Submitted Photo Dr. Emerson Eads, director of the Minot State University Concert Choir and Minot Chamber Chorale, is shown during the Telemark Symphony’s traditional Syttende Mai concert in Skien, Norway, on May 17. Photo from Telemark Symphony.

A Minot tour group visiting Norway last month reinforced Minot’s support for its sister city agreement with Skien, Norway, with a mayor’s proclamation and a poem set to music.

Twenty-seven members of the Minot State University Concert Choir and 16 members of the Minot Chamber Chorale, directed by Dr. Emerson Eads, were on the 10-day trip. This was the MSU choir’s second trip to Norway.

The proclamation from Mark Jantzer, acting mayor of Minot, proclaims “our continued support for the Sister City agreement with our good friends in Skien, Norway, and vow to hold the agreement close to our hearts on a personal level as residents of Minot and continue to honor the spirit of our sister city on a community level, no matter the status of global politics and specifically any political differences between our two great nations.”

Minot and Skien mutually embarked upon a sister city relationship in 1981.

The Minot tour group’s first stop was in Skien.

“In an effort to further the aims of our sister city relationship, Minot State humanities professor Eric Furuseth wrote a poem, which was essentially a poetic call for unity between the two cities to recall our shared roots, and I set it to music and orchestrated it for full orchestra. This had its world premiere on May 17 with the Telemark Symphony, the Skien Men’s Choir, the Minot Chamber Chorale and the MSU Concert Choir singing,” Eads said.

Furuseth’s poem, set to music and orchestrated by Eads, is as follows:

We’ve arrived in Skien from Minot to join in Syttende Mai

We celebrate Norsk freedom as your flag is raised on high

That same flag flies over Minot, proud to show it and say:

Our heritage is from immigrants, so many from Norway.

And whatever may come our story remains

Heritage revered on the Northern Plains

Through all turmoil, we are forever bound

By the spirits of our ancestors

Where strength may be found!

Our special bond is with Skien, sister cities of similar size

Minot celebrates our good fortune to be here and watch the flag rise

So there as it flies on the breeze over our beloved Skien

We descendants of those who left here laud you who remain.

The Telemark Symphony’s concert on May 17 was its traditional Syttende Mai (Constitution Day) concert. It was held at Ibsenhuset, a Norwegian cultural center in Skien in Telemark County, Norway.

Submitted Photo
Members of the Minot State University Concert Choir and Minot Chamber Chorale perform with the Telemark Symphony in Skien, Norway, on May 17. Photo from Telemark Symphony.