ARTIST BACKGROUND

General Information Contact Form 

Craig LiaBraaten, in briefest biography, has worked full-time in the music industry for  over twenty-seven years. He has performed live for over three million Americans, his performances on national radio, national television, on compact disc and in videos and commercials have delighted an estimated total cumulative audience of over 70 million people, and his commissioned musical compositions have been performed by more than 10,000. One of the hardest working talents in the music industry, LiaBraaten's energetic and award-winning performances represent over 150,000 hours on stage and a conservative estimate of 2.5 billion notes played and sung in public.

Recognized today in the media and by multitudes as "the second most famous musician to come from Hibbing Minnesota ", Craig LiaBraaten has consistently demonstrated his care and concern for his friends and neighbors in northern Minnesota. Following his successful, award-winning career in music, LiaBraaten's investment and benevolence in his hometown and surrounding communities shows that, unlike his more-famous predecessor Robert Zimmerman AKA "Bob Dylan" , "The Piano Man" LiaBraaten has not abandoned his hometown roots. Instead, Minnesotans ~ and especially Iron Rangers ~ are well aware LiaBraaten has sacrificed for more than 30 years to help to make his native land ~ the Iron Range in northern Minnesota ~ a better place in which to live and work.

In his memoirs, LiaBraaten explains his benevolent spirit as follows: "My hope is to help inspire other musicians - others from our area - to do the same."

Since LiaBraaten returned to northern Minnesota, he began organizing the largest charitable musical events, benefit concerts, and music scholarships awarded by any private donor in the upper Midwest. Following his example, his musical colleagues have been inspired to give back to Iron Range communities.

Annual performances featuring many of his students and proteges, such as the Community Stage at "Zimmy's" in downtown Hibbing (inspired by LiaBraaten's "Commitment to Community" scholarships and benefits and his www.melody4community benevolences), "Giftstock" (Quad Cities, Minnesota), the local MDA Telethon (Virginia, Minnesota), American Cancer Society "Relays for Life" (St. Cloud, Duluth, Aurora, and Hibbing, Minnesota) and the "East Range Country Show" music scholarship program (Palo, Minnesota, Eveleth, Minnesota and Mt. Iron Minnesota).

Ripple effects of LiaBraaten's positive influence are legendary. Independent estimates are that LiaBraaten's return to the Iron Range has brought more than 100 million dollars into the local economy over the past fifteen years. More importantly, it seems LiaBraaten has awakened a keen desire in local Iron Rangers to do sacrificially more for those less fortunate. "Commitment to Community"-  the cornerstone of all of LiaBraaten's work and play - is what LiaBraaten's life has exemplified: "Putting Others First". LiaBraaten's recent state-wide FoodShare award acknowledges his commitment to raising money for the local Hibbing Food Shelf. One example in a LIFE filled with giving.

Let us return to LiaBraaten's musical roots to learn how this all came to be. 

Born in Hibbing, the hometown of Bobby Dylan, Kevin McHale (Boston Celtics) and the birthplace of the Greyhound Bus, at an early age Craig LiaBraaten showed remarkable talent, singing many songs in perfect tune by memory at the age of eighteen months. He was playing accordion, drums, and piano by ear by the first grade. But his parents, Jerome and Esther, never forced him to practice or take lessons, so Craig enjoyed many sports, especially football, camping, fishing and hunting, as a young man.

Walleyes, Muskies and White Tail Bucks

LiaBraaten's love of fishing for walleyes and muskies has led him to excursions in Canada, for trout on Lake Superior and for red snapper off the coast of Florida. LiaBraaten shot his first "spike buck" white tail deer in the deep woods off Mud Creek Trail near Ely, Minnesota well before "four wheelers" were invented. LiaBraaten was known to have camped in the deepwoods overnight in order to be assured of prime hunting at sunup. This love of nature and the great outdoors was later exemplified in his musical compositions such as the picturesque "Lake Vermilion".

Cinnamon

Craig's entrepreneurial spirit was also evident early on by mowing lawns and trimming hedges. His four paper routes showed his penchant for hard work early on, and meant he delivered the "Hibbing Daily Tribune" on a trek measuring more than three miles, a journey LiaBraaten walked seven days a week for six years (from 5th grade to 10th grade), in weather that was as cold in the Minnesota winter as 50 below zero.

