Weston Noble to Retire
March 24, 2004

End of an era

Weston Noble to retire as Nordic Choir director, professor of music at
Luther College

DECORAH, Iowa - A remarkable era of music performance and education at
Luther College will come to an end next year when Weston Noble,
internationally acclaimed music educator and choral conductor, retires
after a 57-year career at the college.

Noble, recipient of innumerable music and music education awards and the
spiritual and motivational core of the Luther music program since 1948, has
announced his intention to retire at the end of the 2004-05 academic year.

He will remain an active member of the college's music programs and faculty
as a music student recruiter with the Luther Admissions Office.

" For everything there is a season and a time for every matter under
heaven," Noble said, quoting Ecclesiastes 3:1. "I've been blessed with so
many good and joyful seasons and so many wonderful people to share them.

" Seasons of change are difficult, but God promises us there will be days of
sunshine ahead," he said. "Luther's tradition of witnessing God's word and
work through music will go forward into a new season, and I am looking
ahead to the new work I hope to do."

The joy and transforming experience of music has been the centerpiece of
Nobles teaching and ministry through six decades. His conducting energy
and enthusiasm, whether directing a choir of international stature or a
junior high ensemble at a summer festival, has inspired and influenced
students to seek their highest level of talent and character.

"Weston Noble's contribution to music at Luther College - and to music
education across the United States and around the world - is immeasurable,"
said Luther President Richard Torgerson. "The lives of tens of thousands
of students have been touched and shaped by this quiet and humble man who
has used his gift of music to guide people to the essential values of life."

" Every week, former students of Weston's contact the college to express
their admiration of, and their thanks to, this man for his positive
influence on their lives," President Torgerson said.

"Weston Noble has been the visionary, the builder and the steward of
Luther College's exemplary music program, "President Torgerson said. "Even
more important, he has been the light, the guide and the mentor for
countless thousands of people who have found their calling and their
spiritual awakening through their experience with Weston and his music."

President Torgerson said Luther College will launch a national search for a
music professor and conductor of the Nordic Choir. "Luther's music
programs will go forward under new leadership," he said, "although it will
be impossible to truly replace a man like Weston Noble."

Noble has been at the center of Luther's emergence, growth and achievement
as one of the nation's most outstanding college music programs. In his
first year, the college had nine full and part-time music faculty members,
four performing ensembles, and 11 students majoring in music. At the end
of his career, the college has 52 full-time, part-time and adjunct music
faculty, 14 performing ensembles involving more than 1,000 students, and
more than 250 students majoring in music.

Noble said his goal as a Luther music teacher and conductor was to follow
in the tradition established by Carlo A. Sperati, an 1888 graduate of
Luther who was ordained as a pastor and returned to the college as director
of music and leader of the Luther College Band from 1905-45. Sperati
developed a model college music program and led the band on extensive tours
throughout the United States and on two tours to Europe.

Today, Luther's touring ensembles perform in 30-50 cities in the United
States and foreign nations each year. Tours abroad have taken Nordic
Choir, Symphony Orchestra, Concert Band and Jazz Band to dozens of foreign
nations.

Noble has been leader and conductor of 93 music ensemble tours, 27 of the
Concert Band, including two tours of Europe, and 66 of the Nordic Choir,
including nine abroad.

Under his direction, the Luther College Concert Band toured nationwide and
is the only college band to have performed twice, in 1966 and 1970, at
Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall in New York City. The band's 1970
performance received a full review in the New York Times.

Noble is perhaps best known in his role as director of Nordic Choir, the
72-voice ensemble that has earned a reputation as one of the elite a
cappella college choirs in the nation.

Nordic Choir tours annually throughout the United States and has appeared
in Lincoln Center, New York; Kennedy Center, Washington D.C.; Orchestra
Hall, Chicago; Orchestra Hall Minneapolis; Crystal Cathedral, Los Angeles;
Ordway Music Theatre, St. Paul, Minn.; and the Mormon Tabernacle, Salt Lake
City.

On foreign tours, Nordic Choir has performed in Norway, England, Germany,
Russia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, the Baltic countries, Mexico and the
Caribbean. On tour in the Soviet Union, the choir performed with the
Moscow Chamber Orchestra. Nordic Choir has also performed in Tchaikovski
Hall in Moscow, the Performance Hall of the Hermitage Theatre in St.
Petersburg and the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest.

Beyond the power of their music, Nordic Choir members have mirrored the
convictions and the faith of their director. On tour in 1988 in the Soviet
Union, choir members decided to forego changes of clothes and other
" non-essentials" so they could pack their suitcases with Bibles to smuggle
into the hands of Soviet citizens who were denied religious freedom and
their Christian heritage.

