Arts Midwest

Dahl Arts Center in Rapid City, South Dakota, presented Orlando Chamber Soloists in July 2011.

This Performing Arts Fund—supported engagement featured a 10-day residency with the Orlando Chamber Soloists as part of the Chamber Music Festival of the Black Hills. The festival’s mission is to foster the appreciation of classical music in the Black Hills of South Dakota; this was the fourth year that this ensemble was in residency for this festival. The Orlando Chamber Soloists is composed of professional musicians from across the United States, including Rapid City natives Bill Rounds and Michael Hill. Martin Schuring , an oboe teacher from Arizona State University, also joined the ensemble for this year’s residency.

The engagement included three public concerts: Phantastic Journey, A Night in Paris, and Buried Treasures, as well as concerts specifically for children. Phantastic Journey featured a musical journey from the stormy Midwestern plains to the spirit of Ireland, the festive nights of Spain, and the emerald mist of the British Isles. A Night in Paris explored jazz with a stop at the Moulin Rouge and included audience participation during the performance of Maurice Ravel’s Bolero, which was arranged for string quartet and kazoo – and everyone received a kazoo to play. Buried Treasures included works by great masters such as Brahms, Lalo, Bach, Grieg, and Glazunov.

The engagement also included performances specifically for young people, including Upon Enchanted Ground, a work by Alan Hovhaness presented at the Dahl Arts Center in Rapid City and featuring local native drum group Ateyapi, which is composed of 28 Native American children. The drum group was also given the opportunity to rehearse with the artists prior to the performance.

Their energy was contagious as they played their small native drums along side our ensemble. This concert performance went very well, and we are working on new plans for future collaboration with Ateyapi. These children really enjoyed the opportunity to perform. — Michael Hill, Orlando Chamber Music Soloists

The artists conducted another student performance of Upon Enchanted Ground on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. They worked with the art teacher and had the local children draw and paint what they felt described the enchanted ground, and their work was on display during the performance. The Lakota heritage was an important part of this outreach activity, and the performance included a narration by Thurmond Horse in the Lakota language. Afterwards, Horse performed a regional spiritual song and treated the artists to copies of his paintings.

Additional residency activities included a number of Teddy Bear demonstrations, which gave young children an introduction to classical music by using a few instruments to tell favorite children’s stories and allowed the children to see the instruments up close in a “musical petting zoo.” These demonstrations took place at local public libraries, the Black Hills Children’s Home, and the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. A string and oboe masterclass gave students an opportunity to receive instruction directly from professional musicians.

The support from the Performing Arts Fund gave Dahl Arts Center an opportunity to implement a free outreach program to a number of underserved audiences in the community, including the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation (Native American youths), Black Hills Children’s Home (foster-care facility), and General Beadle School. No child or parent was charged admission to the educational events, and a low student price of $5 was offered for the classical public concerts, which considerably increased The Dahl’s younger audience. The art center felt it was important for them to make this a community-driven, not economically-driven, residency.

Learn more

• About Dahl Arts Center
• About Orlando Chamber Soloists
• Read Rapid City Journal’s story about this engagement

This engagement was a Star Project that deepened participation with a community-based residency and provided cultural access to at-risk youth and a tribal community by partnering with SuAnne Big Crow Boys & Girls Club of Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.