Northeast District ACE Award

Lisa Forsell

Nominated & Presented by Sheila Shusterich

The Northeast District is happy to nominate Lisa Forsell for the 2020 ACE Award. Lisa is the director of music at Salem Lutheran Church in Duluth. She has a thriving piano studio and has served as a collaborative pianist for numerous choral programs in our area.

Sheila Shusterich, who nominated Lisa for this honor and presented her the award in our socially-distanced ceremony, says:

I have known Lisa Forsell since her undergraduate days at UMD when she was a student in the early childhood music course I taught. Lisa struck me then as very creative and a good musician.  We reconnected when Lisa moved back to Duluth after having lived and taught music in southern Minnesota.

Starting in 2010, at Holy Rosary School in Duluth, Lisa accompanied my programs for both K-5 music and 6-7-8 choir. When I moved back into the Duluth public schools in 2014, I called on Lisa to accompany the middle school choirs at Ordean.

Lisa is skilled at the keyboard. She always showed up at rehearsals prepared and was ready to go! Lisa shared ideas, offering her thoughts when asked, and was one of the best collaborative pianists I have had the opportunity to work with over the years.

Some highlights include having Lisa play for the Ordean East grades 7-8 Select Choir when the students sang for the 2018 Fall ACDA-MN conference at St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church in Mahtomedi, and having Lisa play for my last concert with the 7-8 Select at Duluth’s Sacred Heart Music Center last June.

Lisa has great accompanying instincts and many times it was as if she was able to read my mind in the performances we did together. I am thrilled to be able to nominate Lisa Forsell for the 2020 ACDA-MN Advocate for Choral Excellence Ace Award.

On Lisa’s behalf, principal Jesse Murray, of the Stella Maris Catholic Schools, St John’s Campus (Duluth MN), writes:

She brings a positive energy that compliments the effort of the program director, making sure the kids shine in their ability to sing. All transitions are filled with Lisa’s playing, which is music to all of our ears. She is a gift that shares her talents with our community.

Again, the Northeast District congratulates Lisa Forsell on this award!