The Lutheran A Cappella Choir of the Tri-Cities

              The Lutheran A Cappella Choir
of the Tri-Cities
REV. OTTO H. BOSTROM, Ph. D.
Director
Members from Davenport Rock Island Moline and Augustana College


Martin Luther (1483—1546)


Fifth Successful Season

Organized in 1921


This mixed chorus is an excellently trained body of singers who make of sacred songs not only devotional excercises but put into them a fine sense of musical art and a diction which brings out with especial clarity the texts of their numbers.
Maurice Rosenfeld in Chicago Daily News.

Manager E. H. Strieter - Augustana Book Concern ROCK ISLAND, ILLINOIS




Dr. Bostrom has trained the choir with evident musical skill and with genuine musical talent and he may well be proud of the work he has accomplished.  There is a very even balance between the different choirs and there is also a commendable regard for accent and tone shading.—
MAURICE ROSENFELD, Chicago Daily News, May 9, 1925.


Figure



The Lutheran A Cappella Choir presented the phenomenon of having few voices of any astonishing beauty, and yet singing as a whole in a rather fine manner, unostentatiously but clearly and with impressive devotional spirit.—
EDW. MOORE, Chicago Tribune, May 9, 1925.

One ideal impels the Lutheran A Cappella Choir of the Tri-cities: Its unswerving and reverent devotion to the rendering of the best song treasures of the church.  It has sought to home in America a high type of unaccompanied choral song which shall both be an original reproduction of the masterpieces of European and American choral compositions and an aid in the present renaissance of the finer form of choral art.

Under its leader, Dr. Otto H. Bostrom, this group of forty-five choristers has taken rank in the forefront of singing organizations in this country.  Dr. Bostrom has with his natural musical talent attained a wide and varied knowledge of technique which has eminently fitted him as leader.  He has the cultural attainments—in scholarship as well as in music—enabling him to distinguish clearly the true purpose of sacred song.  In addition to degrees from Augustana College and Theological Seminary he holds a Ph.D. from Yale University.  At present he occupies the chair of professor of Christianity at Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill.  His personable presence has made him a welcome figure in singing circles.

Every concert of the Lutheran A Cappella Choir is an intimate introduction to the ideals and heart of its singers, for they throw themselves with unstinted inspiration into the music.  Each year has heightened the achievements of these choristers, because their purpose is steady.  Their high standing is evident from these press comments:


The Lutheran A Cappella Choir of Augustana College and the Tri-cities gave a program in Orchestra Hall last night that had to commend it not only admirable executive art but a program that included many of the masterpieces of devotional music, ancient and modern.
Now come these Lutheran choristers from Rock Island, Moline, and Davenport to prove that what has been done in rural Minnesota can be done in larger communities.  They sing with splendid discipline, with beautiful blending of fresh, attractive voices, with flawless balance of parts.—

GLENN DILLARD GUNN in Chicago Herald-Examiner, May 9, 1925.


This choir is an excellently trained body of singers, numbering about forty-five, under the direction of Rev. Otto H. Bostrom.  They have the spirit of a cappella singing and evidently they also have sincere appreciation for the meaning of the text.  Their singing had character.  Rev. Mr. Bostrom, the director, has been particularly successful in teaching his singers the choral pianissimo.  Their soft effects were lovely in tone quality and always expressive of the meaning of the words.—
KARLETON HACKETT in Chicago Evening Post, May 9, 1925.


The Lutheran A Cappella Choir is the equal of any a cappella choir which has visited Chicago during the last years.—
Music News, Chicago, Dec. 8, 1922.




THE LUTHERAN A CAPPELLA CHOIR

Their conductor, Otto H. Bostrom, is, it seems, an amateur.  At least, he can write Ph.D. after his name, a distinction which rather sets him apart from the professional musicians.  But he knows his craft and practices it with authority.—
GLENN DILLARD GUNN in Chicago Herald-Examiner, May 9, 1925.


REV. OTTO H. BOSTROM, PH.D.



Dr. Bostrom has proven himself a remarkable drillmaster for the perfection of ensemble, perfection in balance and blend, for nicety in dramatic value and nuances of every kind known to choral discourse.—
EUGENE E. SIMPSON in the Music News, Chicago, June 9, 1922.



FACSIMILE HEADLINES FROM REVIEWS BY EMINENT CHICAGO CRITICS

(Daily News)



(Herald-Examiner)