Minnesota Prairie Roots

BACK-TO-BACK DECEMBERS, my husband and I have won tickets to holiday concerts from Faribault radio stations.

Last year Randy scored tickets from Power 96, KQCL, to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

This past weekend I won two tickets from KDHL to hear the Cannon Valley Regional Orchestra’s performance of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Ballet at the Northfield Middle School.

The two shared the commonality of a holiday theme. Otherwise they couldn’t have been more different with ear-deafening rock music at one to ear-soothing orchestra music at the other. I enjoyed both, in different ways.

Since I’ve already blogged about the Trans-Siberian Orchestra concert (click here), this post focuses on the CVRO’s two-hour long Sunday afternoon Nutcracker concert.

Versions of the Nutcracker play on screen while the orchestra performs.

A Christmas classic, the Nutcracker shares the story of a young girl who receives a nutcracker from her godfather and then has a dream, according to Philip Spensley, who hosted and narrated the CVRO event. Spensley’s voice alone impressed me in that sort of sitting by the fireside listening to a well-spoken man vocalize in a mesmerizing and magical tone way.

Two nutcrackers were posted on either side of the orchestra.

The original Nutcracker was performed in 1892 with many revisions and interpretations since, said Spensley.

While the musicians played on Sunday, snippet versions of the Nutcracker showed on a big screen suspended above the orchestra, making this an intertwining visual and auditory experience.

I last saw the Nutcracker presented during a December 2012 figure skating show, “The Nutcracker on Ice,”  at Shattuck-St. Mary’s School in Faribault. (Click here to read that post.)

And many decades ago while in college, I was entertained by the ballet version on stage in the Twin Cities.

Photographed between Acts I and II.

I come to concerts like CVRO’s with minimal musical knowledge. I can’t read a note nor do I always know what instruments I am seeing or hearing. I didn’t grow up with music, unless you count a toy accordion I got for Christmas one year and organ music at Sunday morning church services. Opportunities simply were not there for me to learn music or attend concerts.

Thus I am especially grateful for opportunities locally to hear the likes of the CVRO, a regional orchestra founded in 1979 and comprised of around 40 musicians, both professional and otherwise, according to member and cellist Rick Berge of Faribault who phoned me about my free tickets.

The gift of the nutcracker, one of many scenes shown on the big screen.

He noted that I should pay special attention to the celesta, an unusual instrument resembling a small upright piano. From my seat, I couldn’t clearly see the celesta, but I had a good view of the violins, or maybe they were violas—I don’t know the difference. When watching the violinists, I noted how, most often, they drew bows across strings like ballerinas gliding across a stage. Other times they moved their arms in short, jerky pops like leaping ballerinas. And then I noticed the musicians plucking strings with their fingers and whispered to my husband, “I didn’t know violinists played violins without bows.”

As I said, my musical knowledge is minimal.

The CVRO founder and long-time conductor, Paul Niemisto, comes to his position with vast musical experience. (Click here to read about his background.) He currently serves on the faculty at Northfield’s St. Olaf College, a college noted for its strong musical program. To retain that level of commitment to an orchestra for 33 seasons is remarkable.

Also commendable is the commitment of the volunteer CVRO musicians who come from around the area, gathering to practice and present four regional concerts annually.

I was delighted to sit in the audience at their holiday concert, wondering, as I always have, how ballerinas can dance on their tiptoes and how violinists know exactly how far to slide their bows.

CVRO musicians prepare to take a break between acts.

FYI: To learn more about the Cannon Valley Regional Orchestra, click here.

Although I received two free tickets to this concert, I was not asked to write this post nor did winning the tickets influence the content herein.

© Copyright 2013 Audrey Kletscher Helbling