NEW VENUE: Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church
511 Groveland Ave, Minneapolis, MN 55403
Tickets are $15 for non-members & $10 per ticket for groups of 8+. Students are now free.
Going to miss a concert? Purchase a Youtube replay for $8 or get access to the full Thursday Musical library of concerts by becoming a member. Get a preview of our replays by watching last year’s opening concert: https://youtu.be/vaJXJ5vqfgg
Or become a member.
Featuring Thursday Musical Members The Incidental Trio: Karen Hansen, clarinet; Steve Staruch, viola*; Sue Ruby, piano*; Melissa Holm-Johansen, soprano with OboeBass!: Carrie Vecchione, oboe*and Rolf Erdahl, bass* and Bryon Wilson, piano*; and Paul Schulz, bass clarinet & Mary Goetz, piano.
Please note that Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church closely monitors its main entrance. The door is locked and visitors are buzzed in. ICE or US Border Patrol officers will not be allowed in the church unless they present a warrant signed by a judge. However, please be aware that immigration officers can access the church parking lot.
Audience Health and Safety Requirements:
Masks will not be required but are welcomed and encouraged at Thursday Musical concerts.
Soprano Melissa Holm-Johansen is a native of Halden, Norway, and is a 1998 graduate of St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota, USA, where she graduated cum laude with a double major in vocal performance and music education. Dr. Holm-Johansen holds a D.M.A. in vocal pedagogy and performance from the University of Minnesota and was a two year recipient of a Torske Klubben scholarship. Her current project is a first-of-its-kind all-English recording of songs composed by her countryman Edvard Grieg, in collaboration with pianist Steve Swanson, Norwegian scholar/translator William Halvorson, and the Edvard Grieg Society of Minnesota.
See direct links on the homepage to “Songs From the Heart” recording platforms. Past performing groups include The Singers – Minnesota Choral Artists, The Minnesota Beethoven Festival Chorus, Bach Roots Festival, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra Chorale, The Dale Warland Singers, The Oratorio Society, The Norwegian Youth Choir, and The St. Olaf Choir. Dr. Holm-Johansen is a longtime member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) and was previously awarded the NATS Independent Teacher Award. She has a private voice studio at her home in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, is the Vocal Performance Program Instructor at Shattuck – St. Mary’s Boarding school in Faribault, MN and is on the faculty at North Central University in Minneapolis. She is a section leader at The House Of Hope Presbyterian Church in St. Paul and studies with Tony-nominated singer/actor Melissa Hart and University of Minnesota professor Jean del Santo.
Carrie Vecchione, oboe, and Rolf Erdahl, bass, are OboeBass! "the world's only professional oboe/bass duo." Called “pioneers” by MPR, they concertize widely around the U.S., and toured Norway in 2017. They have commissioned over forty new oboe/bass pieces and recorded seven CDs, effectively creating the oboe/bass duo genre. Their most recent award was the Barlow Foundation commission of Alyssa Morris's Common Ground. They also won a Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning Grant for Valerie Coleman’s American Vein and a Harvard Fromm Commissioning Grant for Mary Ellen Childs' There is a Humming, based on sounds and impressions from her sailing expedition to Svalbard. Other awards include grants from the American Composers Forum and teaching and performing grants from the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, Minnesota State Arts Board, and SD Arts Council. Carrie and Rolf freelance widely, including work with the Minnesota Orchestra, SPCO, and Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra. Carrie teaches at the MacPhail Center for Music and in her home studio. Rolf teaches at Gustavus Adolphus College. www.oboebass.com facebook.com/oboebass.
Carrie Vecchione teaches oboe at the MacPhail Center for Music and at UW River Falls and freelances in the Twin Cities. She has served as Principal Oboe for the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra and Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, substitute oboist for the Minnesota Orchestra, and as a member of the Baton Rouge Symphony and Ft. Wayne Philharmonic. She has soloed in the Carnegie Recital Hall. She has taught at UW Eau Claire, St. Olaf College, the Sewanee Summer Music Center, and the International Peace Gardens Music Camp. Her Doctoral and Bachelor degrees are from Louisiana State University, and her Master’s from the Manhattan School of Music.
