View source for Mel Olson

{{Short description|American choral conductor (1930–2001)}}
{{for|American politician|Melvin Olson}}
{{Infobox person
|name        = Mel Olson
|image       =
|image_size  =
|caption     =
|birth_name  = Melvin Donald Olson
|birth_date  = {{birth date|1930|12|24}}
|birth_place = [[Wisconsin]], US
|death_date  = {{death date and age|2001|12|15|1930|12|24}}
|death_place = [[Nevada City, California]], US
|education   =
|occupation  = Choral conductor
}}
'''Melvin Donald Olson''' (December 24, 1930 – December 15, 2001) was an American choral conductor who introduced the compositions of [[John Rutter]] to the United States.
== Career ==
Born in Wisconsin, Olson studied at the [[Northwestern University]] and received his master's degree from [[Westminster Choir College]]. He directed, among others, the choir The Voices of Mel Olson, which was founded in 1969 and later called Master Singers, in [[Omaha, Nebraska]].<ref name="MSO" />
Olson and his choirs are the dedicatees of several of Rutter's works. He commissioned ''[[Gloria (Rutter)|Gloria]]'' in 1974 for The Voices of Mel Olson,<ref name="Long" /> which Rutter set according to Olson's specifications. Olson traveled to the UK to discuss details with the composer, who later credited him with influencing his compositions: "Much of the credit must go to Mel Olson … because, in telling me what he was looking for in a new choral work, he was telling me what thousands of other choral directors were looking for too.”<ref name="Quinn" /> Olson commissioned Rutter to compose "''I will lift up mine eyes''" ([[Psalm 121]]) for his church choir and orchestra at the First United Methodist Church of Omaha, where it was first performed one day after the ''Gloria''.<ref name="Green" />
In 1976, Olson commissioned James E. Fritschel to write ''Give Ear, O Ye Heavens'', after [[Deuteronomy]] 32:1 for unaccompanied double chorus, for The Voices of Mel Olson.<ref name="Vanderholm" /> Rutter dedicated his anthem ''[[The Lord is my Shepherd (Rutter)|The Lord is my Shepherd]]'' ([[Psalm 23]], published in 1978), to Olson and his Chancel Choir of the First United Methodist Church.<ref name="Shepherd" />
[[Edwin R. Fissinger]] composed on commission for Olson and the Voices of Mel Olson ''To Everything There Is A Season'', after [[Ecclesiastes]] III, for soprano, mezzo-soprano, tenor, speaker and choir, published in 1979 by Jenson Publications.<ref name="NDSU" /> Olson died in [[Nevada City, California]].{{citation needed|date=March 2017}}
== References ==
{{reflist|30em
| refs =
<ref name="Green">{{cite web
| last = Green
| first = Andrew
| url = http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA67259
| title = John Rutter (b 1945) / Gloria & other sacred music
| publisher = Hyperion Records
| year = 2001
| access-date = 11 March 2017
}}</ref>
<ref name="Long">{{cite book
| last1 = Long
| first1 = Siobhán Dowling
| last2= Sawyer
| first2= John F. A.
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=gZ5ZCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA92
| title = The Bible in Music: A Dictionary of Songs, Works, and More
| publisher = Rowman & Littlefield
| year = 2015
| isbn = 9780810884526
| page = 92
}}</ref>
<ref name="Quinn">{{cite web
| last = Quinn
| first = John
| url = http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2011/June11/Rutter_Gloria_8572653.htm
| title = John Rutter (b. 1945) / Gloria (1974) / Magnificat (1990) / Te Deum (1988)
| publisher = musicweb-international.com
| year = 2011
| access-date = 11 March 2017
}}</ref>
<ref name="Vanderholm">{{cite web
| last = Vanderholm
| first = Jennifer
| url = http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1060&context=musicstudent
| title = The Choral Music of James E. Fritschel with a Conductor's Special Focus on the Preparation
| publisher = digitalcommons.unl.edu
| year = 2013
| pages = 39–40
| access-date = 20 March 2017
}}</ref>
<ref name="NDSU">{{cite web
|url         = https://library.ndsu.edu/repository/bitstream/handle/10365/174/Mss0226.pdf
|title       = Fissinger, Edwin, 1920–1990
|publisher   = [[North Dakota State University|NDSU]]
|access-date  = 18 March 2017
|url-status     = dead
|archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20170319022143/https://library.ndsu.edu/repository/bitstream/handle/10365/174/Mss0226.pdf
|archive-date = 19 March 2017
}}</ref>
<ref name="MSO">{{cite web
| url = http://www.mastersingersomaha.com/about.html
| title = Master Singers
| publisher = mastersingersomaha.com
| access-date = 11 March 2017
}}</ref>
<ref name="Shepherd">{{cite book
| title = John Rutter / The Lord is my shepherd
| publisher = [[Oxford University Press]]
| year = 1978
}}</ref>
}}
== External links ==
* Loann Scarpato: [http://academyconcerts.org/category/hely-hutchinson/ John Rutter (b.1945): Gloria] academyconcerts.org 3 December 2013
* [http://savd.com.au/pdf/NAXOS_KEY_RELEASE_04.2011_JOHN_RUTTER.pdf John Rutter] [[Naxos Records|Naxos]] 2011
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Olson, Mel}}
[[Category:American choral conductors]]
[[Category:American male conductors (music)]]
[[Category:1930 births]]
[[Category:2001 deaths]]
[[Category:Classical musicians from Wisconsin]]
[[Category:Northwestern University alumni]]
[[Category:Westminster Choir College alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century American conductors (music)]]
[[Category:20th-century American male musicians]]