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Minot Symphony Orchestra presents video game scores with ‘Fun and Games’

MSU student featured artist at concert

Sean Bostrom to perform “Rhapsody in Blue” on the piano with the Minot Symphony Orchestra on March 7. Submitted Photo

The Minot Symphony Orchestra will perform “Fun and Games” on Saturday, March 7 at 7:30 at Minot State University in Ann Nicole Nelson Hall. Tickets for the concert are $25 for adults, with senior and student discounts, and can be purchased online at www.minotsymphony.com or by calling 858-4228.

“Fun and Games” is a unique concert. The pieces the symphony will be playing are from video games, “Tomb Raider” and “Assassin’s Creed.” Those who attend are encouraged to dress in cosplay as a video game character. However, the cosplays must be non-obstructive so everyone can have a view of the symphony. The members of the symphony will also be dressing in cosplay. Some sections are actually planning on having their own themes, but those are being kept secret until the night of the concert.

The Minot Symphony Orchestra will also be holding a cosplay contest with two age categories. The junior category is for ages 18 and under and the adult category is 19 and older. The first place winners of either category will get two tickets to iMagicon in April. People with iMagicon will be judges for the contest. To participate in the contest, the cosplayer must have a ticket.

There will also be a bar open from 6:30-7:20 p.m. In addition, a surprise artist will be displaying her artwork in Old Main.

An MSU student will be performing Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” with the symphony. Sean Bostrom is a choral music education major at MSU, studying piano and voice.

The opportunity to play in a concert with the Minot Symphony Orchestra was won by audition through the Senior Honors Program. Bostrom is very thankful that he was chosen as the featured soloist, never having played with a symphony before.

He grew up in Orland, Calif., starting on the piano at eight years old. At first, his parents enrolled him in piano lessons because he wasn’t adept at math. As his math skills improved, he began to enjoy playing the piano. Bostrom said he got more and more involved and decided to make a career out of it.

He attended William Finch Charter School in his hometown. The superintendent highly recommended attending MSU, as he was raised in Minot and also attended MSU. Bostrom heard that MSU has a highly successful music program. He has been able to finish his degree in four years and is unsure if he will stay in North Dakota or move back to California.

As part of the education degree, he has to student teach. He was able to go to Willows, Calif., to student teach elementary students. In about a month, Bostrom said he would go to a high school to see which age group he would like to share his love of music with as a music teacher/choir director.

This summer, he has an opportunity to travel to Austria to study piano through the Vienna Summer Music History and Performance Program.

Earning a master’s degree in collaborative piano and/or choral conducting is something the young musician has done some looking into. The University of Idaho caught his eye for his master’s degree, but Bostrom hasn’t looked into many other colleges quite yet. Teaching for a few years to gain some experience will come first.

Music educators must know how to teach all sorts of different instruments, whether they be brass, woodwind or string intruments. Bostrom said he knows how the instruments are played, but is only proficient on the piano. He also sings, but he prefers to play piano because he’s been making music with his hands much longer than he has with his voice.

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