Tickets, at $94, 57, 38, may be obtained by calling CarnegieCharge at (212) 247-7800, going online at www.carnegiehall.org, or by visiting the Carnegie Hall Box Office at West 57th Street and Seventh Avenue in NYC. For more information, call our Box Office at (212) 239-4699 or visit our web site at www.midamerica-music.com.

***

Jonathan Talberg serves as director of choral, vocal, and opera studies at California State University-Long Beach where he is music director of the University and chamber choirs, and he oversees the largest and one of the most recognized voice programs in the state of California. Ensembles under his baton have toured the United States and the world. He has conducted at the Music Educators National Conference, several All-State choir concerts, and in various venues throughout Europe and Asia, including St. Mark's Cathedral in Venice, The Karlskirche in Vienna, and at the Great Wall of China. Most recently, he conducted a choir of 250 singers and the Amsterdam Youth Orchestra for two European festivals in Florence and San Giminano, Italy. He has prepared choirs for the Cincinnati Symphony, the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra, the Pacific Symphony and the Pasadena Pops. Additionally, Talberg serves as music director of the Long Beach Bach Festival and the Camerata Singers of Long Beach, a 60-voice adult choir that performs standard and new repertoire with its own professional orchestra.

A recipient of the Oliver Family Foundation grant for outstanding American conductors, Talberg has served as conducting assistant to the Cincinnati Symphony and the Cincinnati Pops. He serves as principal choral conductor at Arrowbear Music Camp and he is in much demand as a clinician and adjudicator. He holds the position of Standards and Repertoire Chair for University and College Choirs for the California Chapter of the American Choral Director's Association, and he is an editor at Pavane Music Publishing, which has a choral series is published under his name.

David Thye, Principal Conductor-in-Residence at MidAmerica Productions, has been professor of music, director of choral activities, and music department chairman at Southwestern College since 2000. Having received his bachelor's degree in music education and voice from the University of Sioux Falls, Mr. Thye began his teaching career as a public school choral director, teaching two years in Iowa and nine years in Kansas City. He completed and received his master's and a Ph.D. in musical arts in choral conducting from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music while studying with Eph Ehly, Glenn Block, and LeRoy Pogemiller. He was professor of music and director of choral activities at both the University of Montana in Missoula and the University of Sioux Falls in South Dakota where he was music area chairman.

Under Thye's direction, various high school, collegiate and adult choral organizations have been selected to perform in Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall and Carnegie Hall in New York City; in Hollywood with the Young American's National Invitational Choral Festival; for the State Music Educators and American Choral Directors Associations of Arizona, Iowa, Kansas, South Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming; and for the Music Educators National Conference North Central Convention. Dr. Thye has directed, performed in or produced over 100 oratorios, operas and operettas, or large-scale productions including Handel's Messiah, Mendelssohn's Elijah, Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, Menotti's The Telephone and Amahl and the Night Visitor, Brahms's, Verdi's, Fauré's and Mozart's Requiems, Vivaldi's Gloria, Bach's B Minor Mass, Joseph Haydn's Missa Sancti Nicolai, Schubert's Mass in G Major, Respighi's Laud To The Nativity, and many others.

Bill Wagner, conductor, grew up in Hollywood, California and graduated from Oberlin College Conservatory of Music in Oberlin, Ohio. After working for International Music Festivals in Michigan, he returned to California and accepted the Nordhoff High School band director position in 1988. Mr. Wagner currently directs three instrumental ensembles, three vocal ensembles, and teaches AP Music Theory. In addition to his teaching responsibilities, Mr. Wagner is an adjudicator, clinician, and advisor for the Southern California School Band and Orchestra Association and the Southern California Vocal Association. He has also served as director of the Ojai Band, Ojai Camerata, and Ojai Community Chorus.

Over the past 23 years, MidAmerica Productions has brought together conductors, choruses, soloists, and orchestral musicians for performances at some of the world's greatest venues, especially at New York's Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall.

Under the guidance of MidAmerica's founder, Peter Tiboris, the company has presented over 890 concerts worldwide and more than 750 in New York at Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall, and Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall.

More than 2500 American ensembles, representing each of the 50 states, have appeared with MidAmerica in New York, as have more than 100 symphonic and choral ensembles from Europe, the Far East, South America, and Canada. There have more than 300 guest conductors, 650 solo artists, and over 100,000 performers who have appeared on MidAmerica's series in Carnegie Hall.

In addition to presenting classic choral and instrumental works, MidAmerica Productions has championed the works of contemporary composers. On MidAmerica's series in Carnegie Hall and at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall, there have been approximately 31 World Premieres, 16 United States Premieres, and 50 New York Premieres.

For more information about MidAmerica Productions, please contact Susan Case at 212-239-0205 or scase@midamerica-music.com

General admission tickets to Weill Recital Hall concerts are $35. Tickets may be obtained by calling CarnegieCharge at (212) 247-7800, by going online at www.carnegiehall.org, or by visiting the Carnegie Hall Box Office at 57th Street and 7th Avenue. $15 tickets for students and seniors (with proper ID) are available at the Carnegie Box Office. Weill Recital Hall is located at 154 West 57th Street. For more information, call MidAmerica Productions at (212) 239-4699 or visit our web site at www.midamerica-music.com.

