FOR MORE INFORMATION:
GORDON MOE, manager, The Concordia Choir
(218) 299-4886 / moe@cord.edu
AMY KELLY, College Communications and Media Relations director
(218) 299-3642
CLAUSEN RECEIVES LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Dr. René Clausen, world-renowned composer and conductor of The Concordia Choir from Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn., was awarded the Weston H. Noble Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2018 American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) Central and North Central Conference in Chicago Feb. 16.
In 1994 the North Central Division of the ACDA established the Weston H. Noble Award for Lifetime Achievement to recognize outstanding contributions to the choral art. Weston Noble (1922 – 2016) was the first recipient of this award that is presented biannually at North Central Division conferences. Noble, a beloved and honored music educator at Luther College for 57 years, was a charter member of the American Choral Directors Association.
Clausen was a friend and colleague of Noble’s. When Clausen was a young man Noble worked to recruit him to the music program at Luther. Just two weeks before passing away, Noble personally selected Clausen as the recipient of the 2018 award. “It is a very special award for me in a very personal sense as Weston chose me for the award created in his honor,” said Clausen.
Clausen, in his 32nd year at Concordia, leaves with the choir for its annual tour of the South Central U.S. Feb. 24-March 11 including stops in Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, South Dakota and Maple Grove, Minn., ending with a home concert March 11.
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