Afternoon Tea
with Anna Koopmann and Casey Smithley Sun., April 29, 2018 3:00 p.m. Timbers Event Center, Staples |
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Enjoy a variety of sweets & savories, while being serenaded by harp and acoustic guitar.
Koopmann and Smithley are both alumni of Staples-Motley High School (SMHS) and have gone on to pursue music in their respective fields.
A 2016 graduate of SMHS, Koopmann is now a sophomore at St. Olaf College in Northfield where she is pursuing degrees in Instrumental Music Education and CAL (Communication Arts and Literature) Education. She performs with the St. Olaf Orchestra and Band; and currently studies harp at the University of Minnesota with Kathy Kuienzle, the principal harpist with the Minnesota Orchestra.
She grew up in Motley as part of a musical family. “Having both of my parents as my music teachers at school kept me very busy,” Koopmann said of her parents John and Cindy, adding that she sang in the choir and played a variety of instruments, including violin, viola, cello, French horn, piano, handbells and percussion. She was five years old when she started playing piano, and was surprised with a small harp when she was eight. Anna credits her older sister, Sarah, with being a role model in the area of music, and her entire family for providing inspiration to her as they shared their skills, knowledge and critique. “I feel very blessed to have grown up in a community that surrounded me with opportunities to experience and share music of so many varieties,” Koopmann said.
Expect to hear a fun variety of music during Koopmann’s set. “The harp can convey so many different sounds and characters, which have changed in use through the instrument’s history,” she shared. Koopmann said her repertoire will begin with music written for early pedal harps in the 19th century; and then work through folk songs, dances and concert music from the British Isles to France, to a twist on some familiar 20th century Americana music.
Music has been a part of Smithley’s life for as long as he can remember, he said.
Smithley grew up in Staples, where his mother’s family (Blessing) is from. He remembers spending time at his grandparents’ house, singing oldies along with the jukebox in their basement as young child. “I’m told I knew which buttons to push on the jukebox for whatever song I might want though I wasn’t tall enough to see which buttons I was pushing,” Smithley said. When he was six, he started taking piano lessons from his uncle, Mike Blessing, and continued to have wonderful music education throughout his schooling at Staples-Motley, where he participated in choir and band.
After graduating from SMHS in 2009, Smithley went on to attend the University of St. Thomas where he earned a degree in philosophy; and then later a Juris Doctor degree from St. Thomas School of Law.
Smithley started playing guitar when he was in middle school, but stopped playing for awhile after high school. It was during undergraduate school that he discovered and was inspired by modern acoustic finger style guitar players on YouTube, but said he found out fairly quickly that what they were doing was beyond his grasp. Several years later, Smithley decided to finally learn the odd techniques they were doing and once again picked up the guitar.
Since that time, Smithley has continued to hone his skills and in 2017, placed fourth at the Wilson Center Guitar Festival in Milwaukee, Wis., where he competed in the finger style category. “What really drew me to this particular style of guitar is that not only are you aiming to play beautiful melodic lines as a solo instrumentalist, but you’re also (at times) trying to recreate the entire band…” Smithley said. “That’s really intriguing and inspiring to me and I enjoy the challenge.”
Smithley and his wife Elizabeth make their home in Plymouth. They have two children, Sophia and Leo.
This will be the final concert in this year’s regular arts council season. The summer concert series in Staples, held at Northern Pacific Park on Sunday evenings, begins July 8.
Koopmann and Smithley are both alumni of Staples-Motley High School (SMHS) and have gone on to pursue music in their respective fields.
A 2016 graduate of SMHS, Koopmann is now a sophomore at St. Olaf College in Northfield where she is pursuing degrees in Instrumental Music Education and CAL (Communication Arts and Literature) Education. She performs with the St. Olaf Orchestra and Band; and currently studies harp at the University of Minnesota with Kathy Kuienzle, the principal harpist with the Minnesota Orchestra.
She grew up in Motley as part of a musical family. “Having both of my parents as my music teachers at school kept me very busy,” Koopmann said of her parents John and Cindy, adding that she sang in the choir and played a variety of instruments, including violin, viola, cello, French horn, piano, handbells and percussion. She was five years old when she started playing piano, and was surprised with a small harp when she was eight. Anna credits her older sister, Sarah, with being a role model in the area of music, and her entire family for providing inspiration to her as they shared their skills, knowledge and critique. “I feel very blessed to have grown up in a community that surrounded me with opportunities to experience and share music of so many varieties,” Koopmann said.
Expect to hear a fun variety of music during Koopmann’s set. “The harp can convey so many different sounds and characters, which have changed in use through the instrument’s history,” she shared. Koopmann said her repertoire will begin with music written for early pedal harps in the 19th century; and then work through folk songs, dances and concert music from the British Isles to France, to a twist on some familiar 20th century Americana music.
Music has been a part of Smithley’s life for as long as he can remember, he said.
Smithley grew up in Staples, where his mother’s family (Blessing) is from. He remembers spending time at his grandparents’ house, singing oldies along with the jukebox in their basement as young child. “I’m told I knew which buttons to push on the jukebox for whatever song I might want though I wasn’t tall enough to see which buttons I was pushing,” Smithley said. When he was six, he started taking piano lessons from his uncle, Mike Blessing, and continued to have wonderful music education throughout his schooling at Staples-Motley, where he participated in choir and band.
After graduating from SMHS in 2009, Smithley went on to attend the University of St. Thomas where he earned a degree in philosophy; and then later a Juris Doctor degree from St. Thomas School of Law.
Smithley started playing guitar when he was in middle school, but stopped playing for awhile after high school. It was during undergraduate school that he discovered and was inspired by modern acoustic finger style guitar players on YouTube, but said he found out fairly quickly that what they were doing was beyond his grasp. Several years later, Smithley decided to finally learn the odd techniques they were doing and once again picked up the guitar.
Since that time, Smithley has continued to hone his skills and in 2017, placed fourth at the Wilson Center Guitar Festival in Milwaukee, Wis., where he competed in the finger style category. “What really drew me to this particular style of guitar is that not only are you aiming to play beautiful melodic lines as a solo instrumentalist, but you’re also (at times) trying to recreate the entire band…” Smithley said. “That’s really intriguing and inspiring to me and I enjoy the challenge.”
Smithley and his wife Elizabeth make their home in Plymouth. They have two children, Sophia and Leo.
This will be the final concert in this year’s regular arts council season. The summer concert series in Staples, held at Northern Pacific Park on Sunday evenings, begins July 8.
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Underwritten by
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Ticket information
Advance ticket sales close at noon the day of the show. For weekend shows, advance ticket sales close at noon the business day prior to performance day. Credit card sales are not available at the door or at the Staples World. Timbers Event Center in Staples and United Methodist Church in Motley are both handicap accessible.
The Concert Series is paid for by grants, underwriting, donations and ticket sales. It is not too late to make a tax deductible donation. Our address is P.O. Box 132, Staples, MN 56479.
Staples Motley Area Arts Council activities are sponsored in part by the Minnesota State Arts Board through the arts and cultural heritage fund as appropriated by the Minnesota State Legislature with money from the Legacy Amendment vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.
Staples Motley Area Arts Council activities are sponsored in part by the Minnesota State Arts Board through the arts and cultural heritage fund as appropriated by the Minnesota State Legislature with money from the Legacy Amendment vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.