***

Yuval Waldman, violin, has appeared as a violin soloist and conductor throughout the United States, Europe, Canada, the Middle East, Asia and South Africa. He is conductor and music director of both the New American Chamber Orchestra in New York City and the Mid-Atlantic Chamber Orchestra in Washington, D.C. Born in Russia, Mr. Waldman made his debut on Soviet radio at the age of eight and at fifteen was the youngest graduate of the Rubin Academy of Music in Tel-Aviv. With the assistance of Isaac Stern, he continued his studies in Paris, Geneva, Indiana University and the Julliard School of Music in New York. As the winner of the International Jeunesse Musicale Competition, Mr. Waldman made his Carnegie Hall debut in 1969. This year he was appointed Artistic Director of Music Bridges International, as well as the International "Young Tchaikovsky" Competition to take place in Tchaikovsky's birthplace, Votkins, Russia.

French-born Ariane Lallemand, cello, has performed as soloist with numerous orchestras in Europe and New York, as well as in many solo recitals, including Alice Tully Hall and Merkin Concert Hall, L'Eglise des Penitents in France and the Kaufhaussaal series in Germany. She has been a prizewinner in the Epernay Cello Competition and the Cologne Sonata Competition. She has won the Mendelssohn Competition in Germany, the Mannes Concerto Competition and the prestigious "Bourse Lavoisier" from the French Ministry of Culture.

As an avid chamber musician and new music enthusiast, Ariane Lallemand has notably appeared at Weill (Carnegie) Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the MOMA, the Herbst Theater in San Francisco, the Phillips Gallery in D.C., Florence Gould Hall, the French Consulate. She has also participated in chamber music festivals and tours in the USA, Europe and China. She has commissioned and premiered numerous new solo cello works from such composers as Peter Kotik, Earle Brown, David Liptak, and Andy Waggoner.

As a baroque player, Ms. Lallemand recently gave a performance of the Bach Solo Cello Suites in St. Peter's Church in New York. She has also participated in festivals and concerts in Italy, France and NY. In the fall, she will join Emmanuelle Haim and Le Concert d'Astree for a European tour and a recording of Bach's Magnificat with Nathalie Dessay.

In 2006, she was nominated for a Grammy Award with her quartet, Contrast, for the best new music album. She is joining tap dancer Savion Glover for a tour in the United States.

Hélène Jeanney, piano, a native of Paris, France, has degrees from the Paris Music Conservatory, The Juilliard School, and Indiana University. She has studied and performed at the Mozarteum Academy and the Banff Center of Fine Arts. Throughout her career, she has worked with several artists and teachers, including Germaine Mounier, Yevgeni Malinin, Gaby Casadesus, Nikita Magaloff, Gyorgy Sebok, Menahem Pressler, to whom she was assistant professor at Indiana University, and Isaac Stern.

As a recitalist, she has performed throughout Europe, Russia, Australia, and the U.S. In France she has appeared at the Chopin Festival, Paris Summer Festival, International Festival of Radio France and Montpellier, International Festival of Young Soloists in Bordeaux, and in recitals sponsored by the Phillip Morris Association in Salle Gaveau, Opera Comique, Bosendorfer Center, and UNESCO. She has been a soloist with the Paris National Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, New World Symphony, and Indianapolis Symphony. Ms. Jeanney's partnership with cellist Hai Ye Ni has led to a number of recitals in London, Boston, and Washington, D.C. In New York, she has performed as a soloist and as a chamber musician at the Alliance Français in F. Gould Theatre, the United Nations Auditorium, Rockefeller University, and at Isaac Stern Auditorium in Carnegie Hall as a soloist with the New England Symphonic Ensemble. She also appears frequently with the New York Philharmonic Ensembles at Merkin Concert Hall.

Ms. Jeanney has received several top awards, including prizes in the Robert Casadesus Competition, Thomas Richner Competition, Chopin National Competition, New York Chopin Association, and first prize in the East and West Artists Audition for a New York debut recital in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. She is currently a faculty member at the French-American Conservatory of Music at Carnegie Hall and the Hoff-Barthelson Music School in Scarsdale.

Since 1989, MidAmerica Productions has produced over 265 chamber concerts in Weill Recital Hall, presenting some of the most exciting chamber musicians working today. For more information about this concert or MidAmerica Productions contact Susan Case at 212-239-0205 or visit www.midamerica-music.com.

General admission tickets to Weill Recital Hall concerts are $35. Tickets may be obtained by calling CarnegieCharge at (212) 247-7800, by going online at www.carnegiehall.org, or by visiting the Carnegie Hall Box Office at 57th Street and 7th Avenue. $15 tickets for students and seniors (with proper ID) are available at the Carnegie Box Office. Weill Recital Hall is located at 154 West 57th Street. For more information, call MidAmerica Productions at (212) 239-4699 or visit our web site at www.midamerica-music.com.

***

Concert pianist Aglaia Koras made her debut at age eleven with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. Recognition by her mentor, Greek pianist Gina Bachauer, drew the attention of Rudolf Serkin, then Director of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where Ms. Koras studied for several years on full scholarship with Serkin and Mieczyslaw Horszowski. After receiving the Curtis Alumni Award for three consecutive years, she graduated from Curtis with a Bachelor's degree in Piano.

In 1983, the City of New York and the Queens Council on the Arts sponsored her New York Debut at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, where she received a standing ovation. She has returned several times to Lincoln Center, and also performed at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, the Kennedy Center, and in major concert halls throughout the United States and in France, England, Switzerland, Greece, Spain, Canada, and Mexico, including both European and American television and radio broadcasts.

In recent seasons, Ms. Koras has performed at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall; in a special recital program for the United States Ambassadors in Washington, DC; in recitals at the Kennedy Center; in concerts sponsored by the National Symphony Orchestra; the Recording Industry's Music Performance Trust Fund as arranged by the American Federation of Musicians; in programs in Spain, Greece, and Brazil; on the Smithsonian website; and in concerts sponsored by the Curtis Alumni and Leschetizky Associations.

