At 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 13, a group of world-class musicians and vocalists will gather at Colonial Church to perform works by classical composers Gabriel Fauré and J.S. Bach. The Mother’s Day concert will conclude the sixth season of the Colonial Church Chamber series, a project organized by Edina resident Ellen Dinwiddie Smith—who also happens to have held the position of third horn in the Minnesota Orchestra since 2000.
Dinwiddie Smith, who joined the orchestra in 1993, is one of three members who live in Edina. All contributed to the community in ways that go beyond their work with the orchestra.
The Musician: Ellen Dinwiddie Smith
The Move: Dinwiddie Smith moved to Edina with her husband Mark Russell Smith (the former director of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra’s new music series) and their two sons in 1993.
“The people here are so wonderful; we’ve appreciated all of the different families we’ve gotten to know through our children,” she says. Their sons Alex, 17, and Noah, 15, are students at Blake School.
The Mission: Dinwiddie Smith organized her first chamber concert at Colonial Church in 2006, as a benefit for tsunami relief. That effort grew into an annual series of five or six concerts each season. In addition to 36 Minnesota Orchestra members, the series includes musicians from the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra who live in the area and sometimes includes the choir from Christ Presbyterian Church.
The Musician: Kenneth Freed
The Move: Freed and wife Gwen came to the Twin Cities in 1998; they chose Edina partially due to the reputation of the school system’s French immersion program. The Freeds have three children: Zachary and Nellie (also a string player as an aspiring violinist), who both attend Oberlin College, and Jonah, a high school sophomore. The Freed family visited the Twin Cities for a family reunion (Gwen’s father is from Minneapolis) a year or two before he auditioned for the orchestra. “We were struck by how beautiful it was; it looked like a great place to raise kids,” he recalls.
The Mission: Freed is also a conductor and gives back to the greater Minnesota community with his talents; he has been music director of the Mankato Symphony since 2006 and held the same post with the Kenwood Symphony Orchestra from 1998 to 2006. During 2005–2006 he served as an assistant conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra. Freed’s interest in children’s music education also led him to found a nonprofit company, Learning Through Music Consulting Group, which seeks to give music a central role in every child’s education. As musicians, “It’s such a gift to be able to do what we love; we feel we have a responsibility to give back,” he says.
The Musician: Tim Zavadil
The Move: Zavadil joined the Minnesota Orchestra in 2007 as clarinetist and bass clarinetist; he also plays saxophone, contrabass clarinet and basset horn. Along with wife Tracey, Zavadil chose Edina because of “the tight-knit family environment, and lots of family-friendly things to do,” he says. Their two oldest children are aspiring musicians who attend Edina schools and are part of the band programs: 12-year-old Emily plays clarinet, while 10-year-old Fletcher studies piano; 5-year-old Megan is going to start taking piano lessons at home from her mother, who is also a pianist and vocalist.
The Mission: Last fall, Zavadil participated in a benefit concert for the Neighborhood Involvement Program, a nonprofit providing medical and dental cost assistance to those in need. The concert took place at Temple Israel in Minneapolis.
The Mother’s Day concert at Colonial Church will include Fauré’s “Requiem,” featuring the Colonial Chorale, Colonial Chamber Singers, the Chancel Choir of Christ Presbyterian Church and the Colonial String Ensemble conducted by Mark Stover. The Colonial String Ensemble will round out the program with J.S. Bach’s “Brandenburg Concerto No. 6.” Find ticket information here.
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Log on to minnesotaorchestra.org for ticket information.
Upcoming Performances at Orchestra Hall
- 8 p.m. May 18–19 and 2 p.m. May 20: The orchestra with Russian pianist Yevgeny Sudbin perform works by Prokofiev, Mozart and Sibelius
- 1 and 3 p.m. June 3: Prokofiev’s musical Peter and the Wolf
- 11 a.m. June 7, 8 p.m. June 8–9 and 2 p.m. June 10: The orchestra with soprano Deborah Wright performs works by Strauss
- 7:30 p.m. June 14 and 8 p.m. June 15–16: The season’s finale concert: An Evening of Tribute and Surprise
- 8 p.m. June 29–30: Special performance of Over the Rainbow: Celebrating the Music of Harold Arlen.
