GRAND FORKS – The Thursday Music Club will present its 100th annual Christmas Musicale at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 7, at Calvary Lutheran Church, 1405 S. Ninth St.
The free will offering will be used to provide scholarships for young musicians to attend the International Music Camp in the International Peace Garden near Dunseith, North Dakota, and to aid and encourage music education in the Greater Grand Forks area.
The club is dedicating this performance to two long-time members, Doris Lambie and Devera Warcup, both of whom died earlier this year.
Calvary Lutheran Church Pastor Rachael Puttbrese will deliver a Christmas message.
Among the many musicians who will be performing are Lane Lindseth, accordion, and harpist ensemble members, all students of Callie Stadem: Shelly Bares, Laurie Berg, Leanne Brazee, Laurie Charette, Mila Drago, Lucy Franklin, Wren Kindseth, Hayden Lloyd, Mila Miskavige, Christine Nelson, Emsley Panico, Charlotte Robbins and Gage Sims.
Other performers will include a trio of singers G. Paul Larson, Michael Marcotte and Evan Montgomery; trombone soloist Elias David Schill; and the Thursday Music Club Chorus, under the direction of Jennifer Goeke. Accompanists are Janelle Huber, Karen Braaten, Yen Lee Loh and Connie Peck.
Cale Stoltenow will play the prelude and postlude.
In remembrance of the Japanese invasion of the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941, the program will conclude with “God Bless America,” by Irving Berlin.
This year’s International Music Camp scholarship recipients are: Mila Drago, Addison Swanson, Veronica Cunningham, Jonas Ferguson, Mairi Ferguson, Siya Pearce, Sarah Prescott, Elias Richardson and Brinna Swanson. The recipient of the club’s UND music scholarship, $500 given annually, is Elias David Schill.
Since 2008, the club has awarded more than $60,000 to area music students. Anyone interested in supporting these scholarships can contact Elaine Einarson at
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The club presented its Gold Note Award to Robert Brooks, retired associate director of bands at UND, and its Silver Staff Award to Annette Ray.
The origins of the Thursday Music Club can be traced to a small group of women who met Aug. 5, 1898, in the home of Mrs. W.A. Gordon at 441 Reeves Dr., according to club history.
In 1904, the first Club Chorus was formed under the direction of N.K. Chandler. He agreed to the position under the condition “that the ladies arrive on time and would refrain from talking during rehearsals.”
In 1907, the first public Christmas program consisted of a reading of Emily Dickinson’s “Christmas Carol” and the Club Chorus singing carols. The very first carol performed, “Birthday of a King,” will also be performed by the chorus during Sunday’s concert.
In the “white glove” era, the program was entitled the “Twilight Musicale,” and the program featured faculty and students from UND and the Wesley School of Music. An audience member wrote on an early program, “As twilight shadows were deepening, this number (a violin-piano-organ medley) struck a keynote that proved the mood of the entire recital.”
During the early years, people had to be turned away from the 4 p.m. program, so a second performance was added.
In 1918, a “Victory and Christmas Musicale” at the Civic Auditorium featured a chorus of 200 members and drew 2,000 audience members. The Grand Forks Herald report acknowledged the “peace and goodwill which has peculiar significance this year. It will be remembered by the people of this city as one of the most stirring occasions and one of the most democratic gatherings that this city has witnessed.”
In 1935, the program was a celebration of the 250th anniversary of Handel’s birth and in 1955, the club departed from its usual format and presented the opera “Amahl and the Night Visitors,” directed by Mary Jane Halverson, with a brass group from Grand Forks Central High School, Kelly Elementary School and the UND Varsity Bards.
Laurie Charette is president of the Thursday Music Club, which meets at 1 p.m. on the first Thursday of each month, except December, at Trinity Free Church, 3426 Chestnut St. Musicians and music lovers alike are welcome.
The club’s chorus meets at 10:30 a.m. Mondays at Calvary Lutheran Church. Members are Laurie Charette, Delores Clark, Diane Cox, Elaine Einarson, Carol Geiszler, Marian Hanson, Sandi Kerr, Adele Laudal, Jane LeDuc, Hyley Lee, Vickie Mahnke, Jan Marto, Mary Mitchell, Rhonda Moorman, Doris Muggli, Connie Peck, Becky Quigley, Edith Soli and Viola Wysocki.
The Thursday Music Club has been a member of the National Federation of Music Clubs since 1919.