LeRoy Larson 16633 South 2nd Street Lakeland MN 55043 (651) 436-4459 Work Samples Audio: Molokai Waltz Dagny Millennium Polka To hear the work samples, Windows Media Player is required. If you do not have it installed, you can download it for free here: Download Windows Media Player

Minnesota Scandinavian Ensemble, The Scandinavian, Scandinavian-American, Norwegian music The Minnesota Scandinavian Ensemble was organized in 1974 by LeRoy Larson, whose research into Scandinavian folk music in the Midwest became his Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Minnesota in 1975. For 30 years the ensemble has been researching, resurrecting, and recording Scandinavian and Scandinavian-American music. They have performed throughout the Midwest, Canada, and Norway, and have been featured on National Public Radio's "A Prairie Home Companion," national and local cable television, and Norwegian national radio and television. Their concerts include interesting historical information, anecdotes, humor, dialect songs, jokes, and a great diversity of sounds and styles resulting from various combinations of instruments. The ensemble is also available for old-time dancing. Available: Anytime; no mileage restriction Space: No special space or technical requirements Fee: Negotiable

Additional Information:
Scandinavian and Scandinavian-American Music

The Minnesota Scandinavian Ensemble performs an eclectic and entertaining mix of music, humor and history from Scandinavian and early immigrant traditions.

LeRoy Larson founded the Ensemble in 1974. He had grown up around Scandinavian music, and had been recording it since the late 1960s. In the course of writing a Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Minnesota, he did extensive fieldwork on Scandinavian music in the Midwest. LeRoy had also assembled a vast collection of old 78RPM records that were a valuable historical record of these musical traditions. In the early days of the Ensemble, these recordings provided much of the group's repertoire. To this day, the Ensemble continues to play the waltzes, polkas and schottisches that form the backbone of the Scandinavian old-time dance music repertoire. The members of the group, all of whom come from Scandinavian or Scandinavian-American families, have their musical roots in traditional dance bands. They play accordion, banjo, mandola, guitar, fiddle, button-box, and a variety of other instruments. Together, they give performances that are entertaining, skillful, and educational.

For over 25 years, the Minnesota Scandinavian Ensemble has performed at festivals, dances, concerts, parties, and on radio and television programs. They continue to do new research, resurrect old music, and record. The Ensemble specializes in music that has emerged from Scandinavian immigrant communities in the Midwest, particularly that of Norwegian-Americans from Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin. Their programs often include vocal music, instrumental dance tunes, old Scandinavian-American dialect songs, jokes, anecdotes, historical material, and original pieces in traditional styles. They have played on National Public Radio's "A Prairie Home Companion," by invitation at an emigration festival in Norway, and at a concert before King Olav V. In 1989, they received a Minnesota Music Award.

The Minnesota Scandinavian Ensemble offers very flexible programs. They play for dances, do concerts, and conduct workshops. They can create presentations with an emphasis on history, on early immigrant music, or focused on Swedish or Norwegian heritage. By special arrangement, they can also bring dancers along to teach dance steps.