Even as a child delivering papers, and certainly as a young man growing up and donating time to worthy causes such as the "Noon Rotary Club" and the local "Golden Crest Nursing Home",, it has been well-documented that LiaBraaten was as dependable as the sunrise, possessing a blue collar work ethic he learned from his family and friends in the tough heart of the Iron Range in northern Minnesota. 

Craig LiaBraaten has noted in his memoirs of fond memories how, after he became a household word and returned to his hometown, his former newspaper customers would stop him on the street and reminisce how he was "the best paper boy we ever had". Tragically, m any Hibbingites also remember when his tiny companion, his pet Pekingese "Cinnamon" , was first reported lost (but actually stolen by a trucker passing through Hibbing).

LiaBraaten's hometown newspaper "The Hibbing Daily Tribune" ran free ads for the young LiaBraaten to try to locate his little dog, who was pictured with her adorable puppy face poking out of the top of the newspaper bag that LiaBraaten toted around in all types of weather for six years. Although Cinnamon was never located or returned to her owner, LiaBraaten's memoirs and conversations detail how her memory lives on.

Craig has been a dog lover his whole life, having bred golden retrievers from champion blood lines, and having owned as many as four dogs at the same time, including the following breeds: Weimereiner, Beagle, Cocker Spaniel, Mutt & Tramp (several abandoned dogs and cats), five Poodles, eleven Golden Retrievers, and, of course, one unforgettable Pekingese who started it all ~ "Cinnamon".

Craig's father, Jerome LiaBraaten, owned a music store in Hibbing for many years, the "LiaBraaten Music Center". Yet today, especially after concerts, LiaBraaten meets new friends every month whose family used to take accordion, piano or guitar lessons from his dad, "Jerry". His mother Esther was a bookkeeper and accountant who helped raise 4 children: Renee (Connie), Kirk (Corky), Candace (Candy) and Craig.

While yet a baby, LiaBraaten showed musical promise very early on when, at the tender age of eighteen months, tiny LiaBraaten could perform a memorized repertoire of more than sixty songs. By all accounts, judging by his ability to "extemporize" and "improvise" using these memorized songs and entertain his family and friends as a toddler, it was clear that this child loved the stage and was destined for it.

LiaBraaten's preschool and young child years were spent being introduced to music of the masters, listening to vitage recordings, attending concerts by the Minnesota Orchestra in the beautiful Hibbing High School Auditorium, and also attending his father, "Jerry's" musical ensembles, orchestras and bands, particularly accordion "mass band" concerts at Lincoln School and "Hibbing City Band" concerts at Bennet Park in North Hibbing.

Craig composed his first published composition at the age of 10, a piano ballade in the style of Frederic Chopin which was dedicated to his parents on the occasion of their 25th wedding anniversary.

Katherine Hessler

When the spirited, influential and Juilliard-educated Katherine Hessler took LiaBraaten on as a piano student, Craig's musical abilities began to blossom, and in the 10th grade he decided to pursue music as a career. Hessler's energetic performances, musical training and background (having studied under the legendary Josef and Rosina Levine), and also Hessler's thoughtful, detailed approach to technique and musicianship were big influences on young LiaBraaten.

Throughout his later success, LiaBraaten never forgot his influential "Miss Katherine". After capturing the MTNA Collegiate Artist Piano Competition, he returned to the Iron Range and performed a dazzling "Tribute to Katherine Hessler" concert at Hibbing Community College to dedicate the newly acquired Les Hallock Steinway Grand Piano. This concert featuring masterworks of Johann Sebastian Bach, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Frederic Chopin, Franz Liszt, and LiaBraaten's original works was advertised by WDIO-TV of Duluth, recorded live by "National Public Radio", and rebroadcast in its entirety numerous times ~ a fitting tribute to a magnificent and inspirational woman who helped develop LiaBraaten's love of music.

Distinguished Professor Gyorgy Sebok

During his Junior and Senior years Craig LiaBraaten captured numerous piano prizes, including MTNA National Collegiate Artist, Schubert Club Young Artist, and St. Olaf College Concerto Competition Winner. Craig was encouraged to play for the internationally revered pianist-teacher Gyorgy Sebok while yet a sophomore at St. Olaf. Craig traveled to Oregon to perform in a master class for Sebok.

