Dr. Anne-Charlotte Harvey will present a program about Swedish immigration to America, with accompanying music, on Tuesday April 21.  Sponsored by the BHHA and the Illinois Arts Council Agency, this free public program will be held at the Dairy Building at 410 North Erickson Street at 7 p.m.  It will be an hour-long program with an intermission at the halfway point.

This program tells the story of the great emigration from Sweden to America, as told in a cavalcade of songs and music from Sweden and Swedish America. Lively and fast-moving, it will cover humorous and heart-felt songs, ballads of suffering and misfortune, songs of faith, and expressions of love of country—Sweden and America—while looking at the functions of music and song in the processes of adaptation and assimilation.  Special emphasis on songs connected to the area around Bishop Hill and Illinois. And there will be opportunities to sing-along (texts will be provided).

Through her work as a professor of theatre, translator, actor, singer, lecturer and scholar, Anne-Charlotte has spent her life contributing to Swedish-American culture in the United States.  Over the years, she has performed in more than one hundred concerts and cultural programs in the United States, Canada, and Sweden, presenting Scandinavian folk songs, emigrant ballads, and dramatic material.  Anne-Charlotte is also the past Grand Cultural Director of the VASA Order of America, was named “Swedish American of the Year” by the VASA Order in 2009, and is currently on the Board of Directors of the Swedish Council of America and the Swedish-American Historical Society.

For more information about this program, contact the Bishop Hill Heritage Association by calling (309) 927-3899, emailing bhha@mymctc.net  or visiting www.bishophillheritage.org.