By Dylan Whitely, Senior Reporter
Another year of concerts is set to kick off at Northwestern.
The Northwest Oklahoma Concert Series begins Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Herod Hall with father-daughter singing duo Mat and Savanna Shaw.
The two Utah residents started posting videos of their performances on YouTube during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, and they quickly found success. Now they are traveling across the United States.
The duo’s performance will be full of songs and stories. And for concert series board member and director of choral studies at Northwestern, Dr. Karsten Longhurst, the first concert will be a reunion with an old college friend.
Longhurst and Mat Shaw sang together in the Weber State Chamber Choir for a couple years. During that time, they sang duets and were in quartets together.
Longhurst said the Shaws are not only talented musicians, but also delightful people.
“It’s easy to like them,” Longhurst said. “They know how to do great music.”
The Northwestern Singers will sing backup for the duo on two pieces, and Longhurst will accompany the duo on one piece.
The concert series was created years ago with the intention of bringing performing groups to Alva.
Although the concerts take place at Northwestern, the concert series is not affiliated with the university. It is a separate, non-profit organization made up of some Northwestern faculty members as well as other people from the community. The board is in charge of booking the acts for the series and controlling the budget for the series.
Like previous years, the series will consist of four concerts. Two performances will take place in the fall semester, and the other two will take place during the spring semester.
Longhurst said the series brings lots of talent to town that otherwise might not ever come to Alva. He said the series features up-and-coming artists as well as performers who have been doing professional work for years.
The series has had a good turnout from Alva community members, Longhurst said, but organizers always hope to get more involvement from community members and Northwestern students. He said this can be tough to do with all the different competing interests that people have, such as sports and church events.
“We have a system that works,” Longhurst said. “But we’re always trying to find new ways to get through to people’s busy lives and make live performances a priority, because there’s nothing like a live performance.”
Longhurst said he is looking forward to the upcoming series, and he encourages community members and students to attend the performances.
“We bring in quality acts,” Longhurst said. “We pride ourselves on making sure the brand of our Northwest Oklahoma Concert Series stands alone.”
For Northwestern students, admission is $5. Tickets can be purchased at the door or by visiting https://nwocs.ludus.com/index.php. Season passes are available.