The Master Class with Gyorgy Sebok was a nerve-wracking experience for two dozen budding young concert pianists from across the U.S.A., Canada, Japan, and Europe. Each pianist was to play for Maestro Sebok twice during the one-week session, and Craig apparently became so nervous after hearing Sebok berate all the other pianists that he tried to give his time away to another participant. When no one would take over his spot, classmates noted LiaBraaten said he decided to "go down swinging".

For his first-ever performance for Maestro Sebok, LiaBraaten selected what many have called the most difficult pieces in the piano repertoire, the Transcendental Etudes of Franz Liszt, to play for Sebok. Little did LiaBraaten know - SEBOK WAS A MUSICAL DESCENDANT IN A DIRECT LINE FROM FRANZ LISZT - NOT THE SMARTEST MOVE PLAYING LISZT FOR SEBOK, WAS IT?

Witnesses such as A. DeWayne Wee and Rebecca Penneys have related this story. In his memoirs, LiaBraaten details that, when the last chords of the marathon Liszt work crashed through the hall, he "hung his head and waited for the critique to begin". To Craig's and others' amazement, the account goes on to report, Maestro Sebok stood up out of his chair for the first time, walked to the front of the stage to face the audience, and told the entire class and audience in the concert hall that, and we quote:

LiaBraaten was proclaimed by Sebok "a born pianist, a born musician who does things on the piano that no one can teach." The stunned class, who had listend to critical critiques all week, simply erupted in applause. LiaBraaten became the instant class favorite, and all his classmates, including professors from several respected music schools, rejoiced at his good fortune.

From that instant the Master Teacher Sebok took LiaBraaten under his wing, recruiting him to Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington, which is well-known in classical musical circles the largest music school in the world, as the IU Piano Undergraduate Faculty alone dwarfs most music schools' entire faculty.

After this life-changing moment, classmates of LiaBraaten's such as Henry E. Breed III or UNISA Grand Prize Winner concert pianist Marcus Thomas report how Distinguished Professor Sebok (now the late Professor Emeritus Sebok) repeated this complimentary assessment of LiaBraaten publicly and privately on many occasions, including in writing in a letter of recommendation filed at the Educational Placement office on the IU (Bloomington) campus and shown online HERE.

Indiana University School of Music

After Craig LiaBraaten graduated from St. Olaf with a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance and high academic honors (magna cum laude) in 1983.

LiaBraaten was awarded a prestigious teaching position at Indiana University in his first year studying there, dual teaching posts or double Associate Instructorships in both Piano and Music Theory. The Dean has explained that this dual position was unprecedented in the hundred year history of the school. Then, upon the unfortunate and unexpected death of a senior member of the theory department at Indiana University, Craig was put in charge of additional music theory and music fundamentals classes for both music and non-music majors. As such, LiaBraaten functioned as a professor- lecturing, performing, and supervising other instructors and classes of more than 100 students under the guidance and direction of Dr. C. Allen Winold, Chair of the Music Theory Department at IU. During this classroom teaching experience, LiaBraaten teamed up with Dr. Winold to co-author a revolutionary and simple music theory text ~ a type of "Music Theory for Dummies" set of fundamentals entitled "Materials I, II and III". LiaBraaten has noted his sense of pride in that his non-music majors would often exceed the music majors in the learning, comprehension and demonstration of important music theory fundamentals. In his memoir, LiaBraaten attributes that to his impassioned and compassionate teaching manner, which not only inspires others to learn, but insures that "the bar is raised, and that all in class are challenged to do their best".

Gyorgy Sebok, Craig LiaBraaten's legendary mentor and confidante at Indiana University, is a pupil of the famed Bela Bartok, one of the 20th century's greatest composers. Musicians and vocalists are known through the years up to this day for learning music "the old-fashioned way", that is, sitting side by side with the master teacher, learning one-on-one the finest intricacies of the art of musical performance, technique, and interpretation, just as that art was itself passed down from his teacher's teacher, and, in turn, from each teacher's teacher before him, and so on. Such is the case with LiaBraaten and Sebok, with a remarkable discovery in their musical roots. Via Maestro Sebok and through the famed Liszt Academy in Budapest, LiaBraaten traces his musical heritage directly back to the legendary Franz Liszt and the immortal Ludwig van Beethoven.