Rolf Erdahl teaches bass at Gustavus Adolphus College and performs with the Mankato Symphony. He has subbed with the Minnesota Orchestra, SPCO, Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, and Sioux City Symphony. Previously Principal Bass of the Winnipeg Symphony and Manitoba Chamber Orchestra, he has also performed with the Honolulu Symphony, Breckenridge Music Festival, Indianapolis Symphony, Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic, and New World Symphony. He is a graduate of St. Olaf College, the University of Minnesota, and received his doctorate from Peabody Conservatory. He studied Grieg’s music in Norway as a Fulbright and Scandinavian-American Foundation Scholar.
Bryon Wilson is a freelance pianist based in Minneapolis, dividing his time between teaching, coaching, and performing. He has appeared with the Schubert Club, Source Song Festival, Thursday Musical, NATS, Mill City Opera, Out of the Box Opera, and River Sounds in Ft. Lauderdale. Bryon also studies and performs music composed by holocaust prisoners in Theresienstadt and recently presented a lecture recital on the topic as part of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas series on Holocaust survivors in Minnesota. Bryon is pianist for The Singers – Minnesota Choral Artists, on the faculty of MacPhail Center for Music, and is organist at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Edina. Bryon also spends two months every summer commercial salmon fishing in Bristol Bay, Alaska
Karen Hansen Gurstelle is principal clarinetist of the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra and Mississippi Valley Orchestra and clarinetist with the Rochester Symphony Orchestra. She performed with The Moody Blues, in OCEAN with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company and for three opera premieres. With The incidental Trio, Dolce Winds and other chamber ensembles, she has performed for Classical MPR, Fridays in the Valley, Schubert Club and numerous artists series. Karen teaches clarinet at Cadenza Music in St. Paul and is an arts lecturer on cruise ships. She earned degrees from St. Olaf College and University of Wisconsin- Madison. Karen studied music and theater in London and worked in France and Germany.
Steve Staruch performs with his folk/country music group, Belvedere Oasis, the Lochan Quartet and the Bach Society of Minnesota, while freelancing regularly in the region. He serves as a cantor at his parish church in Minneapolis and has been featured as a soloist on Dale Warland Singers recordings. Classical MPR listeners know Steve as an on-air host and producer. Steve earned degrees from Oberlin College and the Eastman School of Music. He completed yoga teacher training at the Yoga Center of Minneapolis.
Sue Ruby hails from the tiny town of Tamarack in northern Minnesota. She is a teaching artist and collaborative pianist at MacPhail Center for Music and teacher/co-owner of K&S Conservatory of Music in Woodbury. A nationally certified teacher of music, Sue is co-founder of the Association of Professional Piano Instructors (APPI) and of the Fridays in the Valley chamber music series at Valley Community Presbyterian Church. Sue has compiled and edited five books of piano music composed by “Women Music History Forgot”. In her spare time, she enjoys adventuresome days and quiet nights with her husband, Kurt, and their feline owner, Moxie.
Paul Schulz was graduated summa cum laude with a music performance degree in clarinet and horn from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and received his Master of Music degree in horn performance from Arizona State University. He joined the Minnesota Sinfonia as principal clarinet in 2011 and has been a member of the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra since 1991, currently serving as principal clarinet. An adjunct professor at the University of St. Thomas, he teaches private bass and contrabass clarinet students. He works full-time as an IT professional and enjoys music composition and games of chance.
Mary Goetz is an active soloist and collaborative pianist in the Twin Cities area. A native of Wisconsin, she received her performance degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the New England Conservatory of Music. In addition to performing she teaches piano in her studio in St. Paul and is on faculty at the K&S Conservatory in Woodbury and the Minnesota Valley Conservatory of Music in Burnsville.
