'noonartsound' Returns to Library With Oct. 7 Program on World War II Jazz

noonartsound, a series of programs that blend musical performance and historical perspective, returns to the University of St. Thomas this semester with a World War II jazz program from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 7, in the first-floor O’Shaughnessy Room (Room 108) of O’Shaughnessy-Frey Library Center on the university’s St. Paul campus.

noonartsound hosts Shelley Nordtorp-Madson and Chris Kachian.

noonartsound hosts Shelley Nordtorp-Madson and Chris Kachian.

The program, free and open to all, brings together the talents of Dr. Shelly Nordtorp-Madson, chief curator and a member of the clinical faculty in the Department of Art History, and Dr. Chris Kachian, guitarist and professor of music.

“From zoot suits and bobby soxers to rationing and victory gardens, to the GI Bill and Rosie the Riveter, the 1940s was a time of great social upheaval, leaving no part of society untouched,” Kachian said. “Frank Sinatra was a teenage star, and Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire brought a whisper of a carefree, sophisticated society that was far from armament factories and foxholes.”

Nordtorp-Madson and Kachian have been performing these popular lecture-concerts together for 11 years. The professors are known their unique style and humor, along with beautiful, satisfying, yet “unstuffy,” presentations of their art.

Here’s the noonartsound schedule:

  • Nov. 4: Ireland
  • Dec. 2: Spanish Flamenco with Guest Guitarist Tony Hauser
  • March 3, 2015: Vienna and Franz Schubert
  • April 7, 2015: The British Invasion: 1964-1967
  • May 5, 2015: The 1930s With Songs of the Early Labor Movement

If you have any questions, please contact Julie Kimlinger at jakimlinger@stthomas.edu or (651) 962-5014.