Preparing for a recital? Trying to calm those performance nerves? This article might help! https://blog.musicteachershelper.com/how-to-ease-your

Hey guys… check out this fun app I came across and read up on your anatomy!

Go to the App Store or Google Play and look for Essential Anatomy 5.  It’s not free, but it’s amazing.

Greetings all…..

Wow, this has been a crazy busy month and it’s been primarily consisting of Nordic Song! Well, more specific, Norwegian Song. Which of course is wonderful in every possible way! If you’ve always been curious about Nordic Song (Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, Danish) – and want to check it out – please join us next Wednesday evening June 27 at 7:30 P.M. Six of my current students and I have put together a Nordic Voice Recital of Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish and Danish Songs. This idea came out of wanting to celebrate a rather big event….THE 175th birthday of Edvard Grieg, June 15, 1843. So there’s lots of Grieg on the program, but also music by Sibelius, Heise, Dørumsgaard, Lekberg, Kilpinen & more! We are joined by the lovely and talented Krista Costin, (renowned twin cities Mezzo Soprano) who will share some Danish songs with us and will also sing some selections from Grieg’s Haugtussa, opus 67.

Hope to see you there!

Details:

A Nordic Midsummer Voice Recital

Students of Melissa Holm-Johansen

With Krista Costin, guest appearance

7:30 PM

American Danish Center

3030 W River Parkway

Minneapolis MN 55406

FREE WILL DONATION

WINE RECEPTION TO FOLLOW

June is Edvard Grieg month! 🇳🇴 I’m a kid in a candy shop this month….. From getting my feet wet with Edvard Grieg Society of Minneapolis, acting as a new board member, advocating in as many ways as possible, adjudicating the first ever EGS Voice Competition this past Saturday, performing for the big 175th celebration….to preparing my students for a Scandinavian Voice recital June 27 at the American Danish Center! (More info to come!) I’m loving it so much. Of course I’m biased with EG’s music.

We are celebrating Edvard Grieg’s 175th Birthday on June 15… there will be a wonderful event held at Mindekirken – the Norwegian Memorial Church in Minneapolis starting 7:30 p.m. The event will feature songs, instrumental music, piano music, speeches, and even “all sang”. Come help celebrate the music of this fantastic, prolific and beloved Norwegian composer!

Hope to see you for some events. There’s still a lot of June left!

Perhaps instead of change startling us, we can approach the change with an opportunity for growth and awareness? It can be a challenging time for some for sure, but for me, I love the “change” as it’s always a reminder that everything is how it should be. And that’s comforting for me. This year I am particularly excited for autumn as I get to look forward to a trip to my native country, Norway. I will be given plenty of opportunity to sing while I am “home”, including lots of choral music (as part of a big anniversary/festival with The Norwegian Youth Choir), some solo singing / coaching with several norwegian vocal pedagogues, as well as a possible guest appearance for a church service in my hometown. I hope your autumn will be rewarding, filled with lots of room for growth. For you as a singer, as a musician and as a person in general.

A special shout out to Jill Kilzer and Liz Wolff for the opportunity to lead yoga and share one of my greatest passions with you all. Let’s hope this retreat keeps going and growing! Nice work ladies!

A late shout-out to my brilliant students Paige, Chris, Marin, Sam, Kathy and Riley.  And oh by the way that’s Doug on piano, guitar, and accordion 🙂

We put together a cabaret of Jason Robert Brown songs at the end of June at JoJo’s Rise and Wine in Burnsville and had more fun with it than is probably legal … and we all grew as musicians and collaborators.

I am getting ready to lead a small group of pianists in some yoga at Music @ 10.000 Lakes on August 14-15 at Saint John’s University in Collegeville.

Welcome to my new website!