Olson, MSU Concert Choir collaborate to debut Crossings: Toward the Light
MINOT, N.D. – Minot State alumna Rosanne Olson ’72 has wanted to sing for a long time.
She finally found her singing voice through the harmonica.
“I sang in the children’s choir at First Lutheran. In the fifth grade at Sunnyside School in Minot, when I wasn’t chosen for the choir, I was devastated. After that, my singing voice went into hibernation for decades,” Olson said. “In about 2005, I went to a theater production in Seattle called ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’ In the play, there was an actor who played the harmonica. I fell in love with the sound, and it occurred to me that the harmonica might be the singing voice I never had. I immediately (like the next day) embarked on years of harmonica lessons.”
A collaboration between her and her harmonica teacher spurred more musical lessons, including learning to play the guitar, and eventually into songwriting.
“My harmonica teacher asked me to accompany him on his self-written songs; I said to myself, ‘I want to do that!’ From that time on, my life has been filled with creating music,” Olson said.
Since those early days, Olson has written nearly 150 songs, recorded one album, and is working on another. She plays music with others, collaborates with talented people to arrange her songs for other instrumentation, and conveys her thoughts and feelings — both personal and political — through songs.
Fast forward to a meeting with Emerson Eads, director of choral activities at Minot State, and Abbie Eads ’15, musician and development officer with the MSU Development Foundation, at Olson’s photography retrospective at the Northwest Arts Center in 2022.
The encounter and subsequent collaboration with the trio led to Olson’s newest partnership with the University as the MSU Concert Choir will perform Crossings: Toward the Light, a choral celebration of 200 years of Scandinavian Immigration to the United States, with original music and visual art by Olson and arrangement by Emerson Eads.
“Even though our meeting was brief, I was enchanted,” Olson said. “Last June, we discussed the bicentennial of the Norwegians immigrating to the Northern Plains. I mentioned that I had some songs that might be of interest. I sent Emerson five song recordings for his consideration, and to my delight, he selected three.
“I have collaborated with other musicians for strings, piano, etc., but never have had my songs translated for soprano, alto, tenor, and bass. It is simply amazing to hear the clips of what they are doing.”
The concert is set for Wednesday, March 5, at 7 p.m. at Ann Nicole Nelson Hall. Following the performance, Olson will discuss her creative process in composing the music and crafting the artwork at a reception in the lobby. The event is free and open to the public, with a free will offering accepted to support the MSU Concert Choir’s spring tour to Norway.
“Rosanne and (husband) Ted (McMahon) invited Abbie and me to their lake cabin in Metigoshe, where we spent time discussing potential collaborations. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that she is also a composer and singer,” Emerson Eads said. “Inspired by our conversations, Abbie and I invited them to our house for a jam session, where we exchanged songs and played along, discovering each other's music. The hours flew by, and from that session, several songs emerged that I was eager to arrange for choir. Though time constraints limited me to just three arrangements, these three pieces carry the essence of that memorable time spent jamming around the piano.
“These are the moments I treasure most — creating live music with musicians who generously share their musical hearts with me. I hope that spirit comes through in the arrangements.”
MSU and the region’s ties to Scandinavian culture tie into Olson’s personal experience as a descendant of Norwegian immigrants.
“My forebears emigrated from Norway to the Northern Plains — Minnesota and North Dakota in the mid-1800s,” she said. “My grandmother was born in 1890 and lived in a sod house in North Dakota as a homesteader when she was a young woman. There were horses and buggies, blizzards, struggle, and unimaginable challenges. Her adopted brother had his leg amputated on the kitchen table when he was about 12 and died of gangrene from stepping on a nail. I wrote my song ‘Gather the Flowers’ (which the MSU choir will perform) as a sort of idealized tribute to the pioneers, especially to my grandmother whose beautiful flower garden still lives in my mind.”
Olson also created visuals to accompany the music featuring original illustrations.
“I am creating a couple of videos to go with the songs. I simply love creating cartoon illustrations, something I have always done since I was a kid,” Olson said. “The visuals in the videos are from my imagination, not from my camera. They are simple, rustic, childlike, and I hope it will add another element of depth to the songs.”
While perhaps best known for her photography, Olson has consistently explored multiple mediums as creative outlets.
“I have always been involved in art as a spectrum of possibility. In 2002, I co-founded a women’s art group called Art Chix,” Olson said. “We have met for more than 20 years, creating art based on a theme or prompt that we give ourselves as a group, encouraging each other to take creative risks and explore fields other than our main form of expression. Because of Art Chix, I dared to write and perform my first song called ‘Dirty Laundry Blues.’
“There are many musicians who have turned to photography (Ansel Adams, for example). I am a photographer turning to music. In my mind and in my life, ALL of the arts I do — whether it is painting, photography, or songwriting — are part of an expression that is simply who I am.”
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Published: 02/27/25