Weston Noble's name has been linked with Luther College's performance of
Handel's "Messiah"since 1948. At its peak, the annual Christmas concert
featured a 1,000-plus-voice chorus and was performed twice on the college's
Christmas celebration weekend. From 1952-66, he also directed an annual
" Messiah" performance in Minneapolis. Noble plans to conduct another
" Messiah" performance at Luther in December 2004.

Initiated by Noble in the 1980s, "Christmas at Luther," the college's
Juletide concert, has gained national fame through television productions
with Iowa Public Television. The latest "Christmas at Luther" program was
broadcast on more than 100 public television stations nationwide.

Luther College Dorian Music Programs are another of Noble's music education
innovations. In 1950, he guided the student Dorian Music Society in the
planning of a high school band festival on campus.

That event was the precursor of the Dorian Music Festivals (vocal,
orchestra, keyboard, and band) that brings thousands of high school and
junior high students to the Luther campus each year to study and perform
under the guidance of college-level instructors.

Beyond the campus, Noble has gained a national and international reputation
as one of the world's top clinicians. His first experience as a clinician
and adjudicator at a music festival was at Chatfield, Minn., in
1949. Since that time he has served as guest conductor at some 900 music
festivals around the world, including festivals in all 50 states. During a
typical year, he has accepted 25-30 invitations to serve as a festival
director, clinician or adjudicator.

The accolades he has gained for his work are beyond counting. A brief list
of his honors and awards includes: first person to be named Outstanding
Music Educator of the United States by the National Federation of State
High School Associations in 1989; Outstanding Music Educator Award,
presented by the Iowa Music Education Association in 1992; first recipient
of the Weston H. Noble Award for lifetime achievement in the choral art,
presented in 1994 by the American Choral Directors Association; and
honorary doctor of arts degrees awarded by St. Olaf College in 1996 and
Augustana (S.D.) College in 1971
.
The government and people of Norway honored Noble in 1999 when the Royal
Norwegian Embassy presented him with the St. Olav's Medal from King Harald
of Norway for his contributions to Norwegian-American
relationships. Luther has recognized his contributions to the college with
the naming of the Jenson-Noble Hall of Music and the Noble Recital Hall in
his honor.

Biography
Weston Henry Noble was born in 1922 on a 160-acre farm west of Riceville,
Iowa. He was one of seven children of Ruth Lappin Noble and Merwin Henry
Noble. The Nobles were members of the Free Methodist Church in Riceville.

He attended a rural one-room school through eighth grade and then attended
Riceville High School. He first showed his proficiency in music at age
five when he began piano lessons.

Noble played clarinet in the high school band, sang in the chorus,
participated in stage plays and played a piano solo in the district high
school music contest his senior year. He was valedictorian of his high
school class.

His father advised him to attend Luther College, and he chose music as his
major when he enrolled in 1939. He played clarinet in the Luther Concert
Band, sang with the men's chorus and was the organist for Decorah Methodist
Church and for the college's KWLC Radio program Hymns We Love.

Luther music faculty recognized his conducting talent, and he occasionally
conducted rehearsals beginning his sophomore year. During his senior year,
he was assistant conductor of the men's chorus and directed rehearsals of
Handel's "Messiah." He did his student teaching at Decorah High School.

In February 1943, near the end of his senior year, he was called to active
duty in the U.S. Army in World War II. Despite the interruption of his
college career, he received the bachelor of arts degree, magna cum laude.

Noble trained as a tank driver with an armored division and was deployed
with his tank company in Europe in September 1944. His unit was engaged in
the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944 and was involved in the U.S.
Army's drive into central Germany in the spring of 1945.

His company had advanced to the Elbe River when the war ended on May 8,
1945, and they were the first American troops to enter Berlin on July
5. Noble entered a personal footnote to the history of the war on that
day: he was the first U.S. soldier to enter Adolf Hitler's
headquarters. He "liberated" some souvenirs, including a piece of marble
from Hitler's desktop, and shipped them home to his family, but the items
never arrived.

Noble remained in Berlin as part of the Army of Occupation until January 1946.
When he returned to the United States, he took a teaching job at LuVerne
(Iowa) High School, a school of 93 students. During his two years there,
the school won unprecedented music honors, earning Division 1 ratings in
the state music performance contest in the spring of 1948.

Luther recruited Noble to take a one-year position on the college's music
faculty while the school conducted a search for a permanentconductor of
Nordic Choir and Concert Band. After Noble's year of temporary service,
the college suspended the search and awarded the faculty position to him.

Noble studied each summer at the University of Michigan and earned the
master's degree in 1951.

For 25 years, Noble directed both the Concert Band and the Nordic
Choir. Since 1973, he has directed Nordic Choir only, except for
occasional service as conductor of other college vocal ensembles.

Contact: Jerry Johnson, Director of Public Information
Telephone: (563) 387-1865
E-mail: johnsjer@luther.edu johnsjer@luther.edu