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Thursday, October 12, 2006
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Conductor Staton brings Hawaii to the Heartland MUSIC Entertainment Editor The Heartland Symphony Orchestra is celebrating its 30th season by taking a vacation - at least of the sonic variety.
This weekend in Little Falls and Brainerd, guest conductor Ken Staton will lead the orchestra - and an Aloha Chorus of area singers - through "Hawaii in the Heartland."
"It's a little bit of a mission in life that I have to familiarize people with some of these Hawaiian tunes that they would never hear otherwise," Staton, the University of Hawaii's performing arts chair, said in an interview Tuesday. "Over the years, I've had arrangers arrange these pieces for orchestra or chorus so we can get the music out in a format that's more familiar to people throughout the United States."
At HSO conductor Joe Schlefke's suggestion, the chorus will sing "From Sea to Shining Sea" to form a connection between the mainland and the islands. The theme from TV's "Hawaii Five-O" will provide another well-known hook.
"That's something everybody knows," said Staton, a longtime Hawaii resident who still has a notable Southern accent from growing up in Oklahoma. "It couldn't be less Hawaiian. It was written by Mort Stevens, and he was asked to write something that would give an impression of Hawaii. So he used a lot of drums and kind of a surfer beat like a Beach Boys kind of thing. That's become synonymous with Hawaii now."
On three numbers, the orchestra will be joined by the choir. "Ke Kali Nei Au," a.k.a. "The Hawaiian Wedding Song," is best known by its English lyrics, but the choir will sing it in Hawaiian. "Aloha 'Oe" is commonly referred to as "The Song of Farewell," although it was originally written as a love song. To contrast these mellower pieces, Staton selected "Aloha Mele."
"That just means 'Happy Song,'" he said. "I picked it because it's a sprightly little piece and I thought we ought to have something that's up-tempo and bouncy."
The orchestra will take center stage for a medley of songs by Kui Lee, among them "Days of My Youth," which Staton counts as his current favorite piece.
If you go
What: "Hawaii in the Heartland"
Performed by: Heartland Symphony Orchestra
Little Falls concert: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Martin Auditorium, Little Falls High School
Brainerd concert: 2 p.m. Sunday, Tornstrom Auditorium, Washington Educational Services Building
Tickets: $9 (adult), $15 (adult pair), $20 (family), $6 (senior), available at the Dispatch and Bridge of Harmony in Brainerd, Bookin' It and the Great River Arts Center in Little Falls and at the door
Phone: (800) 826-1997
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"I thought the orchestra would enjoy playing these beautiful melodies," he said. "They're not strictly Hawaiian, but they're written by a person from Hawaii and they're about Hawaii."
On Tuesday, Staton - joined on this trip by his wife, Celeste, a St. Paul native and a professor of dance at the University of Hawaii - geared up for a few days of rehearsals. Before Staton's arrival, Schlefke had been preparing the orchestra and Lauren Nickisch, Echo Kowalzek and Sandy Johnson had been getting the choir ready. Staton is here to smooth out any rough edges.
"I think he's going to help us with a whole bunch of stuff," said Nickisch, a flutist with the HSO. "Ken sent us a CD that had the pronunciations on it, so we've been trying to listen closely to that. When you get some of those fast notes, it's tough."
"Hawaiian is a language made up mostly of vowels and not many consonants," Staton said. "So when the notes are moving along, it's hard to get them under their tongue. I'm sure we'll struggle with that a bit (at the rehearsals). We struggle with that in Hawaii."
But if the singers from the Heartland can master those vowels from the islands (or at least get close), Staton may discover Hawaiian music isn't such a tough sell after all.
"I think all of us find something that we feel is important, and Hawaiian music is - by virtue of where I work - important to me," he said. "I have a chance to do something that no one else is really doing - getting this out there so people can hear it."
JOHN HANSEN can be reached at john.hansen@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5863.
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