Where does one go from there? To a concert of course! And it was equally as powerful. Our boys were on their A game. The cantor of Roa Church was awe-struck at the variety of genres we sang “so magnificently, from Handel to gospel.”

As you can imagine, the most poignant moment of the concert was when we dedicated “Prayer of the Children” to the 68 young Norwegians who lost their lives last July so tragically. The original arrangement has one phrase that has the text of the title in Serbian. We replaced it with the title phrase in Norwegian. The Norwegians are a reserved people, but you could feel a room filled with grateful hearts for us remembering this sad event.


Joint concert with Sølvguttene

We had a ball singing together. We opened the program with “Da Pacem Domine,” followed by “Draw the Circle Wide”, and then Grieg’s “Ave Maris Stella.” What a sublime experience to sing Grieg in Oslo with a Norwegian choir.


Draw the Circle Wide

Mid–program, we did a version of Grieg’s “Brother’s Sing On!” that was a real hoot. The KSB Grads sang verse one in English, the tenors and basses of Sølvguttene sang verse two in Norwegian, and we both sang verse three together in our respective languages. Interesting rhythmic results there. Fun!!!


To Music

At the end of the program, Anne Odland and the director of Sølvguttene sang the solo in “Norge, mit Norge!” as a duet. We also sang the Norwegian wedding march “Bruremarsj fra Gudbrandsdalen.” Then it was the moment of truth. KSB’s turn to sing in Norwegian with no help. I’m happy to report that “Ven Rondane” was received with great delight. It’s an old beloved folk song, which would have been enough to charm our audience. But our apparently (close to…) perfect Norwegian continues to astound our audiences. Thanks Mrs. O!


Old Northwest


We Are the Boys

We ended with what else? “Shosholoza!” Sølvguttene recently completed a concert tour of South Africa and was hosted by Drakensburg Boy’s Choir. So you can imagine what a finale that made.


Fun South African

Oh, actually, the very last song was Verleih ins Frieden, the piece we had sung earlier that day at the Nobel Peace event. A perfect bookend to a concert that began with Da Pacem Dominum. And a perfect end to a profoundly full day. Some tour days are an embarrassment of musical riches, and this was certainly one that will go down in the KSB concert tour history books. And your sons were there!