Luverne grad is composer for Bill Holm tribute

Luverne native Martha Helen Schmidt has composed a setting of Minnesota poet Bill Holm’s “Playing Haydn for the Angel of Death,” a musical tribute to Holm that premieres Saturday in Minneapolis.
Schmidt, a composer and educator from Minneapolis, stopped in Luverne Monday ahead of Tuesday’s preview performance at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall.
The production also features pianist Daniel Rieppel, who was Holm’s good friend at SMSU, and singer Ryan Hugh Ross, a former student of Rieppel. They are all musicians and authors, as was Holm.
“Bill was a fine musician, and you will hear excerpts of his Boxelder Bug variations for piano at the concert,” Schmidt said.
“It’s kind of neat that we all have this southwest Minnesota connection,” Schmidt said. “We’re really excited. It’s a big piece for us.”
Her composition provides a 15-verse musical setting of Holm's epic poem entitled "Playing Haydn for the Angel of Death."
The world premiere will be at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 21, at the Open Book Literary Arts Center in the Target Performance Hall on Washington Avenue in Minneapolis.
Schmidt, daughter of Howard and Donna Schmidt, grew up east of Luverne and graduated with the LHS class of 1975. She learned piano and musical appreciation from her mother, who played organ for Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Luverne.
“She and I were a great team,” Schmidt recalled. “I played flute and sang, and she accompanied on the piano. We debuted at the Methodist Church when I was in sixth grade.”
She went on to earn a master’s degree in music and studied in France with world renown teacher Nadia Boulanger.
She’s had five choral octavos published and her choral works have been performed by regional college ensembles as well as Rockefeller Chapel at the University of Chicago, Basilicas of St. Mary’s and St. Mark’s Cathedral in Minneapolis, Notre Dame in Paris, St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome and St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin.
She collaborated with National Geographic photographer Jim Brandenburg, also a Luverne native, on “Earth Teach Me,” a choral work based on a Native American Ute poem illustrated by Brandenburg’s photos.
In another Luverne connection, in 2016 Schmidt wrote an Art Song called, “Lonely,” based on the poetry of poet Freya Manfred, daughter of the late Frederick Manfred, Luverne.
While in Luverne this week, she stopped at local attractions and visited the grave sites of her parents, Howard and Donna Schmidt, and grandparents, Art and Helen Schmidt and Dena and Louis Gilbertson.