(hopeful music) - [Announcer] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.

(lively music) - My name is Mischa Santora, Artistic Director of MacPhail Spotlight concert series.

It is great to be here, and thank you so much for joining us today.

MacPhail Center for Music is the largest community music school in the whole country.

And as such, has been connecting with communities through music teaching and with the increasing location throughout the state has been really transforming those communities as well.

Today, we are here in the brand new facility in Austin, Minnesota, and I'm incredibly excited that we can present a program filmed right here.

For today's program, we are working with teaching artists from both Austin and the Minneapolis location, kind of connecting these musicians.

And the program is in three distinct sections.

The first one is American songs.

This section runs the whole gamut of urban jazz music, music inspired by traditional spirituals, but also the more classical traditional art song.

The second section is centered on a very famous piece by a French composer, Camille Saint-Saens, called "The Swan", written for the cello, but we are really transforming it.

We have a wonderful cellist and a wonderful jazz pianist just making it into something that you've probably never heard before.

The third segment centers on a very important European visitor coming to America at the tail end of the 19th century, Antonin Dvorak.

Dvorak was convinced that the traditional spiritual will become an incredibly important cornerstone of American music in the 20th century, and he was right.

Nodding to this particular relationship, we are taking the melody from the second movement of the "New World Symphony" and transforming it into a jazz combo spiritual song performed by a jazz combo and a vocalist.

I want to thank KSMQ for their incredible partnership, and of course, MacPhail here in Austin for hosting this, and I hope you'll enjoy this really unique program.

Thank you so much.

(flute music) (piano music) (flute and piano music) ♪ Night comes ♪ ♪ A Madonna ♪ ♪ Clad in scented blue.

♪ ♪ Rose red her mouth ♪ ♪ And deep her eyes ♪ ♪ She lights her stars ♪ ♪ And turns to where ♪ ♪ Beneath ♪ ♪ Her silver lamp ♪ ♪ The moon ♪ ♪ Upon a couch ♪ ♪ Of shadow lies ♪ ♪ A dreamy child ♪ ♪ The wearied Day ♪ (piano music) ♪ When I have sung my songs to you ♪ ♪ I'll sing no more ♪ ♪ T'would be a sacrilege ♪ ♪ To sing at another door ♪ ♪ We've worked so hard ♪ ♪ To hold our dreams ♪ ♪ Just you and I ♪ ♪ I could not share them all again ♪ ♪ I'd rather die ♪ ♪ With just the thought ♪ ♪ That I had loved ♪ ♪ So well ♪ ♪ So true ♪ ♪ That I could never sing again ♪ ♪ That I could never ♪ ♪ Never sing again ♪ ♪ Except ♪ ♪ To you ♪ ♪ Days can be sunny ♪ ♪ With never a sigh ♪ ♪ Don't need what money can buy ♪ ♪ Birds in the trees sing ♪ ♪ Their dayful of song ♪ ♪ Why shouldn't we sing along ♪ ♪ I'm chipper all the day ♪ ♪ Happy with my lot ♪ ♪ How do I get that way ♪ ♪ Look at what I got ♪ ♪ I got rhythm ♪ ♪ I got music ♪ ♪ I got my man ♪ ♪ Who could ask for anything more ♪ ♪ I got daisies ♪ ♪ In green pastures ♪ ♪ I got my man ♪ ♪ Who could ask for anything more ♪ ♪ Old Man Trouble ♪ ♪ I don't mind him ♪ ♪ You won't find him ♪ ♪ 'Round my door ♪ ♪ I got starlight ♪ ♪ I got sweet dreams ♪ ♪ I got my man ♪ ♪ Who could ask for anything more ♪ ♪ Who could ask for anything more ♪ ♪ I got rhythm ♪ ♪ I got music ♪ ♪ I got my man ♪ ♪ Who could ask for anything more ♪ ♪ I got daisies ♪ ♪ In green pastures ♪ ♪ I got my man ♪ ♪ Who could ask for anything more ♪ ♪ Old Man Trouble ♪ ♪ I don't mind him ♪ ♪ You won't find him ♪ ♪ 'Round my door ♪ ♪ I got starlight ♪ ♪ I got sweet dreams ♪ ♪ I got my man ♪ ♪ Who could ask for anything more ♪ ♪ Who could ask ♪ ♪ For anything more ♪ - My name is Cheryl Berglund, and I am the Austin Site Director here for MacPhail Center for Music in Austin, Minnesota.

I'm really excited to speak about tonight's performance with the connections and transformations.

It's so fitting for our apprenticeship that we have here in Austin, Minnesota.

We are deeply, deeply grateful to the Austin public schools and the Hormel Foundation in seeing what this community needed to take their already amazing program even further.

Tonight's performance was just a little bit about transforming.

We've been able to transform transform this space into a beautiful state of the art building.

(energetic orchestral music) - What I saw in Austin and what we all saw in Austin from the studies that we were doing, is there could be a real opportunity for music to be the connector, that music could be a way to get people of different socioeconomic backgrounds, different racial and country of origin backgrounds, languages, education levels together, participating together in a community and recognize that we're all here together.

- You'll see our African immigrant students, you'll see our Asian immigrant students.

You'll see our Mexican and South American immigrant students.

Right now, we speak almost 50 different languages in the community, but music crosses over all of them.

- And I think that's what our kids are experiencing right now in Austin, through the MacPhail programming and through our school music programming.

I think they're learning how to communicate to each other through a piece of music, and through performing a piece of music together and learning it.

I think that it's helping them express themselves more deeply, and have words that maybe we're not able to teach them another way.

(xylophone music) (children singing) (cello and piano music) ♪ Going home, going home ♪ ♪ I am going home ♪ ♪ Quiet-like, some still day ♪ ♪ I am going home ♪ ♪ It's not far ♪ ♪ Just close by ♪ ♪ Through an open door ♪ ♪ Work all done ♪ ♪ Cares laid by ♪ ♪ Never fear no more ♪ ♪ Mama's there ♪ ♪ Waiting for me ♪ ♪ Daddy's waiting too ♪ ♪ Lots of folks ♪ ♪ Gathered there ♪ ♪ All the friends I knew ♪ ♪ All the friends I knew ♪ ♪ I'm going home ♪ ♪ Yes I am ♪ ♪ Mamma's there ♪ ♪ She's waiting for me ♪ ♪ I'm going home ♪ (jazzy trumpet music) (jazzy saxophone music) ♪ Going home, going home ♪ ♪ I am going home ♪ ♪ Quiet-like, some still day ♪ ♪ I am going home ♪ ♪ It's not far ♪ ♪ It's just close by ♪ ♪ It's through that open door ♪ ♪ Work is gone ♪ ♪ And cares laid by ♪ ♪ Never fear no more ♪ ♪ Morning Star ♪ ♪ Light my way ♪ ♪ Restless dream is gone ♪ ♪ Shadows gone, break of day ♪ ♪ Real life has begun ♪ ♪ I am going home ♪ (gentle music) (cello and piano music) (hopeful music) - [Announcer] Funding for this program is provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.