LiaBraaten's "Musical Family Tree" looks like this:

CRAIG LIABRAATEN STUDIED WITH GYORGY SEBOK, WHO STUDIED WITH BELA BARTOK, WHO STUDIED WITH ISTVAN THOMAN, WHO STUDIED WITH FRANZ LISZT, WHO STUDIED WITH CARL CZERNY, WHO STUDIED WITH LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN. Quite a musical family.
For more details on this historic musical lineage, read this.

Sebok is a multiple winner of the esteemed Grand Prix du Disque, a rare honor given to classical recordings of the highest caliber and usually awarded only to major orchestras of the world.

Master of Music with High Distinction

Craig LiaBraaten was one of Gyorgy Sebok's prize pupils for what LiaBraaten has gone on record saying were "five intense years" at Indiana University (Bloomington), meeting in weekly piano lessons, piano master classes, and chamber music classes. Sebok shared the duties of teaching the chamber music classes LiaBraaten participated in with other esteemed members of the Indiana University music faculty, including Josef Gingold, Janos Starker, and Manahem Pressler. Other influences on LiaBraaten's musical training at IU included Michel Bloch (piano), and James King and Roger Havranek (vocal coaching, opera, and recital accompanist). 

LiaBraaten earned his Master of Music (with high distinction). By formal invitation from a committee including Gyorgy Sebok and Menachem Pressler, LiaBraaten formally auditioned, and consequently was immediately accepted into the most stringent, difficult doctoral piano program in the world. LiaBraaten was initially delighted, and he pursued this doctoral degree first at Indiana, but as the demands of national and international music competitions, concert tours, private teaching and his budding solo professional career took off, LiaBraaten realized that he could not possibly devote full time to his demanding doctoral studies. Being accepted into the most demanding doctoral piano program in the world was an honor that was short-lived, as LiaBraaten made the most of the "real life" opportunities before him.

Joshua Bell, Concert Violinist

LiaBraaten's performances in the concert hall at Indiana University were jam packed and attended by faculty and fellow IU students (such as the now-famous concert violinist and fellow IU grad Joshua Bell) and the local Bloomington community.  When IU decided to market itself to the US and the world by putting together a video of musical performances, LiaBraaten was honored to be one of very few IU students and faculty selected to perform on this prestigious project, which was seen by millions and millions of Americans on a variety of television networks as the renewed scope of IU marketing reached out and touched America.

In addition to his teaching responsibilities at Indiana University Craig LiaBraaten captured National Federation of Music Clubs Young Artist and Oklahoma Symphony Orchestra Concerto prizes.  LiaBraaten performed for royalty from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, for governors and congressmen, on national television (PBS) and national radio (NPR). He was chosen by Indiana University to appear on their promotional video distributed nationally, while at the same time being commissioned to compose television theme music for syndicated programs. LiaBraaten toured extensively during these years, capturing national awards including MTNA National Collegiate Artist.

"First Love"
Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)
Four Octave Vocal Range

In 1985, in addition to receiving his Master of Music degree, Craig LiaBraaten also released his first album of original contemporary Christian music (CCM). Recorded in the pristine studios on campus at Indiana University, this album entitled "First Love", captured three awards in Nashville, including songwriter (for "The Little Lamb" and "Why Me, Lord?") and vocalist awards for this new CCM artist with the "four octave vocal range". This debut recording is now a collector's item due to his fame and its limited release. His "Proclaim God's Peace" CD, commissioned by WELCA, a national Christian women's group for their national convention at the Minneapolis Convention Center, has received national acclaim.

LiaBraaten's current discography (CD's, Cassettes, and Videos) covers a wide variety of musical styles (see Available Recordings), including solo CDs featuring classical hits like Beethoven's "Emperor Concerto", originals like "The Howard Street Rag" (penned for Minnesota Governor Rudy Perpich) and "Lake Vermilion" (depicting the breathtaking view across this world-famous northern Minnesota tourist attraction and fishing mecca), and other commissioned recordings for national women's groups and his friends in the music industry in Nashville.

Doctor of Musical Arts

Craig LiaBraaten's Doctor of Musical Arts (in Piano Performance and Music Literature ABD) from Louisiana State University was achieved against overwhelming odds. A tropical storm that hit the delta area flooded LiaBraaten's residence. Six feet of sewer water in his house and black mold to the ceiling covered everything he owned ~ including his precious grand piano which had traveled with him all across the country.

