A Night of Social Wonder: The Way Music Moves Me

Wednesday, Oct. 21, 6:30 p.m.

doors 6:30 p.m. / program 7 p.m.

American Swedish Institute

2600 Park Avenue Minneapolis MN 55407

In line with ASI’s mission of being a gathering place for all people to share experiences around themes of culture, migration, the environment and the arts, ASI’s signature program,A Night of Social Wonder gathers innovators, thinkers, leaders and practitioners from a cross section of sectors and disciplines to strike an open conversation around the relevant and timely themes explored in ASI’s major exhibitions. Panelists and the topics they present are curated to represent local, regional, national and international interests, all of course pulled together with the magic of moderator, Mark Wheat.

A Night of Social Wonder: The Way Music Moves Me asks us to take a closer look at how music influences other places around the globe and across industries. How does music encourage social bridging and blur the lines of socio-economic inequalities? What innovations are currently underfoot in the music market and what impact does that have? How has music transformed the work we do?

TICKETS

$10 ASI members / $12 nonmembers

Cash bar available. Museum admission must be purchased separately.

Registration recommended. Past events have sold out quickly.

Click here to register or call (612) 871-4907.

FEATURED PANELISTS

Rickard Åström
(Sweden’s Lund University)

Music moves us all – emotionally, socially, physically, and even on a heart level. Åström shares some of his latest research on music and its biological and emotional effects on the human body. How can music affect our wellbeing in health care and in everyday life? Does music really move our hearts, or is it just a poetic metaphor? Can broken hearts be healed by music?

Rickard Åström was educated at the Music Conservatory in Gothenburg, and has worked as a professional musician and composer since 1988. He has served as Musical Director for several musicals at the Gothenburg Opera, and has performed with Groupa, a leading Nordic folk music band that has received two Grammy Awards. Åström now focuses his time mainly on research at Sahlgrenska University Hospital about the biological and emotional effects of music on humans. He was recently involved in a study on the synchronization of the heart rates of choir singers, which was featured on CNN and the BBC, and in Times Magazine.

Adam Davis-McGee
(Creative Safarist)

A “creative safarist,” Davis-McGee (A\\AM ) will touch on the relationship between sound, color and harmony while blasting inspiration via multimedia visual vibrations and anchoring the narrative in restoring balance in our communities locally and globally.

A\\AM is a Creative Safarist who lives at the intersection of music, technology and multi media. Sharing over 10 years of extensive professional experience as a content creator, producer, manager, and consultant - he is a passionate digital storyteller whose experience and skills span across the media arts landscape.

Maria Genné
(Director of Kairos Alive!)

As an artist, Genné believes in the radical inclusion of pretty much everybody: inviting elders, kids and adults of all cultural backgrounds and all abilities to participate in helping to create fun, meaningful and health-enriching participatory dance, music and story making. Genné is convinced that artists are key to community health and wellbeing – and FINALLY, scientific research is figuring it out, too.

Maria DuBois Genné, MEd, dancer, choreographer, social artist, educator, founder and Director of Kairos Alive! and founder and former Director of Young Dance. Her choreography (65+ works) is recognized for its ability to highlight the beauty of human experience through movement and story. Her award winning artistic intervention for older adults, Dancing Heart™ is part of her life-long intergenerational work: Choreography of Care™.

R. Douglas Wright & Roma Duncan
(Minnesota Orchestra Members Share Insight on Musical Diplomacy In Cuba)

Minnesota Orchestra musicians R. Douglas Wright and Roma Duncan were part of the Orchestra’s historic visit to Cuba in May 2015—becoming the first American symphony orchestra musicians to visit the island nation following the normalization of relations between the two countries. The good will visit had a profound impact on the organization, its vision for community engagement—and its individual musicians. Hear Wright and Duncan discuss their experiences working with student musicians and performing the Cuban National Anthem in Havana, as well as the powerful role that music and musicians can play in connecting people and cultures.

R. Douglas Wright, the Minnesota Orchestra’s principal trombone since 1995, has also performed as a regular soloist and chamber musician with the Orchestra. He is also a lecturer at the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University. He previously served as the Cleveland Orchestra’s principal trombone, traveled internationally as a member of the Empire Brass Quintet and played as a member of the Boston Pops. Since 2005, Wright has been performing concerts around the world with the World Orchestra for Peace, an ensemble of musicians from 40 different countries, conducted by Valery Gergiev. He received his training at the New England Conservatory of Music.

Flute and piccolo player Roma Duncan joined the Minnesota Orchestra in 2003, following positions in the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, Canada’s Orchestra London, and the Ann Arbor, Windsor and Warren symphony orchestras. She has been a featured soloist in Minnesota, as well as other orchestras, including l’Orchestre Symphonique de Trois-Rivières, l’Orchestre Symphonique de Québec and the Windsor Symphony. Born in Nova Scotia, Canada, Duncan grew up in the province of Newfoundland and studied at McGill University and the University of Michigan.