The Finnish American Folk Festival of Naselle is pleased to announce a pre-festival concert of devotional music . . .

While We Wait

Joel and Naomi Stamoolis are musicians from Alaska. Joel plays guitar and bass, Naomi plays oboe and English horn, and they both sing. They have performed in several orchestras and jazz groups in the Anchorage and Matanuska Valley area, and Joel is music pastor to the Wasilla Bible Church.

This concert features their worship music. While We Wait seems a fitting title for this concert . . . “While I Wait” is one of the many touching songs from their recent album, New Each Morning.

A previous CD, Offering, will be available for purchase after the concert, along with the more recent . . . offering.

Stamoolis, of course, is not a Finnish name. Joel springs from Swedish and Greek forebears, and hails from the mid-west; Naomi, on the other hand, has roots in our region. (If you need a name, the relevant Finn one is Wirkkala, though you can throw in a Koivukoski and a non-Finn name, too, Heppner.)

The concert takes place at 6:30 PM on Thursday, July 24, in Deep River’s Pioneer Lutheran Church. A lovely setting for an evening of contemplative music.

This is a free concert, though donations to the Pioneer Lutheran Church are appreciated by the community.

More music at the festival: finnam.naselle.net/2008/music/.

Festival main page: finnam.naselle.net/2008/.

Here is a picture from a past concert at the Deep River Lutheran Church. Many local festival-goers have enjoyed these concerts for their simplicity. There is little hustle and bustle out in Deep River, and these concerts offer a time for peaceful reflection.