Augustana Choir premiers “Across a Border” at Nobel Peace Prize Forum

The 2012 Nobel Peace Prize Forum was held on the campuses of Augsburg College and the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School for Public Affairs in Minneapolis, Minn., March 1-3.

Augustana joins Augsburg College, Concordia College (Moorhead), Luther College and St. Olaf College in celebrating the Nobel Prize for Peace granted annually by the Nobel Committee in Oslo, Norway. The program offers an incredible opportunity to celebrate community and heritage as well as a vision and hope for a more peaceful world. For 23 years, it has been the Norwegian Nobel Institute’s only such program or academic affiliation outside of Norway. Best of all, it has a proven record of opening doors for students who want to do more than just “talk” about peace, justice and human rights.

The Augustana Choir under the direction of Dr. Weston Nobel and Professor Russell Svenningsen performed at the closing ceremony in the Ted Mann Concert Hall at the U of MN. They premiered “Across a Border,” a choral work written by Minneapolis composer Jocelyn Hagen with lyrics by Augustana’s Writer-in-Residence, Dr. Patrick Hicks.  The piece was commissioned specifically for the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize Forum as “an offering in honor of the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates and on behalf of all those who work toward and have paid the price of peace.”   Their performance was watched by a world-wide audience via livestream.

You may view their performance in archived copies of the livestream at: http://nobelpeaceprizeforum.org/livestream/   Select the Closing Ceremony.   The Choir appears twice, once at the 50:00 minute mark, and again at the 1:27 mark.