Upper Columbia Academy Scandinavia Music Tour

By Tor Tjeransen

Norwegian Union Conference communication director

The Upper Columbia Academy Choraliers and Orchestra thrilled audiences in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark with their music. The group of 74 students and leaders from the Seventh-day Adventist school in Washington state traveled 4,500 miles to arrive in Oslo, Norway for a two week Scandinavia Tour from March 14 - 27.

In Norway, the group from the USA gave concerts in the Mjøndalen and  Ulsrud Adventist churches. At the Norwegian Junior College (Tyrifjord videregående skole) they were responsible for the entire Sabbath service on March 18. The congregation was blessed by the testimony and musical performances of the students. In one of the songs the choir from the USA formed a combined choir with the school choir at the Norwegian Junior College.

On Sunday, March 19 there was a concert in the local parish church in the nearby town of Hønefoss. As in the other places, the young musicians age 15-18 presented a varied program and performed with confidence and musical skill.

During this concert, the choir and orchestra performed, among other things, "The Ground" by Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo.

Choir conductor Curtis Anderson was very grateful for the reception the musicians received, and he was amazed at the opportunity to play and sing in the beautiful Lutheran parish church in Hønefoss.

Impressed by the quality

The concert in the church of the Swedish Junior College (Ekebyholmsskolan) on Wednesday March 22 was a great success.

Göran Hansen, former president of the Swedish Union of Churches, lives near the college and was very excited after the concert.

“I am hugely impressed by the quality of the choir. Both choir and orchestra performed a repertoire that was both deep and genuine,” says Hansen.

People in the area understood that the choir and orchestra from the USA had something extraordinary to offer. The church was completely full for the concert in the middle of the week.

“In the history of the Junior College, we have never heard such beautiful and fine music,” said one of the audience members who has lived at the college since the 1960s.

He was not alone in appreciating the music. The audience at Ekebyholm was so enthusiastic that their sustained applause led to three encores.

Moved to tears

After the performance in Sweden, the tour continued to Nærum in Denmark. There, too, the young musicians played and sang in a packed church. Those musically responsible for the tour said that it was in Denmark they performed at their very best.

The last stop on the Scandinavia Tour was in Malmö, Sweden. There they participated in the divine service on Sabbath morning March 25 and gave a concert in the afternoon.

Christopher Laubscher is the congregation's pastor. He says that the church in Malmö was completely full for the concert. Organizers had to open an adjacent hall to accommodate everyone.

“The last few songs when the choraliers and orchestra performed together were so beautiful that we were moved to tears,” says Laubscher.

Upper Columbia Academy is owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church and located in a rural area near the town of Spangle 20 miles south of Spokane, Washington. The school has 270 students, 200 of whom live in the school dormitories.

Music plays an important role in school life. The choir practices four times a week, while the orchestra has three practices a week.

“It has been a pleasure to collaborate with the people from Upper Columbia Academy”, says Elbjørg Keyn Lundström, a music teacher at the Norwegian Junior College who helped organize the tour in Scandinavia.

This story originally appeared on the Norwegian Union Conference webpage and can be found at www.adventist.no/nyheter/amerikanske-adventistmusikere-pa-skandinaviaturne/.

To view more photos from the tour visit media.adventistexchange.org/pages/search.php?search=%21collection3219&k=bb4443da58.