Abstract
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Music can be a potent meeting place between religious traditions, offering a portal for audiences and musicians into another culture. Echoes of the Divine, using a salon format that includes both performance and conversation, features pianist Amy Grinsteiner, violinist Stephanie Arado, guitarist Chris Kachian, and narrator David Jordan Harris. Among the composers whose work is performed are Arvo Pärt, Ofer Ben-Amots, Joseph Achron, Maurice Ravel, Gerald Cohen, Komitas, Isabella Leonarda, and Andrés Segovia.
Amy Grinsteiner is associate professor of music at CSB/SJU, teaching piano, music through history, and rock and roll music. She also serves as the faculty program coordinator at the Seattle Piano Institute, a summer program for aspiring young classical pianists at the University of Washington, Seattle. She earned a Master of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Washington. As a recipient of both the Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar Award and the P.E.O. National Scholar Award, she has traveled extensively, building appreciation for the arts. Dr. Grinsteiner was the recipient of CSB’s Sister Mary Grell Teacher of Distinction Award in 2017 and she currently chairs the CSB/SJU music department. Stephanie Arado, violinist, who earned a Master of Musical Performance degree at The Juilliard School under the tutelage of Dorothy Delay and Paul Kantor, served one season as concert master of the Colorado Symphony and spent twenty-two years as assistant concertmaster of the Minnesota Orchestra, a position she resigned in 2012 to devote more time to teaching and to performing chamber music. Currently she is assistant professor of violin at the University of Minnesota School of Music, an artistic director with the Twin Cities-based Bakken Ensemble, and a member of The Isles Ensemble in Minneapolis. A recipient of a McKnight Foundation Grant for Performing Artists, Ms. Arado frequently collaborates with composers and has commissioned numerous compositions. Chris Kachian, guitarist, has given over 500 performances in the UK, Ireland, Austria, Italy, Germany, Luxembourg, France, Russia, and Africa and throughout the USA and South America. He has been heard on Minnesota Public Radio, National Public Radio, and American Public Radio (including several appearances on Prairie Home Companion). Dr. Kachian is the founder and Director of the UST Guitar Studies Area and is a national leader in distance learning (technology-aided teaching) having developed several courses at the college level. He is also the editor of the guitar column for the journal of the Minnesota chapter of the American String Teacher's Association/National String Orchestra Association. David Jordan Harris, a graduate of the University of Chicago, is artistic director and co-founder of the Twin Cities-based performance ensemble Voices of Sepharad. Integrating his skills as a singer, actor, and dancer, he has appeared as guest artist with many ensembles, including Zorongo Flamenco, Katha Dance Theatre, Corning Dances and Company, Illusion Theater, North Star Opera, Rose Ensemble, Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, Lyra Baroque Orchestra, Ensemble Espaῆol, and In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre. Harris was the founding music director of Shir Tikvah Congregation where he led music for 21 years and was the founding executive director of Rimon: The Minnesota Jewish Arts Council.
Co-produced by the Chapel Arts Series at the University of St. Thomas with the Jay Phillips Center for Interreligious Studies at the University of St. Thomas and the Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning at Saint John's University.