Aaberg returns to Havre for holiday concert Sunday

At 2 p.m. Sunday, world-renowned musician and Chester-native Phil Aaberg will return to Havre for the "Christmas From The Hi-Line" concert at the Havre High School Auditorium, hosted by the Hi-Line Arts Council.

Aaberg, a Grammy- and Emmy-nominated pianist and composer will play with Havre High School band and choir students in this collection of specially arranged Christmas music.

"I love coming back to Havre, it's always great to play there," Aaberg said Tuesday.

He said Havre has a rich musical tradition, especially with young people, and he's excited for the opportunity to play with the students.

He said the concert will have his own arrangements of Christmas music and carols, some well-known, others more obscure, but all performed in the spirit of the place and people that raised him.

Aaberg said he believes one's childhood, the mentors they had growing up, and where they grew up are the strongest influences on a person, and those are what inspire his musical style.

He said he tries to reflect the vast openness of Montana and the Hi-Line in his music, including his Christmas music.

"It's a rich landscape and a rich life, and that influenced me a lot," he said. " ... The Big Sky."

Aaberg said he's coached plenty of music students over the years, including piano classes with students across the Hi-Line, but this will be the first time working with this group of students at this concert, which started during the pandemic.

The first iteration of the concert was broadcast from his studio in Chester, he said, when the pandemic was still going on, but they've since done more traditional concerts and it will certainly be an experience for the students.

He said he wants to give them a taste of what it means to be a professional musician, who needs to work hard, sometimes with little time to prepare, and that will be a valuable experience for them.

He said he's worked with students across the U.S. especially through Arts Without Borders, a non-profit that brings professional musicians to teach young people in small and rural communities.

Aaberg himself grew up in Chester and, by the age of 15, he was engaged in private piano study in Spokane, Washington, under the tutelage of Margaret Saunders Ott, a Julliard-trained pianist and teacher at Whitworth College. Every two weeks, Aaberg rode the train to Spokane for his lesson.

Aaberg's abilities later earned him a Leonard Bernstein Scholarship and Harvard National Scholarship at Harvard College, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in music.

He moved to San Francisco to make pop and rock records, and played solo and in small combos in blues clubs there until joining the Elvin Bishop Group in 1973, playing with them for four years and performed on several of their records.

He also toured with Peter Gabriel and recorded with the Doobie Brother, Kenny Rogers and Vince Gill.

His influential solo album "High Plains" was released in 1985 on Windham Hill Records, showcasing his eclectic musical background and becoming an immediate hit.

Aaberg and his family then moved back to Chester to run their recording label, "Sweetgrass Music," and stayed there for years before moving to Helena, where they now live.

Aaberg has been awarded numerous honors throughout his career including Montana Governor's Award for Arts, Montana Arts Council Artists Innovative Award, an Honorary Doctorate in Music from MSU in 2013, the Montana Governor's Humanities Award and Montana Treasured Artist in 2016.

Aaberg said he does a lot of music on commission these days, but it's always great to do shows as well, especially in a place that he has so much personal connection to.

The concert will be at the Havre High School Auditorium with tickets available for $20 for adults and $10 for students, seniors and military personnel/veterans, and free for children 12 and younger.

Tickets are available at the door or at the Havre Area Chamber of Commerce, & Company Apparel and Design, Bear Paw Meats and The Computer Center, as well as online at https://hilineartscouncil.org .

"The Arts Council is honored to welcome Phil Aaberg back to the Hi-Line to put all of us in the Christmas spirit," Hi-Line Arts Council President Grant Olson said in a press release about the event.

Aaberg said they will have CDs and LPs there as well.

The event is being sponsored by BNSF Railway, Valley Furniture, Northern Montana Health Care, Havre Area Chamber of Commerce, Bear Paw Development Corp., MSU-Northern, Montana Actors' Theatre, Gary & Leo's Fresh Foods, Triangle Communications, Debbie Vandeberg, MSU Extension, AmericInn, Havre Public Schools Education Foundation, and others.