Art Hounds: Choral transformation, small-town musical and a Zappa tribute

From MPR News, Art Hounds are members of the Minnesota arts community who look beyond their own work to highlight what’s exciting in local art. Their recommendations are lightly edited from the audio heard in the player above. 

Want to be an Art Hound? Submit here.

Musical premiere in Bemidji tackles small-town healing

Kevin Cease of Bemidji is a funeral director and fan of community theater. He’s looking forward to the world premiere of “Water from Snow,” a new musical by Janet Preus, co-written with Robert Elhai and Fred Steele.

The show runs through Sunday, April 13. Tickets here.

NOTE: The “Water from Snow” premiere has been postponed until April 11.

Kevin said: I’m looking forward to the world premiere of local playwright Janet Preus’s show “Water from Snow.” It is an original musical play co-written by her and Robert Elhai and Fred Steele of the Steele family. As it is set in a small town on a lake in northern Minnesota, Bemidji seems perfect for its premiere!

Important and universal themes drive this story: healing wounds caused by abuse; overcoming racism against Indigenous people; bridging generational differences; valuing elderly community members; and championing women supporting each other. They hope to generate meaningful conversations among audience members, performers and the creative team.

The roughhewn nature of the Rail River School venue in Bemidji lends additional character and dimension to the play. The music is diverse from a mix of music from country and blues, to pop, ballads and R&B, even a song from old farts at the setting of the café — there are 22 original songs! The lively local cast has chosen their roles carefully, with a range of characters drawn from the writer’s lifetime in rural Minnesota.

— Kevin Cease

MacMillan’s transformative choral work

Stephen Kingsbury is a choral director and educator who wrote his doctoral dissertation on Scottish composer Sir James MacMillan. He recommends two upcoming events celebrating MacMillan’s music.

MacMillan will conduct seven Twin Cities choirs in a free performance called “Voices for a Cathedral” at the Cathedral of St. Paul, Friday, April 4 from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m.

VocalEssence will also perform an all-MacMillan program Sunday, April 6 at 4 p.m. at the Ordway in St. Paul, with both MacMillan and Philip Brunelle conducting. The program features “Seven Last Words from the Cross” and “The Sun Danced,” with soprano Goitsemang Lehobye joining the U of M University Singers and orchestra.

Kingsbury describes his first encounter with MacMillan’s work over 25 years ago:

Stephen says: One day, in deep frustration, I was going through my collection of recordings looking for inspiration. I found a disc that I had no recollection of purchasing. It was of MacMillan’s “Seven Last Words from the Cross.” I popped in the player and spent the next hour laying on t