Sustaining Scandinavian Folk Music in the Upper Midwest Schedule of Events

Join us April 12–14 for three days of concerts and panel presentations with musicians and scholars from all over Nordic America and the Nordic countries. You’ll find the most up-to-date schedule below, but please note that it may be subject to change.

April 12

  • 1:30pm 126 Memorial Library Panel on Recording and Performing Nordic Musical Traditions
    • Laura Ellestad
    • LeRoy Larson
    • Oren Tikkanen
  • 3:15pm 126 Memorial Library Keynote Presentation “Scandinavian Sounds in Midwestern Towns: Notes from Athens (Alabama)” by Christopher Goertzen, Professor of Musicology, University of Southern Mississippi and author of Fiddling for Norway: Revival and Identity
  • 7:30pm University Club Concert of Scandinavian and Scandinavian American Music featuring:
    • 2017 NEA National Heritage Fellow Dwight Lamb (IA)
    • Laura Ellestad (Norway)
    • LeRoy Larson (MN)
    • Bill Peterson (SD)
    • Mike Sawyer (MN)
    • Kari Tauring (MN)

April 13

  • 9:00am 126 Memorial Library Panel Presentation on Apprenticeships and Preservation
    • Paul Dahlin
    • Dwight Lamb
    • Bill Peterson
  • 10:45am 126 Memorial Library Panel Presentation on Innovation and Tradition
    • Maja Heurling
    • Sara Pajunen
    • Kari Tauring
  • 12:15pm Break for Lunch
  • 2:00pm 126 Memorial Library Panel Presentation on Song and Tune Book Preservation
    • Bill Musser
    • Saijaleena Rantanen
    • Beth Rotto
  • 3:45pm 126 Memorial Library Panel Presentation on Fieldwork and Collections Preservation
    • Bucky Halker
    • Mike Sawyer
    • Phil Nusbaum
  • 6:00pm Reception, University Club
  • 7:00pm University Club Concert of Scandinavian and Scandinavian American Music featuring:
    • 1996 NEA National Heritage Fellow Paul Dahlin (MN)
    • Bucky Halker (IL)
    • Maja Heurling (Sweden)
    • Sara Pajunen (MA)
    • Oren Tikkanen (MI)

April 14

  • 7:30pm Folklore Village, Dodgeville, WI, Community Dance Featuring Foot-Notes of Decorah, IA.

All events are free and open to the public. Click here if you are looking for accommodation options.

The World Records Symposium is sponsored by the Sustaining Scandinavian Folk Arts in the Upper Midwest project, the Mayrent Institute for Yiddish Culture; the Center for the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures; Mills Music Library; the Department of German, Nordic, and Slavic; the National Endowment for the Humanities; and the Borghesi-Mellon Workshop.