Sunday, Dec. 9, 2007 “Vintage Christmas”
Alltel Center 3:00 p.m.

Guest Artists: Connie Evingson, Real Big Band, Mankato East and Mankato West Choirs

CLASSICS to include: I’ll be Home for Christmas - Kent/Gannon, White Christmas - Berlin, We Three Kings - arr. Newsom, Skaters Waltz - Waldteufel, Sugar Plum Fairy and Waltz of the Flowers – Tchaikovsky, Sleigh Ride - Anderson, Ave Maria - Bach/Gounoud, Hallelujah Chorus-Handel

Connie Evingson brings her flair for style and elegance to the show stopping classics as we take a trip down memory lane. The Real Big Band of Southern Minnesota will join the Mankato Symphony for a rare collaboration that evokes the sumptuous style of yesteryear. You will surely appreciate the talented choirs of our area high schools, Mankato East and Mankato West, as they lead our traditional Christmas Sing-a-long! This extravaganza of music is sure to bring warmth and joy to your holiday!

Connie Evingson, Vocalist

CONNIE EVINGSON is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She has appeared in clubs and concert halls across the U.S., in Europe and Japan, and has been a guest soloist with the Minnesota Orchestra and the Toronto Symphony conducted by Doc Severinsen, and the Vocalessence Music Series with Bobby McFerrin. She is the creator of the original stage production, Fever, A Tribute to Peggy Lee, which she has performed at theatres across the country and excerpted at New York's Town Hall. She has been featured on the Smithsonian's "Jazz Singers" radio series, and on numerous compilation discs including Jazziz Magazine's Vocals on Fire CD and Sharper Image's New Sirens of Song along with Diana Krall, Norah Jones, Stacy Kent and others. Connie has released seven CDs on Minnehaha Music: I Have Dreamed; Fever - A Tribute to Peggy Lee; Some Cats Know; Let it Be Jazz - Connie Evingson Sings the Beatles; The Secret of Christmas; Gypsy In My Soul; and Stockholm Sweetnin'. Some Cats Know (with guest artists Al Grey, Ray Brown, Toots Thielemanns, Jack McDuff and Doc Severinsen) and Let it Be Jazz - Connie Evingson Sings the Beatles, both charted in the Top 50 for 8 weeks in the U.S. and Canada. Gypsy in My Soul charted in the Top 50 for 10 weeks and the Top 20 for 4, reaching #8. Her latest release, Stockholm Sweetnin', charted for 8 weeks in the top 50 on the Jazzweek calendar and is still high on the College Music Charts.

Evingson has been a member of the vocal jazz ensemble Moore By Four since 1986, with whom she has toured the U.S., Europe and Japan, appeared on Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion, and opened for Harry Connick, Jr., Joe Williams, Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McRae and Dizzy Gillespie. She was among the top 15 contestants in the 1998 Thelonius Monk Vocal Competition and is the winner of the 2000-2001 and 2005-2006 McKnight Artist Fellowship Award for Performing Musicians administered by MacPhail Center for Music.

The REAL Big Band

The REAL Big Band was founded in 1998 as the Waseca Big Band by Kim Cosens. The REAL Big Band has been based in Mankato since 2003 and has a full 5-5-4-4 instrumentation. About half of the members are band directors, the other half coming from a variety of occupations - 18 of the region's top jazz players performing a wide variety of contemporary jazz. The REAL Big Band performs a wide variety of music from the libraries of: Gordon Goodwin,

Stan Kenton, Buddy Rich, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Maynard Ferguson...and more! The RBB practices at Mankato West High School and performs several times a year at school concerts, jazz festivals and other events. The RBB exists to help promote jazz as America's art form, to keep jazz alive, and to enjoy playing and sharing this great music!

Tickets available at the Alltel Civic Center Box Office

Adults - $25 Youth - $5

Ticketmaster 625-7919
Ticket Information 389-3001

Mankato Symphony season ticket holders will receive priority seating at this event. Season ticket holders will receive a ticket voucher with their season ticket package that can be redeemed at the Alltel Center box office. The ticket voucher shows proof of purchase only, Ticketmaster will issue a new ticket for entrance. Season ticket holders may purchase additional tickets for friends and family at this time. Please request these additional tickets at the box office when you redeem your voucher to insure the seats are together.

This concert is sponsored in full by
The CITY OF MANKATO and ORTHOPAEDIC & FRACTURE CLINIC
AND THE WYNN AND PAMELA KEARNEY FOUNDATION