Special Guests

Special Guests
Saturday, March 2, 1996

The Alaska Chamber Singers were established in 1986 by Elvera Voth, who headed up the group through the 1993-94 season. The chorus is now under the leadership of Artistic Director David Hagen. They have performed choral masterworks such as Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass and Theresienmesse, Mozart's Vesperae Solennes, Purcell's Fairy Queen, Bach's Magnificat, Verdi's Te Deum, and Bernstein's Chichester Psalms. Their contemporary repertoire includes works by Charles Ives, Benjamin Britten, and Arthur Honegger. In 1992, the chorus represented the Mayor's Commission on a cultural exchange to Magadan, Russia. The Alaska Chamber Singers is made up of approximately 40 Anchorage-area singers, 27 of whom perform on today's show:

Soprano: Joan Blees, Trudy Gantz, Barbara Garner, Kathy Hagen, Sarah Jenkins, Maria Plakakis, Sue Sampson, Jennifer Vanover; Alto: Mary Jo Cadieux, Mary Daum, Julie Flynn, Nita Hinman, Melissa Johnson, Joanne Polacek, Wendy Zinkovsky; Tenor: Craig Blake, John Braden, Timothy Fosket, John Fraser, Ed Hudson, Mark Iverson; Bass: Ron Flugum, Larry Hagen, George Polacek, Bob Schmidt, Sam Struempler, and Bill Weith.

In 1985, at age 28, Libby Riddles became the first woman to win the 1049-mile Iditarod Sled-Dog Race. Riddles became an instant celebrity after crossing the Norton Sound in a complete whiteout, with the dangerous Bering Sea wind gusting at 70 miles per hour. She had moved to Alaska from Minnesota at the age of 16 and homesteaded in western Alaska several years before she ran her first race in 1978. It was a six-mile, five-dog race and she took first place. After that initial success, she devoted more and more time to the sport-she sewed her own gear, ran races, and bred dogs. Three years later, she moved north to Shaktoolik to prepare for the Iditarod by learning the Arctic lifestyle. She ran the race two times before winning in 1985, and she has run the race several times since then. Riddles continues to be active in the sport: she competes in several sled-dog races and has a kennel of 60 sled dogs that she breeds and trains. She has written an Iditarod school curriculum and two books: Race Across Alaska, a chronicle of her winning race; and a children's book, Danger the Dog Yard Cat. She's also been involved with several films and television presentations, including the 1993 Steven Seagal movie, On Deadly Ground.

Since its formation in 1979, the Northern Lights Dancers, a traditional Inuit dance group, has helped to rejuvenate Eskimo dance in Northern Alaska. The Inupieq dancers have traveled to Greenland, England, Hawaii, and many other places around the globe. Begun as an after-school activity for students, the Northern Lights Dancers grew as the group was encouraged to perform for tourists and at festivals across Alaska. When they're not traveling around the world, the Northern Lights Dancers can frequently be seen at the NANA Museum of the Arctic in their hometown of Kotzebue. Today's group is made up of 10 dancers, led by Ed Kotook: Clintonette Gregg, Nicole Jepson, Reggie Joule III, Calvin Lane, Mea Lane, Judy Monson, Cheryl Onstad, Tina Mae Sheldon, and Sidney Shrover.