Ms. Koras's musical lineage can be traced to Beethoven, Chopin, Rachmaninoff and Cortot. Horszowski studied with Leschetizky, who studied with Carl Czerny, a pupil of Beethoven. Horszowski's mother studied with Mikuli, a pupil of Chopin. Bachauer studied with Rachmaninoff and Cortot. This rich heritage, combined with Ms. Koras's own unique passion, intelligence, imagination and tremendous capacity for expression, brings an extraordinarily wide range of stylistic insight to her unusually broad repertoire.

Ms. Koras has served on the faculties of Temple University (where she simultaneously received a master's degree on full scholarship) and the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Her latest CD recording, Aglaia, contains works by Mozart, Bach, Brahms, Chopin, Mussorgsky, Prokofiev, and Barber.

Since 1989, MidAmerica Productions has produced over 265 chamber concerts in Weill Recital Hall, presenting some of the most exciting chamber musicians working today. For more information about this concert or MidAmerica Productions contact Susan Case at 212-239-0205 or visit www.midamerica-music.com.

Tickets, at $94, 57, 38, may be obtained by calling CarnegieCharge at (212) 247-7800, going online at www.carnegiehall.org, or by visiting the Carnegie Hall Box Office at West 57th Street and Seventh Avenue in NYC. For more information, call our Box Office at (212) 239-4699 or visit our web site at www.midamerica-music.com.

***

Since his London debut in 1974, Marios Papadopoulos has had a worldwide career as pianist and conductor. He has appeared as soloist with and has conducted many of the world's great orchestras including the Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus, the European Community Chamber Orchestra, the London Mozart Players and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He has directed from the keyboard the complete cycle of all the Mozart Concertos twice, a project he repeated in Oxford in 2006 as part of the worldwide celebrations for the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth.

Apart from the complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas that Marios Papadopoulos is currently recording, his prolific output as a recording artist includes performances of Stravinsky's Concerto for piano and wind with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on the Hyperion label, works by Mozart for a Readers' Digest album, works by Moussorgsky--including Pictures at an Exhibition-- piano works by César Franck, the 24 Preludes and Fugues by Shostakovich and a CD of Baroque Encores in which he conducts the City of Oxford Orchestra. His recording of a John Field "Nocturne" on two CDs featuring this genre, has been included in Classic FM's highly successful Nocturne album compiled by Michael Mappin. In 1998, he founded the Oxford Philomusica, the resident professional orchestra of the University of Oxford, of which he is music director. He holds a doctorate in music from City University and is a Fellow by Special Election of Keble College, Oxford.

During the past decade Geoffrey Paul Boers has emerged as one of this region's leading choral conductors and teachers. His choirs have earned high praise at national and regional conventions of choral conductors and music educators. Recent conducting engagements have included the West Coast premiere of Terry Riley's Sun Rings with the internationally acclaimed Kronos Quartet, Fanshawe's African Sanctus at the Sydney Opera House, and Poulenc's Gloria and an all-Mozart concert at Carnegie Hall. This year's conducting engagements include Bankok (Thailand), Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center, San Francisco's Davies Concert Hall, and Seattle's acclaimed Benaroya Hall.

Boers is director of choral activities at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he conducts the UW Chamber Singers, a choir of graduate and advanced singers and teaches graduate choral conducting and choral pedagogy. He is the recipient of the University of Washington's prestigious Royalty Research Foundation Grant, which allowed him to travel to the Baltic region this past summer to begin the development of a UW Baltic Choral Music Library, the first of its kind in the United States. Boers is also the conductor of the Tacoma Symphony Chorus and will conduct the Tacoma Symphony in two performances this season. He also sings professionally as a tenor and as a countertenor, and has been a featured soloist with many groups around the United States.

Rebecca Bedell is the minister of worship and culture at First Presbyterian Church of Orlando, FL, the fourth largest PCUSA congregation in the United States. She serves on the pastoral staff and oversees the fine and performing arts. She has held previous posts as director of choral activities and coordinator for music studies at Seminole Community College, and as director of choral and vocal activities at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, WV.

Ms. Bedell received her bachelor's and master's degrees in vocal performance, and a second master's degree in music education from the University of Mississippi. She earned the doctor of musical arts degree in choral conducting from the University of Southern Mississippi, and has completed post-graduate work at Florida State University.

Choirs under Ms. Bedell's direction have performed by invitation for the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA). They have completed concert tours throughout England, France, and Mexico, and performed in Austria and the Czech Republic at the invitation of those countries' ministers of culture. Ms. Bedell has also received performance invitations from the ministers of culture in Ghana, Africa and Italy. Her choirs have been recorded on Splendors of Versailles and Requiems for Tenebrae, which features the Requiems of John Rutter and Maurice Duruflé. A third CD, Sing Noel!, is due for release in 2007.

Soprano Samia Bahu has recently been heard singing the title roles in La traviata, The Merry Widow and Puccini's Manon Lescaut, to much acclaim. Other recent performances include Antonia in Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Mimi in La bohème, Amelia in Un ballo in maschera, Margherita/Elena in Boito's Mefistofele, Verdi's Requiem and Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni. Ms. Bahu is a graduate of The Juilliard School and the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, where she received the prestigious Zaibee T. Thomas Award for Voice. Last spring she was a winner in the Schuyler Foundation for Career Bridges Competition and was also a winner in the Rosa Ponselle Young Artist Competition. Ms. Bahu was a Young Artist with the Michigan Opera Theatre in Detroit where she was heard in main stage productions of Die Zauberflöte, L'Elisir d'amore and Carmen. Upcoming engagements for the soprano include Desdemona in Verdi's Otello and the title role in Puccini's Tosca.

