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| SUMMIT PHOTO BY JESUSA CHRISTIANS
Waldorf College piano professor Kristin Taylor and Festival of Song Artistic Director Elias Mokole will perform during the event that will be held at Waldorf this month. |
Waldorf set to host '08 Festival of Song
Five-day music festival will include concerts on June 10, 14
By Jesusa Christians
Of The Summit
FOREST CITY - One could almost feel the walls of the recital hall in Odvin Hagen Music center expanding and contracting from the energy that was being exuded forth from Elias Mokole and Waldorf College Professor Kristin Taylor as they practiced on perfecting their musical talents.
Mokole and Taylor will be collaborating their talents for the annual Song of Festival that will be held this year at Waldorf. The recital between the two will be ‘To a Poet' and will feature music from Ives, Barber, Beethoven, Haydin and Berthomieu. Mokole serves as the festival's artistic director while Taylor, among her many accomplishments was named a national finalist in the Music Teachers National Association Young Chang Collegiate Competition in 2003.
“My role as a pianist is not only to be in the background but to be an equal partner in crime,” Taylor said with a smile. “I want to teach my students to portray a true love of music and a desire to communicate their passion to their own students and audiences.”
Mokole intertwines his deep baritone vocals with Kristin's exquisite piano playing, resulting in each of their talents relying on each other's expertise to crescendo into a beautiful musical complement.
“One piece we will be performing is An Die Ferne Geliebte by Beethoven,” said Mokole. “It translates to ‘a distant beloved.' It is a beautiful poem by Alois Jeittleles.”
Waldorf selects the students for participation in these workshops. The festival workshops will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. During the festival that will be held June 10-14, thestudents will be coached, given private lessons and have an opportunity to perform at the gala concert that is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Saturday, June 14.
Due to the courtesy of the Hanson Foundation, Algona students were selected and able to attend these classes for free of charge.
The students will be able to work along side talented performers such as Mokole, who has been acclaimed for many works, one being an appearance as a singer in an independent film “The Lost Door” in 2005.
Two other guests that will be participating in the recital will be Geraldine McMillian, an opera performer, and pianist David Mayfield, a staff member at the Manhattan School of Music. There will also be three master classes in which the students must perform in front of an audience.
“We hope to help students work as a team,” Taylor said. “We want to teach them how to really listen to one another. I hope our students take away with them a love of the words in music and a clear vision of how to use what they've learned in their lives as students.”
“We want to show our students that they can learn to perform to their fullest potential,” Mokole said. “Whether it is alone or as a team. We want to teach them how to pull in their audiences to the story at hand so they can learn and be enriched and moved by it.”
Concert times will be at 7 p.m. on the 10th and the 14th, with an additional Fathers Day Concert in Lu Verne scheduled for June 15.
Those interested in attaining more information can contact Mokole at eliasmokole@songfestival.org.
Story created Jun 03, 2008 - 12:06:41 CDT.
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