BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

03/12/2008

Belarus immigrant shares the music

Composer, musician and conductor Sergey Khvoshchinsky accompanies students Peter, Will and Andy Howitz during a Saturday morning practice session at Living Waters Lutheran Church in Lino Lakes. - Photo by Paul Dols

by Jay Stephenson

LINO LAKES - Sergey Khvoshchinsky remembers the first time he found his calling. It was conducting symphonies in front of the television at his childhood home in Belarus, a former Soviet republic. Today, he is the driving force behind the music program at Living Waters Lutheran Church.

The 50-year-old music composer, conductor, pianist, accordion player and violinist has only been director for three months, and already the Lino Lakes church has seen his impact.

'??No two weeks are the same,'?? said Pastor Kathryn Tiede. '??And so one week we might have a harpist and flutes and then the next week we have an entire praise team with electric guitars and drums, and then the next we have the youth band with the choir.'??

Khvoshchinsky arrived in the United States in 2000 after visiting Minnesota four times when he was a composer for the State Dance Company of the republic of Belarus. His wife and two children moved to the country to join him two years ago.

'??I fell in love with America,'?? Khvoshchinsky said. '??And the former Soviet Union had problems with the economy. But what pushed me was my older daughter, who is a teacher, moved to France because she couldn't teach in Belarus.'??

Khvoshchinsky made a name for himself in his native country as a composer and music teacher during a time when the Soviet Union only allowed the highest quality of music to pervade the culture.

'??We didn't have music of low quality and musicians who performed low quality music weren't accepted,'?? he said. '??Not on television, not on radio, or on concert stages.'??

Khvoshchinsky said the same work ethic he crafted as a music director in Belarus followed him to Minnesota. Every morning he composes music before going to the church for afternoon rehearsal. He also gives piano lessons.

Additionally, he has comprised a youth band consisting of everything from a cello, brass instruments, and a woodwind that performs church standards set to Khvoshchinsky's tempo. He also crafts arrangements of each song.

'??He's able to transpose music quickly and amazingly well,'?? Tiede said. '??And that's a tricky skill. So he can facilitate more combinations of musicians than any of us can even think of. He's taken a strong program filled with lay people, about 40 or 50 people involved with the music program, and taken it even further.'??

For the vocal ensemble, Khvoshchinsky has added flutes and violins while he accompanies the group on accordion. He has also added other instruments and composed his own arrangements for traditional songs for the Praise Team.

'??It sounds more exhilarating, so it's good music and good voices,'?? he said.

Khvoshchinsky's contribution to the church's music program is one part of several projects he is currently working on, including an orchestra project that may be developed in the future. If the project is put in place it will accompany a highly praised musical piece he wrote for the St. Paul-based Rose Ensemble and a Christmas carol he composed for the musical group VocalEssence.

But for now, Khvoshchinsky's orchestra will be made up of the lay people participating in the Living Waters music program with the congregation acting as audience.

Source:

http://www.presspubs.com/articles/2008/12/02/quad_community_press/news/doc4935e758638b7408610440.txt

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