This season, mezzo-soprano Anna McMahon Quintero sings performances of the title role in Vivaldi's Juditha Triumphans and Handel's Messiah with Boston Baroque, and performances of Messiah with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra. She also makes her international debut as La Haine in Gluck's Armide with the New Israeli Opera and sings Isabella in L'Italiana in Algeri in family performances with Palm Beach Opera, and Gertrude in Roméo et Juliette with Toledo Opera. Coming seasons include Ms. Quintero's La Scala debut as the Prole Woman in Maazel's 1984, plus returns to both New Israeli Opera as Marquise Melibea in Il viaggio a Reims and Washington National Opera, where she previously performed Tisbe in La cenerentola and Dritte Dame in Die Zauberflöte, to play Auntie in Peter Grimes. Ms. Quintero has won and received honors in numerous vocal competitions.

Simon Kyung Lee, tenor, was a former child actor, appearing in two major motion pictures in his native Korea (as Kyung Jae Lee) before the idea of singing opera ever entered his mind. He began his musical training in his hometown of Busan, Korea, and spent the summer of 2003 studying in Italy. In 2004 Mr. Lee performed in recital at the first annual Festival Notte Musicali Modenesi. Recent engagements include Giles (Crucible) with Chicago Chamber Opera, Third Jew (Salome) with Opera Company of North Carolina, and Luigi (Il tabarro) and Rinuccio (Gianni Schicchi) with Kansas City Puccini Festival. He received rave reviews as Calaf (Turandot) with Kansas City Puccini Festival and Utah Festival Opera in 2005. Additional roles include Alfredo (La traviata), Radames (Aïda), Manrico (Il trovatore), Riccardo (Un ballo in maschera), Cavaradossi (Tosca), and Arvino in the Chicago premiere of Verdi's rarely heard I Lombardi (with da Corneto Opera). A two-time recipient of awards from the National Bel Canto Foundation, Mr. Lee has performed solo concerts and recitals throughout the Midwest, including a 1996 gala concert in which the musical artists of North and South Korea performed together on the same Chicago stage for the first time in history.

This season, bass-baritone Samuel L. Smith has sung Palermon in Thaïs with Palm Beach Opera, a recital at Weill Recital Hall in New York City as a 2005 winner of the Center for Contemporary Opera competition, Blitch in Floyd's Susannah at Hunter College, debuts with Sacramento Music Circus as Emile de Becque in South Pacific and Lake George Opera as Basilio in II barbiere di Siviglia, and Colline for Opera 123's upcoming DVD release of La bohème. He made his debut at Carnegie Hall as the bass soloist in Mozart's "Coronation" Mass and on the Lyric Opera of Chicago stage as the Jailer in Tosca. He has performed Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia and Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro with Lyric Opera of Cleveland, Commendatore in Don Giovanni with Wolf Trap Opera, Leporello in Don Giovanni at both the Pine Mountain Music Festival and Metro Lyric Opera, Timur in a concert version of Turandot with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, and Scarpia in Tosca with the Sorg Opera. Prior performances have included debuts with the prestigious City Center Encores! in Romberg's New Moon, recorded by the Shikaboom label, and with the North Arkansas Symphony Orchestra as bass soloist in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.

Virginia-Gene Rittenhouse, artistic director and principal conductor of the New England Symphonic Ensemble, is a violinist, pianist, composer, and conductor. A graduate of The Juilliard School, Boston University, and the Peabody Conservatory, Dr. Rittenhouse has performed as recitalist and soloist with orchestras throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, South Africa, and the West Indies. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the London Associate Board Overseas Award, the New York Concert Artists Guild Award, the International Music Guild Award, and the New York Madrigal Society Award.

The New England Symphonic Ensemble was organized more than two decades ago by Dr. Virginia-Gene Rittenhouse. Since 1982 the ensemble has toured extensively throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, Africa, Russia, and Israel, and has performed frequently at Carnegie Hall under the auspices of MidAmerica Productions.

Over the past 23 years, MidAmerica Productions has brought together conductors, choruses, soloists, and orchestral musicians for performances at some of the world's greatest venues, especially at New York's Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall.

Under the guidance of MidAmerica's founder, Peter Tiboris, the company has presented over 890 concerts worldwide and more than 750 in New York at Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall, and Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall.

More than 2500 American ensembles, representing each of the 50 states, have appeared with MidAmerica in New York, as have more than 100 symphonic and choral ensembles from Europe, the Far East, South America, and Canada. There have more than 300 guest conductors, 650 solo artists, and over 100,000 performers who have appeared on MidAmerica's series in Carnegie Hall.

In addition to presenting classic choral and instrumental works, MidAmerica Productions has championed the works of contemporary composers. On MidAmerica's series in Carnegie Hall and at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall, there have been approximately 31 World Premieres, 16 United States Premieres, and 50 New York Premieres.

For more information about MidAmerica Productions, please contact Susan Case at 212-239-0205 or scase@midamerica-music.com

Tickets, at $94, 57, 38, may be obtained by calling CarnegieCharge at (212) 247-7800, going online at www.carnegiehall.org, or by visiting the Carnegie Hall Box Office at West 57th Street and Seventh Avenue in NYC. For more information, call our Box Office at (212) 239-4699 or visit our web site at www.midamerica-music.com.

