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Northern Illinois University

NIU Office of Public Affairs


News Release

Contact: Mark McGowan, NIU Office of Public Affairs
(815) 753-9472

February 24, 2004

Renowned Scandinavian choir to perform
second-ever U.S. concert at NIU

DeKalb — One of Scandinavia’s most interesting and well-traveled choirs, the Erik Westberg Vocal Ensemble, is making its long-awaited debut tour to the United States with a stop at Northern Illinois University.

Together with the Global Percussion Network, directed by Anders Åstrand, the choir will come to NIU at 8 p.m. Monday, March 1, for the second of seven concerts in Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota and South Dakota. Their official American debut comes Sunday, Feb. 29, at St. Peter’s on the Loop Catholic Church in Chicago.

Monday night’s performance in the Boutell Memorial Concert Hall in the NIU Music Building is free, and the building is accessible to all.

Eric A. Johnson, director of choral activities in the NIU School of Music, said the evening promises to offer “an exceptionally fine program.”

“The Erik Westberg Vocal Ensemble is a professional choir from a region of Europe that has an extremely rich and high standard of choral traditions,” Johnson said. “I’m looking forward to the repertoire they’re presenting: a combination of 20th century Scandinavian choral music with the Global Percussion Network. Their musical offerings and their coming-togethers will present an amazing evening of diverse music.”

Westberg, professor of choral activities at the University School of Music in Piteå, founded the ensemble and has been its conductor for the past 10 years. He studied under the legendary Eric Ericsson in Stockholm, and worked under him as an assisting conductor of the stellar Swedish Radio Choir. He is one of Sweden’s most important choral forces, founding the Barent International Choral Centre in 2003 and coordinating the millennium “Choral Singing for Peace and Justice,” involving more than 250 choirs and 8,000 singers across the globe.

NIU Chamber Choir students will enjoy a special and unique opportunity Tuesday, March 2, when Westberg leads a master class for them.

“This is a pretty lofty world he comes from,” Johnson said.

The Erik Westberg Vocal Ensemble consists of 16 professional singers from the northern region of Sweden who have toured Tonga, China, South America and most of Europe. In their 10-year existence, they have premiered more than 30 commissioned works.

During the Midwest tour, the ensemble also will headline the North Central American Choral Directors Association Convention in Sioux Falls.

The Global Percussion Network will accompany the choir on a portion of the program as well as contributing “Nattetid” (“Night time”), a solo offering composed by Åstrand. Their undulating rhythms integrate jazz and New Age impulses to create sympathetic waves in the bodies of both the performers and their audiences.

For more information, call Lynn Slater at (815) 753-1546 or e-mail lslater@niu.edu.

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