Our Opening Concert is FREE and open to the public.

Audience Health and Safety Requirements: For everyone’s safety, Thursday Musical requires all audience members to wear a non-cloth mask such as a N95, KN95, KF94, or surgical mask. If needed, surgical-type masks will be available. All audience members will also need to show proof of full COVID-19 vaccination, including a booster shot, or proof of a negative COVID-19 PCR test taken within 72 hours of the performance.

Click the photo on the left for artist and program information.

During her career as a professional musician, Jeana Ogren has shown great versatility as a pianist, singer, and teacher. She has collaborated with many well-known professional musicians throughout California and the Midwest. Currently, she is staff pianist at Concordia University in St. Paul, an Artist member of Thursday Musical, and an active freelance and chamber musician in the Twin Cities. She has been on the faculties of Santa Clara University, the Community School of Music and Arts, and the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. Her degrees are from the University of Wyoming and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Soprano, Monica Murray is an active performer in the Twin Cities, having served as a section leader with the Minnesota Chorale, a frequent recitalist for Thursday Musical, and as a member of the Minnesota Opera Company Chorus. In 2009, she participated in the Barcelona Festival of Song, and in 2019 she participated as a Teaching Professional at the Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar at SUNY-Potsdam. Dr. Murray received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Minnesota. She also earned degrees from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music – Bloomington and St. Olaf College. She has taught as a member of the music faculty at Concordia University, St. Paul since 1986 and currently serves as the Chair of the Department of Music, Theatre, and Dance. In addition, Dr. Murray also holds a Juris Doctor degree from William Mitchell College of Law and is a member of the Minnesota Bar.

Jim Reilly, tenor & Beatrice Giere, piano

Jim Reilly is a pianist, tenor, and composer; he is Music Director Emeritus at Mindekirken, the only surviving American church with regular services in the Norwegian language. He has sung for the Nordland Musikkfestuke in Bodø, Norway [“an appealing singer, who places great weight on content and expression” with “humor, irony, melancholy and playfulness”], accompanied in Holland and Norway, and given solo voice and/or piano recitals in Madison, Chicago, San Diego, New Jersey, Delaware, Washington, D.C., and Iowa [“Reilly was an animated historian and a splendid performer (who) disappeared into the music, allowing the music itself to take center stage and letting those who listened be carried away with it.”] Soloist, chamber musician, and accompanist, Beatrice Giere has performed throughout the Twin Cities, including the Ordway McKnight Theatre, the Janet Wallace Fine Arts Center, and several times on Minnesota Public Radio. With tenor Jim Reilly she has performed at the Nordvendt Series, the American Swedish Institute and the Landmark Noon Series, Madison, WI, the Nordland Musikkfestuke in Bodø, Norway, and frequently at the Minneapolis/St. Paul Alliance Française. Ms. Giere, a former piano instructor at Macalester, maintains a teaching studio in St. Louis Park.

April Hanson works at Minneapolis College and has served in several roles in the Division of Student Affairs ranging from Admissions to the management of Student Services. In April of 2019, April accepted the role of Director of the Academic Success and is honored to serve students in this capacity. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Concordia College Moorhead with a 2nd major in Speech and Communications and a Masters in Music from the University of MN. She has appeared in roles such as Maurya in Riders to the Sea, L’incornazione di Poppea as Arnalta, Suor Angelica as Principessa, Street Scene as Emma Jones, Le Nozze di Figaro as Marcellina, Turn of the Screw as Mrs. Grose and Gianni Schicchi as Zita, Iolanthe as the Fairy Queen, and Margot in The Vagabond King, Mama Lucia in Cavelleria Rusticana, and covered Dame Quickly in Falstaff. In concert, Hanson has performed as mezzo soloist in the Mozart Requiem with the University of Minnesota’s Orchestra, Handel’s Messiah with the Dakota Valley Symphony and performed Vivaldi’s Stabat Mater.

Dr. Marc Jaros (non-member) has taught at Normandale Community College since 1996, where he is the Director of Choral Activities and teaches courses in Music History and World Music. He earned a B.A. in Music from St John’s University, an M.M. in Musicology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Ph.D. in Music Education from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. He has participated in choral ensembles in the Twin Cities such as the Minnesota Chorale, directed community and church choirs, and has accompanied vocal recitals and musical theater. He is Music Director of the Twin Cities Catholic Chorale, an organization of 50-60 singers, professional soloists and professional orchestra that presents great masses of the 18th and 19th century at the Church of St. Agnes in St. Paul.

Artist Series Concert: Celebrating Voices