David Mennicke - Earthsongs
Earthsongs
May, 2022
Singers In Accord with guest director Dr. David L. Mennicke, Director of Choral Studies at Concordia University, St. Paul Proudly present Earthsongs - songs from around the world reflecting hope for peace and restoration amid adversity.
The hour-long concert shares music from around the world, including compositions and arrangements representing Native Americans, the Middle East, Latin America, South Africa, Asia, and African Americans. It is noteworthy that the majority of the composers/arrangers are from under-represented populations, lending insight and authenticity to the pieces.
Each section of the program offers a challenge each culture has faced (or is still facing), then offers a way each of these peoples has found towards peace and restoration. For example, the South African section opens with Peter Louis van Dijk's Horizons, which tells the story of the Khoisan tribe's first encounter with Europeans and its tragic, violent outcome for those native people. The program then responds with an arrangement of the South African Gospel piece, "Kwabona Kala (Be Like Him)" by SIA's guest collaborator, David Mennicke, which combines that tune with a famous European melody to musically express a recent reconciliation that took place in South Africa.
David L. Mennicke
David Mennicke
Dr. David L. Mennicke is Professor of Music and Chair of the Concordia University, St. Paul Music Department, where he has been Director of Choral Studies since 1989. Mennicke encourages at Concordia a musical community that nurtures each student from the beginner to the accomplished musician. His teaching expertise covers choral conducting, voice training, music education, church music, musical theatre, and music arranging. Under his direction, the Concordia University Christus Chorus has performed for the national College Music Society, regional MENC and state ACDA conferences. The Christus Chorus has been invited to perform with the Minnesota Orchestras seven times, and toured throughout the United States and to Africa, Europe, and South Korea.
Mennicke is in demand as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator, having served in over 200 festivals, including the Minnesota All-State Children’s and Men’s Choirs. He sang in the Grammy Award-winning Oregon Bach Festival Chorus, and is a tenor section leader with the Minnesota, SPCO, and Beethoven Festival Chorales. His choral anthems, services, music education materials, and articles published by CPH, Morningstar, the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, Lutheran Forum, and the AGEHR. Mennicke is also an active church musician, directing the Senior, Men’s, and Youth Choirs at Bethlehem Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Minneapolis.