***

Phil Mattson, director of the School for Music Vocations at Southwestern Community College in Creston, Iowa, has taught at Pacific Lutheran University and Gonzaga University, both in Washington. His undergraduate studies in music and philosophy were completed at Concordia College in Minnesota, and his graduate work in choral literature and conducting at the University of Iowa. Mr. Mattson has published a number of choral and vocal jazz arrangements and compositions. He has been nominated twice for Grammy Awards for arrangements and performance. In addition to establishing the curriculum for the School for Music Vocations, he is active as a conductor, pianist, arranger, and clinician, and writes for professional vocal groups including the Four Freshman, The Real Group, Chanticleer, Beachfront Property, Dale Warland Singers and the Manhattan Transfer. Downbeat Magazine recently honored his ensemble, Phil Mattson and VoicesIowa, as “Vocal Jazz Group of the Year.”

A faculty member at UCLA, Michele Weir is a former member of the Grammy-nominated group Phil Mattson and the PM Singers and an internationally respected jazz educator, arranger and vocalist. Recent notable presentations include the World Choral Symposium, the ACDA National Conference and the IAJE Convention. Michele’s arrangements are widely published and have been performed by groups including Beachfront Property, New York Voices, M-Pact, Chanticleer, The Boston Pops, the Pacific Symphony, and many others. In addition to her educational book/CD sets, Vocal Improvisation and Jazz Singer’s Handbook, her new book, Jazz Piano Basics, will be released in early 2007 by Alfred Publishing. Michele served as music supervisor for the foreign language dubs of the Dreamworks film Prince of Egypt, and in 2004 her online publishing company, “MichMusic,” was initiated. Her CD with guitarist Bruce Forman is titled The Sound of Music.

Over the past 23 years, MidAmerica Productions has brought together conductors, choruses, soloists, and orchestral musicians for performances at some of the world's greatest venues, especially at New York's Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall.

Under the guidance of MidAmerica's founder, Peter Tiboris, the company has presented over 885 concerts worldwide and more than 750 in New York at Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall, and Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall.

More than 2500 American ensembles, representing each of the 50 states, have appeared with MidAmerica in New York, as have more than 100 symphonic and choral ensembles from Europe, the Far East, South America, and Canada. There have more than 300 guest conductors, 650 solo artists, and over 100,000 performers who have appeared on MidAmerica's series in Carnegie Hall.

In addition to presenting classic choral and instrumental works, MidAmerica Productions has championed the works of contemporary composers. On MidAmerica's series in Carnegie Hall and at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall, there have been approximately 31 World Premieres, 16 United States Premieres, and 50 New York Premieres.

For more information about MidAmerica Productions, please contact Susan Case at 212-239-0205 or scase@midamerica-music.com

Tickets, at $94, 57, 38, may be obtained by calling CarnegieCharge at (212) 247-7800, going online at www.carnegiehall.org, or by visiting the Carnegie Hall Box Office at West 57th Street and Seventh Avenue in NYC. For more information, call our Box Office at (212) 239-4699 or visit our web site at www.midamerica-music.com.

***

Jack Yonce is in his tenth year as director of bands at Cheyenne Mountain High School in Colorado Springs, the past four serving as instrumental music department chairperson for the Cheyenne Mountain School District. Prior to his appointment at Cheyenne Mountain High School, Mr. Yonce was a graduate teaching assistant at the University of Colorado, Boulder (MM—wind conducting), and served seven years as instrumental music director at Gateway High School in Aurora.

Under Mr. Yonce’s direction, wind groups from Cheyenne Mountain High School have been selected three times for the Colorado Music Educator’s Association Clinic/Conference and twice selected to the Bands of America National Concert Band Festival, held in Indianapolis, Indiana. In the summer of 2005, the Cheyenne Mountain Symphonic Band traveled to Japan to participate in the Japan-America Summit and the 2005 EXPO.

In addition to his duties at Cheyenne Mountain High School, Mr. Yonce has served as the Colorado Bandmasters’ Association chief judge for marching band activities, and is currently president of that organization. He is also the conductor of the Little London Winds, Colorado Springs’ premier adult community band. Professional affiliations include the Colorado Music Educators Association, Colorado Bandmasters Association, and Phi Beta Mu. Jack lives in Black Forest, north of Colorado Springs, with his wife, Donna.

The Cheyenne Mountain High School Band program, consisting of three concert bands and a jazz band, is recognized as one of the premier organizations of its kind in the state and region. The Symphonic Band has been a recipient of Superior Division I Ratings, with Distinction, at the State Concert Band Festival since the festival’s inception in 1999. Last year, the Cheyenne Mountain High School Wind Ensemble (in its first year of existence) was selected to the State Concert Band Festival and received a Superior Division I Rating.

Daniel M. Wing came to public school teaching following 15 years as a professional orchestra musician. He holds a B.A. in music from Washington State University and an M.M. in viola performance, with highest distinction, from Indiana University. Mr. Wing lived in Germany for six years, and has toured and performed throughout Europe, appearing with, among others, the orchestras of Radio Luxembourg and West German Radio (Cologne), and on string quartet recordings for Southwest German Radio (Karlsruhe). He has served as principal violist in the orchestras of Heidelberg (Germany), Spoleto Festival (Italy), Sacramento (CA), Evansville (IN) and Charlotte (NC). Samuel Barber’s opera Antony and Cleopatra, recorded by the Spoleto Festival Orchestra, won the 1984 Grammy award. Mr. Wing remains an active free-lance musician on the West Coast.

