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Weston Noble

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Weston Henry Noble is an accomplished music educator and conductor. As Professor Emeritus of Music at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, he is best known for directing the Luther College Nordic Choir and the Luther College Concert Band.

Biography

Weston Noble was born near Riceville, Iowa, in 1922. He received his early education in a one-room schoolhouse until the eighth grade and then attended high school in Riceville. Like many Iowans, Noble played in the high school band, sang in the chorus, and played solos at contest. He had first demonstrated his talents when taking piano lessons and came to master the clarinet and organ as well.

Encouraged by his father, Noble enrolled at Luther College in 1939. Majoring in music education, Noble quickly drew the attention of the music faculty because of his talents in conducting. Beginning in his second year, he began leading rehearsals. He did his student teaching at the high school in Decorah.

Because of World War II, Noble was called to active duty beginning in February 1943, near the end of his senior year. Nevertheless, he graduated magna cum laude. Trained as a tank driver, he served in such engagements as the Battle of the Bulge in 1944 and was part of the main thrust into the heart of Nazi Germany in 1945. Noble "liberated" some items from Berlin, including a marble bust of Beethoven previously owned by Reichsmarshall Hermann Göring.

In 1946, he returned to Iowa where he became a teacher at a small high school in LuVerne, Iowa. Luther College asked him to serve as a temporary director for one year. However, the college was so impressed with his performance that he stayed until his retirement in 2005. Noble directed the Concert Band from 1948-1973, and the Nordic Choir from 1948-2005.

Dr. Noble is an internationally acclaimed conductor as well as music educator. His distinguished career includes conducting more than 900 music festivals throughout the United States, Australia, Canada, Europe, Russia, and South America. The venues include Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in New York, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the Los Angeles Music Center, Chicago Orchestra Hall, the Ordway and Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis, the Bolshoi, Kremlin and Tchaikovsky Halls in Moscow. His is the only director to have led all-state choruses, bands and orchestras in all fifty states.

This spring, he conducted the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in a National Broadcast. He was also received the Distinguished Service Award from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which makes him the only non-Mormon to ever recieve this award. Dr. Noble became the first reciient of the annual Weston Noble Award, created in his honor bythe American Choral Directors Association, "In Recognition of Lifetime Achievement in the Choral Arts".

June 2006, he, once again, graced Guam's 3rd Annual Pacific Summer Music Festival as guest conductor. The efforts of the four groups (high school Festival Choir, Cantate Chamber Singers, Cantate Community Chorus and the Guam Youth Orchestra Ensemble) who gave of their voices and talents just two weeks prior to his arrival were praised by Dr. Noble as one of the finest he has ever had the pleasure to conduct.

Legacy

Noble built the 72-voice Nordic Choir into one of the most elite a cappella college choirs in the United States. His Nordic Choir has performed throughout the United States and indeed much of the world. He has served as guest conductor at more than 900 music festivals around the world. His love of music and passion and energy for conducting is unmatched. But more than this, the faith he modeled will have an enduring effect on generations to come.

Awards

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