Pioneer Conference Choir
Monday, November 10, 2014
Fourteen Diller-Odell students participated in the Pioneer Conference Choir at Sterling High School on Monday, November 10th. A concert began at 7:00 p.m. Students attending were: Kendra Barnts, Matti Barnts, Shyla Goldsberry, Calvin Hennerberg, John Hobbs, Ely Hroch, Lance Lawton, Brady McMurray, Stetson Meyer, Zach Rash, Kylie Reed, Austin Vitosh, Josie Vitosh and Kai Wendland. Schools who participated include: Friend, Southern, Johnson-Brock, Diller-Odell, Lewiston and Sterling. The guest director was Dr. Kurt Runestad.
Dr. Kurt Runestad has been privileged to be the Director of Choral/Vocal Activities at Doane College since the fall of 2004. At Doane he conducts or co-conducts three of Doane’s five choral ensembles, including the acclaimed Doane Choir, which tours nationally and internationally. Recent CDs by the Doane Choir (Precious Lord) and Doublewide (Doublewide and Downpour) are available for purchase on both iTunes and Amazon, and selections from most of Doane’s choral groups are also on YouTube. A Nebraska native, Runestad graduated from St. Olaf College (Northfield, Minnesota) with a B.A. in music education, taught 10 years in the public schools of Iowa and Minnesota, and earned two graduate degrees in choral conducting from the University of Iowa. Runestad is a frequent clinician, arranger, and adjudicator for choirs throughout the Midwest. In 2009 and 2014 he received “Outstanding Teacher of the Year” awards from Doane’s Student Congress. He lives in Lincoln, Nebraska with his wife Carly Woythaler-Runestad and their two children, daughter Avery (7) and son Owen (4). He is a board member of the Adams Elementary PTO, and outside of music and parenting also enjoys jogging (slower and slower all the time), gardening, reading, hiking, hunting, and camping and travelling with his family.