A northerner, or as they say down south, "a damn Yankee", LiaBraaten was completely unaware of the need for flood insurance, a mistake which cost him everything. As the flood waters rose higher and higher, there was nothing Craig and his neighborhood could do to intervene. In the aftermath, LiaBraaten literally lost every possession he owned -- including antique family photos of his grandparents, family mementos, keepsakes passed down for generations -- not to mention his extensive music library of vintage, urtext scores. Ironically, when FEMA came to assist him in his plight, to his dismay, all that the government provided him with to cope with this devastating loss was these four (4) items: a wire broom, a mop, a towel and a wash cloth.

This time period, coupled with the serious illness of his dear mother, made for one of the darkest and most difficult periods in LiaBraaten's life. Like his favorite composer, Beethoven, it can be said that our feisty Iron Ranger had a "Heiligenstadt Testament" moment.

Being a household name in a small Iron Range community, word quickly spread, and townspeople began asking Craig LiaBraaten if, while he was home, he wouldn't mind teaching their son or daughter or relative or friend. Soon LiaBraaten had more students than he could handle, and this began a new chapter in his life. LiaBraaten's teaching grew to over 170 private students in three locations, and he soon expanded to other music fields under the corporate logo "Living Water Music". This growing business meant that LiaBraaten could stay in his hometown to care for his father ~ putting family first ~ and still be able to earn a living in the field which he was destined to be a part of since earliest childhood. Only lately, as the once robust Iron Range economy seems to continue to shrink and decay, has this decision become harder and harder to justify for LiaBraaten.

During his residence on the Iron Range, LiaBraaten has passed on the "love of music" to hundreds of piano, voice and composing students ages three to 87. Many of LiaBraaten's students have gone on to national and international careers in music, such as Emily Shackelton, who captured First Prize on Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion at the tender age of ten (10), but in May 2007 graduated from Berklee with a degree in songwriting, captured the John Lennon International Songwriting Competition and it's $10,000 First Prize award, and now holds a songwriting position in Nashville, TN. And so the baton is passed from generation to generation.

Living Water Music, Inc., the company Craig LiaBraaten founded and currently owns, is the parent company for a multi-faceted growing business that now includes an expanding fine arts school, a 24-track recording studio, a CD manufacturing facility, a mobile DJ service, sound and lighting equipment contracting, wedding music services, a live music entertainment agency, and licensed Kindermusik classes for children newborns to age 7. (see Minnesota's Newest Fine Arts School, LiaBraaten Teaching Studios, Recording Studios, Professional DJ Service, Sound and Lighting Rental, Wedding Ceremony Music, LiaBraaten Live, The Insider Music Advice Column, Voice Competitions, Benefit Concerts & Music Fund Raisers, Hibbing School of Music, and LiaBraaten Photo Gallery of these accomplishments). 

Imitation - The Greatest Form of Flattery

Imitation, as the old adage goes, is the greatest form of flattery. A few years ago, LiaBraaten's corporate logo, the Living Water Music, Inc. logo, was virtually copied by a pack sacker who moved to the Iron Range and purchased Erickson Music Center (formerly Crippa Music), a former car salesman who moved up from the Twin Cities, took piano lessons from LiaBraaten, designed a logo which is eerily similar to the LWM logo and painted his storefront corporate blue like the Living Water Music storefront. Of course, copyright infringement is serious business, but LiaBraaten has taken the high road and not pursued this further at this time. The car salesman's self-professed goal is to "bury the competition" in the area, including Schmitt Music in Virginia, and his reaction to LiaBraaten raising the obvious question above to him was -- "sue me". Thus far, LiaBraaten has chosen to take the high road.

Unlike pack sackers, LiaBraaten's musical roots in the area go back to the Great Depression, when his grandfather Ole LiaBraaten captured First Prize and the Silver Chalice Trophy (which LiaBraaten has)  in an "Old Time Fiddler's Contest" in 1925. Ole LiaBraaten also performed on live radio in a trio called the "The Hibbing Orioles", and when his father, Jerome "Jerry" LiaBraaten owned and operated the LiaBraaten Music Center in downtown Hibbing in the 60's and 70's.  Our PHOTO GALLERY contains evidence of the early years - dating back to 1925 - of the influence LiaBraaten's family business has had on the Iron Range.