Mr. Wing joined the Shoreline School District in 1988. His Shorewood orchestras have produced many all-state musicians and state champions, as well as awards from the prestigious Northwest Orchestra Festival. In addition to directing his school orchestras, he conducts for the Cascade Youth Symphony, and is a frequent clinician, guest conductor and adjudicator in the Pacific Northwest. He is past-president of Washington String Teachers Association (ASTA), has served on the executive board of Washington Music Educators (WMEA); and is currently president of the regional Sno-King Music Educators (SKMEA). He was the group manager for the 2003 and 2004 All- State Orchestras and the 2007 All-Northwest Orchestra.

Shorewood High School is a four-year public school in the Shoreline School District, situated between Seattle and Edmonds, bordered on the east by Lake Washington and on the west by Puget Sound. Shorewood’s strong academic programs have merited its status as a nationally recognized Blue Ribbon School. The orchestra program supports three classes: the ninth grade Concert Orchestra, the upperclassman Symphony Orchestra and the audition-only Chamber Ensemble; 105 string players are currently enrolled in orchestra at Shorewood. Since 1990 the orchestras have been very active in state and regional contests, and have been frequent award winners at the Northwest Orchestra Festival (Gresham, Oregon) and the Washington State Championships. Over the years, the orchestras have toured Hawaii, British Columbia, Oregon, California, New York and Florida. Today’s concert marks Shorewood’s second Carnegie Hall appearance.

Over the past 23 years, MidAmerica Productions has brought together conductors, choruses, soloists, and orchestral musicians for performances at some of the world's greatest venues, especially at New York's Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall.

Under the guidance of MidAmerica's founder, Peter Tiboris, the company has presented over 885 concerts worldwide and more than 750 in New York at Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall, and Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall.

More than 2500 American ensembles, representing each of the 50 states, have appeared with MidAmerica in New York, as have more than 100 symphonic and choral ensembles from Europe, the Far East, South America, and Canada. There have more than 300 guest conductors, 650 solo artists, and over 100,000 performers who have appeared on MidAmerica's series in Carnegie Hall.

In addition to presenting classic choral and instrumental works, MidAmerica Productions has championed the works of contemporary composers. On MidAmerica's series in Carnegie Hall and at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall, there have been approximately 31 World Premieres, 16 United States Premieres, and 50 New York Premieres.

For more information about MidAmerica Productions, please contact Susan Case at 212-239-0205 or scase@midamerica-music.com

Tickets, at $94, 57, 38, may be obtained by calling CarnegieCharge at (212) 247-7800, going online at www.carnegiehall.org, or by visiting the Carnegie Hall Box Office at West 57th Street and Seventh Avenue in NYC. For more information, call our Box Office at (212) 239-4699 or visit our web site at www.midamerica-music.com.

***

Catherine Hudnall received her bachelor’s degree in music education from the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. After graduating, she founded and directed the orchestra program in Pickens County, SC, where she taught for three years. She moved to Atlanta in 1986 and has taught in Gwinnett (and one year in Hawaii) since then. She holds a master’s degree in music performance from Georgia State University, and an educational specialist’s degree in leadership and administration. Ms. Hudnall has taught at Norcross High School since 1992 and was the Teacher of the Year in 2001. In 1997, she was chosen to teach at the Iolani School in Honolulu, Hawaii. She is a regular conductor and clinician for honor ensembles throughout the Atlanta Metro Area and was the conductor of the South Carolina All-State String Orchestra in 2002 and the Mississippi All-State Orchestra in 2005. She was invited to guest conduct the Gwinnett Philharmonic Orchestra in 2004 and 2006. In 2006, the Norcross High School Philharmonic Orchestra won the National Championship High School String Orchestra at the American String Teachers Association conference in Kansas City. Ms. Hudnall is the co-director of the Gwinnett County Youth Symphony. As a cellist, she performs with the Gwinnett Philharmonic and the Candler String Quartet. She has performed with the 1st International Cello Congress Cello Choir, the Columbia Philharmonic Orchestra, the Maui, Florence, Charleston, Augusta, Spartanburg, and Gainesville symphonies, and the Brevard Music Center Festival Orchestra.

Allison Bates received her bachelor’s degree in music education and music performance (violin) in 2005 from the University of Georgia. She also holds a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Duke University. A native of Atlanta, Ms. Bates began teaching orchestra and guitar at Norcross High School in December, 2005, after a brief stint student teaching at Norcross, Druid Hills High School, and Crews Middle School. Ms. Bates is a registered Suzuki violin teacher, having completed six courses in the Suzuki Philosophy. She performs regularly as a violinist with different quartets and musical organizations around the state of Georgia. She currently acts as a sectional coach for the Gwinnett County Youth Symphony.

Leslie W. Hicken joined the faculty of Furman University, Greenville, SC, in the fall of 1993. As director of bands in the department of music, he is the director of the wind ensemble, symphonic band, and chamber winds; instructor of instrumental conducting; instrumental music education coordinator; and assistant to the marching band. He is also the artistic director of the Carolina Youth Symphony and the director for the Furman Lakeside Concert Series.

Prior to his appointment at Furman, Hicken was the director of bands at Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio. Under his leadership, wind ensembles from both Furman and Youngstown State performed at state MENC conferences and regional CBDNA conventions. Hicken also was the director of the Youngstown Symphony Youth Orchestra and a clarinetist in the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra. Earlier in his career, Hicken worked for five years as an instrumental music teacher in the Durham (NC) County school system, and served as a clarinetist in the United States Military Academy Band at West Point, NY. Hicken received his bachelor of music degree from the Eastman School of Music, a masters of arts in teaching from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a doctorate in music education from Indiana University.

