Sunday, Nov. 18, 2007 “The American Songbook”
Mankato West 3:00 p.m.

Guest Artist: Maria Jette, soprano

SYMPHONIC DANCES FROM WEST SIDE STORY - Bernstein 
FANFARE FOR THE COMMON MAN - Copeland 
KNOXVILLE SUMMER OF 1915 – Barber
CLASSICS FROM Rodgers and Hammerstein, Harold Arlen, George and Ira Gershwin

What makes our music is so beloved the world over? Is it the freedom from convention, the plucky confident, the jaunty rhythm? Is it the blues? Is it the open spaces that sing out with hope as far as the eye can see? Is it fresh-faced optimism? How did the American masters transform a European art form and give America a voice heard the world over? Join beloved soprano Maria Jette as she takes us on a coast-to-coast voyage of discovery in her Mankato debut.

Maria Jette, soprano

Maria Jette has appeared with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, New York Chamber Symphony, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and Minnesota Orchestra: the Symphonies of Houston, Austin, San Antonio, Kansas City, Charlotte, Santa Rosa and Buffalo; Vocalessence, the Handel Choir of Baltimore, Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia, and Los Angeles Master Chorale; and with original instrument ensembles Portland Baroque Orchestra and The Lyra Concert. She has been a regular guest at the Oregon Bach, Victoria Bach and San Luis Obispo Mozart Festivals, the Oregon Festival of American Music, and on Public Radio International's A Prairie Home Companion.

Her 45+ operatic roles range from Monteverdi's Poppea and Handel's Cleopatra through Mozart's Pamina, Susanna and Fiordiligi. With the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, she created the Mrs. in the May 2002 premiere of Garrison Keillor's operatic excursion, Mr. and Mrs. Olson. She has performed her own production of Seuss/Kapilow’s Green Eggs & Ham for more than 35,000 kids around the USA.

This season included Bach's Easter Oratorio and Magnificat (Grand Rapids Symphony); Green Eggs & Ham/Gertrude McFuzz (Buffalo (NY) Philharmonic); Latin American song and chamber music (Shedd Institute in Eugene); Bach’s Magnificat and Easter Oratorio (Grand Rapids Symphony); and several performances during Vocalessence's Illuminating Bolcom festival. Over the summer: Ms. Jette programmed (and sang in) the Grieg Mini-Fest for the St. Paul Summer Song Festival, followed by more Grieg shipboard with pianist Sonja Thompson on the Prairie Home Companion’s Norwegian cruise; and music of Richard Rdgers in a return engagement with jazz legend Dick Hyman at the Oregon Festival of American Music; and in the fall, sang the premiere of Layton James’ Cantata Sine Nomine with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and Mahler’s Symphony #4 (Charlotte Symphony).