Imitation as the greatest form of flattery extends further. Recently a local piano tuner was inspired after a lengthy telephone conversation with "Minnesota's Native Piano Man" and "Hibbing's Second Most Famous Musician" to take two novel ideas from LiaBraaten -- one being a choir CD fund raiser for the local Hibbing High School Choir, the other a choir which was inspired by LiaBraaten's new IRC (see below). Of course, the imitation is never quite like the original. Instead of being a "community choir", the piano tuner's exclusive choir is by invitation only. 

The IRC -- AKA Iron Range Chorus or Iron Range Chorale -- founded by LiaBraaten (see below) is open to "anyone who can carry a tune" -- once again, "Commitment to Community". Imitators -- copy cats -- are not creators and innovators like Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Henry Ford, Bill Gates. Instead of originals, they create parodies.  caricatures, and mere carbon copies of the original. They are not composers like Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Chopin, Liszt, Bartok --  all of whom broke new ground and changed the world. No imitator can hold a candle to our very own and our very humble local musical celebrity, entrepreneur, benefactor, and friend of the community -- Maestro Craig LiaBraaten. This document is our feeble attempt at Living Water Music to begin to set the record straight.

"Welcome to Historic Downtown Hibbing"

Around the turn of the century, LiaBraaten performed a series of concerts and street dances in downtown Hibbing for the Hibbing Jubilee, the Hibbing Parade, the Hibbing Street Dance, and the Hibbing Mines and Pines Festival, during which time LiaBraaten coined the phrase "Beautiful Historic Downtown Hibbing" and used the phrase over and over through the powerful public address sound systems for these numerous public events, one of which the Hibbing Chamber reported to the Hibbing Daily Tribune was attended by 20,000 locals and visitors. When the Hibbing Chamber of Commerce and the City of Hibbing chose their new marketing motto to emblazon on the signs at Hibbing's main gates, what do you think they chose for the welcome signs? "Welcome to Historic Downtown Hibbing".  Perhaps we should consider giving credit where it is due?  LiaBraaten is not only amused by this, he is happy to inspire others to want to do more for his native community -- the heart of the Iron Range -- Hibbing, Minnesota. 

"Commitment to Community"
New in 2007 - IRC - Iron Range Chorus - Iron Range Chorale
Co-Founded by LiaBraaten

LiaBraaten continues to generously and weekly donate his time, talent and treasure to worthwhile causes such as area nursing homes, hospitals, schools, adults with disabilities, and non-profit organizations.  In 2007 LiaBraaten's "Commitment to Community" benevolence campaign donated thousands to non-profit groups in the Minnesota Northland, including making it possible for a youth group from Grace Lutheran Church in Hibbing to attend the National Youth Gathering in the Summer of 2007. In 2007, together with Jamie McDougall, LiaBraaten founded the Iron Range Chorus / Iron Range Chorale, non-profit groups offering vocalists from the Iron Range in the Arrohead Region of northern Minnesota to enjoy the joy of singing in a mass choir. In 2007 LiaBraaten also created "Friday Night Dance Contests" for Iron Range youth, coordinating these events by providing security, chaperones, facility rental, and opportunities for the youth of the area to run their own after school dances, where kids choose the music kids want to hear, they choose the theme of the dance night, and they take charge of concessions and learn entrepreneurial skills at a young age. LiaBraaten continues to demonstrate he is a tireless worker who always finds time for those in need and always finds a way to make a difference.

Craig LiaBraaten was commissioned by WELCA
a national Lutheran Women's group
to compose two songs for their 1994 Triennial National Convention
held at the Minneapolis Convention Center
Craig had the privilege of leading worship for 10,000 women at the Convention

WELCA National Convention
"Proclaim God's Peace"
Contemporary Christian Music (CCM)

Craig LiaBraaten was commissioned by WELCA to compose original music for its Triennial National Convention. WELCA encorporated LiaBraaten's works into their nationally published worship books and hymnals, and LiaBraaten was honored to lead worship for 10,000 Lutheran women in worship services at the Minneapolis Convention Center.  LiaBraaten's original music is featured on the commissioned "Proclaim God's Peace" CD available in our Online Catalog.

