Lunch with Friends from across the Pacific

Song Credit: “The Stolen Stars of Matariki” by Claire Cowan. Originally composed for NZSO story time.
Book by Miriama Kamo
On Tuesday, January 21st, the College of St. Scholastica opened the doors of its Mitchell auditorium to welcome the community for a taste of contemporary music. Their continuous Lunch with Friends series brought musicians in for the public to get a free and causal taste of new music amongst their lunch breaks.

For the last 3 years, musicians from all across the United States have visited the auditorium to share their music. The Lunch with Friends event follows the college’s year schedule by having four performances per school year. Two performances in the fall with two performances in the following spring semester. This series was created by a local Duluthian as the music faculty of St. Scholastica work to keep it going each year.

“So, it was started by local pianist, Theresa Vaughan,” said Jessica Schroeder, a visiting assistant professor for the music department. “As a way to introduce contemporary music in a more informal setting. They are 30-minute-long recitals at lunchtime, and the hope is for people to come, bring a sandwich, and be introduced to some music that you maybe haven’t heard before.”

First International Performance

Tuesday was different because for the first time for the series, they had an international musical experience. Johanna Gruskin, a local Duluthian, went to work in New Zealand three years ago. She currently works for the national orchestra, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. And now she had the chance to bring what she learned and heard back to her hometown.

She said, “it’s really fun to come back and get a chance to perform back in my hometown. To get to bring back some of these new works that I’ve learned about when I was living over in New Zealand and to get to perform with CSS faculty.”

Among the songs she performed and techniques she presented, Johana also played a unique custom-made composition for this event. She took a performance from a chamber orchestra and worked with the composer to make the piece her own.

“One that I’m particularly excited about is The Stolen Stars of Matariki by Claire Cowan, because I heard the original version, which was for a chamber orchestra. And I actually commissioned her to arrange it for piccolo and piano. And since my specialty with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra is the piccolo, I’m kind of excited to be able to bring a new piece into the repertoire for piccolo.”

The original composition of “The Stolen Stars of Matariki” was performed for a story time reading of a book of the same name. It’s author Miriama Kamo and musicians from the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra did a live performance alongside the read-along of the book.

When is the next Lunch with Friends

The next performance is March 25th, once again in the Mitchell auditorium at the College of St. Scholastica. It is free and the public is welcome to bring their lunch to enjoy. A voice professor from the college will be doing the performance. She is performing which she called Mother Tongue, and it’s three Asian American newly commissioned works for soprano and piano.