Tom Brawner is in his 39th year in music education. He holds a bachelor of science in music education from Ohio State University, a master of music in trumpet performance from the University of Kentucky, and a Rank I from the University of Illinois. He has been the band director at Scott County High School for the past 11 years. He was previously director of bands, trumpet teacher, and conducting teacher at the college level for seven years, serving at Eastern Illinois University and the University of Kentucky. He has also taught at Franklin County High and Frankfort High Schools in Kentucky.

Over the past 23 years, MidAmerica Productions has brought together conductors, choruses, soloists, and orchestral musicians for performances at some of the world's greatest venues, especially at New York's Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall.

Under the guidance of MidAmerica's founder, Peter Tiboris, the company has presented over 885 concerts worldwide and more than 750 in New York at Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall, and Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall.

More than 2500 American ensembles, representing each of the 50 states, have appeared with MidAmerica in New York, as have more than 100 symphonic and choral ensembles from Europe, the Far East, South America, and Canada. There have more than 300 guest conductors, 650 solo artists, and over 100,000 performers who have appeared on MidAmerica's series in Carnegie Hall.

In addition to presenting classic choral and instrumental works, MidAmerica Productions has championed the works of contemporary composers. On MidAmerica's series in Carnegie Hall and at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall, there have been approximately 31 World Premieres, 16 United States Premieres, and 50 New York Premieres.

For more information about MidAmerica Productions, please contact Susan Case at 212-239-0205 or scase@midamerica-music.com

Tickets, at $94, 57, 38, may be obtained by calling CarnegieCharge at (212) 247-7800, going online at www.carnegiehall.org, or by visiting the Carnegie Hall Box Office at West 57th Street and Seventh Avenue in NYC. For more information, call our Box Office at (212) 239-4699 or visit our web site at www.midamerica-music.com.

***

John Rutter, conductor, a native of London, is well known on both sides of the Atlantic as a composer, conductor, and recording artist. His compositions span choral and orchestral works, carols, school operas, popular music, and music for television. He was director of music at England’s Clare College from 1975-79, later forming the Cambridge Singers, a mixed-voice choir that has recorded over two dozen albums, many for his own label, Collegium. In the last few years, several of his recordings have reached Billboard magazine’s Classical Top 25 chart. Recently, he initiated the Collegium Choral Series, a music-publishing project aimed at making available to choral groups works performed by the Cambridge Singers.

Mezzo-soprano Leah Wool is quickly garnering critical acclaim on stages across the country. Notable past performances include Hansel in Hansel and Gretel at Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Rosina in Il barbiere di Siviglia with the Newton Symphony, Stéphano in Roméo et Juliette with Toledo Opera, Erika in Vanessa at Central City Opera, Delia in Il viaggio a Reims at New York City Opera, and Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Utah Opera. Sought after on the concert stage, she has appeared as mezzo-soprano soloist for works including Haydn's Theresienmesse with the New Jersey Symphony and Handel's Messiah in her Carnegie Hall debut with the Masterwork Chorus and Orchestra. Ms. Wool was a Second Place Winner in the 2005 Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation International Vocal Competition and subsequently made her Alice Tully Hall debut in the Foundation’s gala concert. A two-time Regional Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, she has also received an Encouragement Grant from the Sullivan Foundation Awards, and the Judith Raskin Memorial Award from the Santa Fe Opera. Upcoming engagements include her debut with the Metropolitan Opera as the Second Novice in Suor Angelica, and a return to Central City Opera to sing the title role in Massenet’s Cendrillon.

Virginia-Gene Rittenhouse, artistic director and principal conductor of the New England Symphonic Ensemble, is a violinist, pianist, composer, and conductor. A graduate of The Juilliard School, Boston University, and the Peabody Conservatory, Dr. Rittenhouse has performed as recitalist and soloist with orchestras throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, South Africa, and the West Indies. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the London Associate Board Overseas Award, the New York Concert Artists Guild Award, the International Music Guild Award, and the New York Madrigal Society Award.

The New England Symphonic Ensemble was organized more than two decades ago by Dr. Virginia-Gene Rittenhouse. Since 1982 the ensemble has toured extensively throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, Africa, Russia, and Israel, and has performed frequently at Carnegie Hall under the auspices of MidAmerica Productions.

Over the past 23 years, MidAmerica Productions has brought together conductors, choruses, soloists, and orchestral musicians for performances at some of the world's greatest venues, especially at New York's Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall.

Under the guidance of MidAmerica's founder, Peter Tiboris, the company has presented over 885 concerts worldwide and more than 750 in New York at Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall, and Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall.

More than 2500 American ensembles, representing each of the 50 states, have appeared with MidAmerica in New York, as have more than 100 symphonic and choral ensembles from Europe, the Far East, South America, and Canada. There have more than 300 guest conductors, 650 solo artists, and over 100,000 performers who have appeared on MidAmerica's series in Carnegie Hall.

In addition to presenting classic choral and instrumental works, MidAmerica Productions has championed the works of contemporary composers. On MidAmerica's series in Carnegie Hall and at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall, there have been approximately 31 World Premieres, 16 United States Premieres, and 50 New York Premieres.

