACDA boards in both California and Michigan.
Dr. Chester maintains an active professional agenda as a clinician, presenter, adjudicator, solo performer, and member of mirabai.
David Walton
Erik Rohde
Dr. Erik Rohde maintains a diverse career as a conductor, violinist, and educator, and has performed in recitals and festivals across the United States and in Europe and Asia. He is the Director of Orchestral Activities at the University of Northern Iowa and the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Winona Symphony Orchestra (MN). Prior to his appointment at the University of Northern Iowa, Rohde served as the Director of String Activities and Orchestra at Indiana State University where he conducted the Indiana State University Symphony Orchestra and taught violin, chamber music, and Suzuki pedagogy. In Indiana, he also founded the Salomon Chamber Orchestra, an orchestra dedicated to promoting the works of living composers and of Haydn and his contemporaries.
A committed advocate for contemporary music, he has premiered and commissioned many new works by both established and young composers, and is constantly seeking to discover new compositional voices. In addition to regularly bringing new orchestral works to programs each season, he is the violinist of the new music duo sonic apricity, which is dedicated to uncovering and commissioning new works by living composers for violin and viola. The duo released their first recording on the Navona label in December of 2022. At Indiana State University he helped to host the annual Contemporary Music Festival – now running for over 50 years. He has worked with Libby Larsen, Joan Tower, Augusta Read Thomas, Pierre Jalbert, Chen Yi, Elliott Miles McKinley, Christopher Walczak, Michael-Thomas Foumai, Meira Warshauer, James Dillon, David Dzubay, Marc Mellits, Carter Pann, Narong Prangcharoen and countless others. In 2019 he released two recordings with composer Elliott Miles McKinley, conducting his percussion concerto Four Grooves and performing on his eighth string quartet.
In his native Minnesota, Rohde has served as the Music Director of the Buffalo Community Orchestra, conductor and violinist for the Contemporary Music Workshop, Camarata Suzuki orchestra conductor for the MacPhail Center for Music, String Ensemble conductor at the Trinity School, and first violinist of the Cantiamo and Enkidu String Quartets. Rohde holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Conducting from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, where he studied with conductors Mark Russell Smith, Kathy Saltzman Romey, and Craig Kirchhoff and violin pedagogue Mark Bjork. He also holds degrees in Violin Performance and Biomedical Engineering.
Rohde lives in Cedar Falls, IA with his wife Erin and their children. More at erikrohde.com.