$225,000 Donated to Youth
Benefits & Charities & Volunteering ~ a Way of Life

In 1996, Craig LiaBraaten performed sixteen benefit concerts over eight weeks for the Muscular Dystrophy Association and the same year his students were featured in a Music Marathon for MDA. All proceeds from all these events went to MDA and Jerry's kids. Since 1994 LiaBraaten has personally donated over $225,000 to young musicians in Northern Minnesota to follow their dreams and produce their very own professional CDs through Living Water Music, Inc., the LiaBraaten Teaching Studios, and the Hibbing School of Music.

The Present & The Future

The Present & The Future

LiaBraaten's hero ~ his father Jerry LiaBraaten ~ recently passed away. In 2009 and 2010 LiaBraaten faced important decisions about his business and career. LiaBraaten's multi-faceted business now serves four Midwestern states (Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Dakota) and employs up totwenty-four people.

But economic times on the Iron Range in northern Minnesota are not what they once were. For example, when LiaBraaten grew up in Hibbing, consider that LiaBraaten's graduating class at Hibbing High School was 550 students. Today's 2007 class is roughly 180 ~ more than two thirds of the population has moved away over the past twenty-some years.

Public schools and private schools and local community colleges in northern Minnesota continue to suffer from decreased enrollments. The mining boom ~ once the backbone of the Iron Range ~ is long over. Some experts say there is no more iron ore left to mine, only taconite (a poor grade ore which requires much more processing to extract the valued hematite). Statistics show that most young people who graduate these days from the Iron Range choose to move away, for there are substantially fewer high-paying entry level jobs generated here anymore. Inevitably, this has trickled down to the fine arts on the Iron Range.

The end result of all these changes in the local economy means that, in the next months and coming years LiaBraaten will be making important decisions regarding a possible re-location for his growing corporation, or whether perhaps "The Piano Man" may pursue other interests including touring again or other intriguing entrepreneurial or employment opportunities.

In the year 2011 we are at the cusp of some possible major developments in the Iron Mining Industry on the Iron Range in northern Minnesota. Essar Steel in Hibbing MN, Mesabi Nugget in Aurora MN, Polymet in Hoyt Lakes, and Magnetation in Nashwauk MN, together with Excelsior Energy's Mesaba Energy Project -- all these exciting recent developments during these stressful economic times seem to point the way to a potentially rejuvenated Iron Range Mining economy.

These are encouraging reports. From the surge in mining banquets that "Piano Man" LiaBraaten performed live piano music for during the 2010 holiday season, the mining companies seem to be stabilizing and giving priority to providing their employees once again with the finest musical entertainment available on the Iron Range. "The Piano Man" is eager to provide more "first class" entertainment for Iron Range companies, and thus ensuring his "musical gifts" and "giving spirit" can remain in the area.

According to LiaBraaten's memoirs, as in the past 30 years, the future seems to hold much promise for a feisty Iron Range native, a Hibbing man and an "eternal optimist" whose indomitable spirit has not yet been broken.  Not by losing all his material things in a flash flood.  Not by losing his mother, father and his best friend within a few years of each other. Not by nearly losing his life to B cell lymphoma.

Resilient and steadfast in his devotion to the Iron Range ~ "The Piano Man"LiaBraaten ~ undoubtedly one of  the hardest working musicians in the Midwest ~ will continue his musical journey ~ note by note, measure by measure, day by day.  If you haven't been fortunate to have met him yet, hopefully one day his path will cross with yours. In that case, as millions who have crossed paths with his enduring & indomitable spirit will attest, you will be truly blessed to come to know a genuine human being whose compassion and caring for his fellow man exceeds these simple words written here.

Those who know him privately and who contributed to this report relate that he consistently walks the walk and does so as humbly and sacrificially as a man can, always putting the needs of others first. LiaBraaten strives daily, as his recent memoir attests, "to put God first and to focus on others in all that I do".

Indeed, LiaBraaten - Hibbing's native son - has been giving a lot more than music lessons for 27 years now.

LiaBraaten's motto since high school says it all: "The best teacher is a good example". 

LiaBraaten: A World-class musician whose roots ~ and now his livelihood ~ are presently based on the Iron Range in Northern Minnesota.