For more information about MidAmerica Productions, please contact Susan Case at 212-239-0205 or scase@midamerica-music.com

Tickets, at $94, 57, 38, may be obtained by calling CarnegieCharge at (212) 247-7800, going online at www.carnegiehall.org, or by visiting the Carnegie Hall Box Office at West 57th Street and Seventh Avenue in NYC. For more information, call our Box Office at (212) 239-4699 or visit our web site at www.midamerica-music.com.

***

Jonathan Griffith has guest conducted for the Bialystok State Philharmonic (Poland), Virtuosi Pregensis Chamber Orchestra, Karlovy Vary Symphony Orchestra, Dvorak Chamber Orchestra and Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonia, (Czech Republic), The European Symphony Orchestra (Spain), Manhattan Philharmonic (New York), Mormon Tabernacle Choir (Salt Lake City), and several regional orchestras and choruses throughout the U.S. He has served as chorus master for the Utah and Portland opera companies, founded the Kansas City Chorale and the Jonathan Griffith Singers, and was on the faculties of the Conservatory of Music at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Wichita State University, Marylhurst University, and Warner Pacific College. His more than 35 Carnegie Hall appearances include the major works of the classical repertoire. A native of St. Louis, he received his B.M.E. from the University of Kansas, his M.M.E. from Wichita State University, and his D.M.A. in conducting from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Susan Wheeler is one of her generation’s most promising lyric coloraturas. Concert credits include the Tucson and Baltimore Symphonies, where she was featured as Cunegonde in Candide and Pappagena in Die Zauberflöte. Augusta Opera, where she appeared as the three heroines in a 2005 Les Contes d’Hoffmann, welcomes her back in March, 2007 to sing the role of Gretel.

Equally at home with modern music, Ms. Wheeler is resident soprano with the Third Millenium Ensemble. Oratorio credits include Haydn’s Creation, Mozart’s C-minor Mass, Bach’s Magnificat, and Brahms’ Requiem. This is Ms. Wheeler’s Carnegie Hall debut.

Mezzo-soprano Camille Gifford is a frequent soloist on the opera, concert, oratorio, and recital stage. She has performed with many companies in the midwest and the New York area, including Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Des Moines Metro, Tulsa, Chattanooga, Springfield Regional and Brandenburg operas, Reimann Opera Theatre, New York Opera Forum, New York Vocal Artists, Pittsburgh Opera Center, Tulsa Opera Young Artists Program, Inspiration Point Fine Arts Colony and the Middle America Apprentice Program.

Lyric tenor Charles Reid has been heard as Pong in Turandot, Simpleton in Boris Godunov and Tony in A View from the Bridge at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. In 2007 he will debut at Bayreuther Festspiele singing Vogelgesang in Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg. At Nationaltheater Mannheim he has performed numerous Mozart roles, plus Narraboth in Salome, Walther von der Vogelweide in Tannhäuser, Casio in Otello and Testo in Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda. He has sung roles with San Francisco Opera, Spoleto Festival U.S.A., L’Opéra Français de New York, Opera Carolina, Connecticut, Glimmerglass, Sarasota, and Central City operas, and was also recently heard in a tour of La Clemenza di Tito in Spain.

John Shelhart, bass-baritone, is currently in his second season as a principal artist with the Metropolitan Opera, where he has sung Count Ceprano in Rigoletto, Paris in Romeo et Juliette, and the Second Prisoner in Fidelio. Other roles include John Adams in the New York Lyric Opera’s premiere of Abigail Adams, Escamillo in Carmen, Marcello in La bohème and Elder McLean in Susannah with Illinois Opera Theater and Harry Paddington in The Beggars’ Opera with St. Louis Opera Theater.

Oratorio engagements in New York City include Handel’s Messiah, the Verdi Requiem, Brahms’ Requiem and Elijah in Mendelssohn’s Elijah. He was a winner of the New York City Wagner Society’s voice competition and a semi-finalist in the Luciano Pavarotti Competition. He has also received various awards and grants.

Virginia-Gene Rittenhouse, artistic director and principal conductor of the New England Symphonic Ensemble, is a violinist, pianist, composer, and conductor. A graduate of The Juilliard School, Boston University, and the Peabody Conservatory, Dr. Rittenhouse has performed as recitalist and soloist with orchestras throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, South Africa, and the West Indies. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the London Associate Board Overseas Award, the New York Concert Artists Guild Award, the International Music Guild Award, and the New York Madrigal Society Award.

The New England Symphonic Ensemble was organized more than two decades ago by Dr. Virginia-Gene Rittenhouse. Since 1982 the ensemble has toured extensively throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, Africa, Russia, and Israel, and has performed frequently at Carnegie Hall under the auspices of MidAmerica Productions.

Over the past 23 years, MidAmerica Productions has brought together conductors, choruses, soloists, and orchestral musicians for performances at some of the world's greatest venues, especially at New York's Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall.

Under the guidance of MidAmerica's founder, Peter Tiboris, the company has presented over 880 concerts worldwide and more than 750 in New York at Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall, and Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall.

More than 2500 American ensembles, representing each of the 50 states, have appeared with MidAmerica in New York, as have more than 100 symphonic and choral ensembles from Europe, the Far East, South America, and Canada. There have more than 300 guest conductors, 650 solo artists, and over 100,000 performers who have appeared on MidAmerica's series in Carnegie Hall.

In addition to presenting classic choral and instrumental works, MidAmerica Productions has championed the works of contemporary composers. On MidAmerica's series in Carnegie Hall and at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall, there have been approximately 31 World Premieres, 16 United States Premieres, and 50 New York Premieres.

For more information about MidAmerica Productions, please contact Susan Case at 212-239-0205 or scase@midamerica-music.com