Today in the ArtZany! Radio studio Paula Granquist welcomes conductor Paul Niemisto from the Cannon Valley Regional Orchestra to preview this weekend’s Handel’s Messiah: Christmas Edition! Also, Alyssa Herzog Melby, Executive Director of the Northfield Arts Guild will join us to highlight upcoming events.
Click here to listen to the show! ArtZany! – Radio for the Imagination 12/09/2016
CVRO presents its third iteration of Handel’s Messiah: Christmas Edition! Once again the concert features guest soloists, including soprano Paula Lammers, mezzo soprano Deesa Staats, tenor Bryan Reed, and bass Rodolfo Nieto, and the Hymnus choir from New Prague. The concerts are sure to provide a wonderful holiday tradition for the whole family to enjoy!
Friday, December 9, 7:30 pm- Cathedral of our Merciful Saviour, Faribault
Saturday, December 10, 7:30 pm- St. Dominic’s Church, Northfield
Advanced sale tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for students and seniors. “Pay-what-you-want” tickets will also be available at the door. Patrons are encouraged to support CVRO through a suggested admission of $15 for adults, $10 for students and seniors. northfieldartsguild.org
The Cannon Valley Regional Orchestra (CVRO) was founded in 1979 by conductor Paul Niemisto as a program of the Northfield Arts Guild. The CVRO is a diverse group of volunteer musicians performing symphonic music, drawn together by our love of rehearsing and performing this fine repertoire. Anyone with talent, experience, and motivation is welcome to join, from exceptional twelve-year-olds to octogenarians.
Mission: The CVRO was founded to help create and promote orchestral music culture in the Cannon Valley communities of Southeast Minnesota.
Paul Niemisto, Conductor
Cannon Valley Regional Orchestra
Niemisto, founder and conductor, is a member of the St. Olaf College music faculty. Recently, he has been a regular summer traveler to Finland, where he teaches courses in conduction, performs in brass festivals, and conducts bands and orchestras. Since 1991 he has directed a Finnish-American brass ensemble, “Boys of America,” which has traveled widely and made recordings in the U.S. and Scandinavia. In 1999 he was a Fulbright Senior Scholar to do research, and will continue brass history research in 2007 with an American Scandinavian Foundation grant. In summer 2006, he was coordinator for the Vintage Band Festival, held in Northfield.
Alyssa Herzog Melby, Executive Director
Northfield Arts Guild
Alyssa Herzog Melby will soon celebrate her 2nd Anniversary with the Northfield Arts Guild. During her time at the Arts Guild, the membership has nearly doubled, the organization is re-energized and supported by an extraordinary staff and volunteers and this year at the annual meeting, the Board announced for the first time in 7 years, the Guild will end the year having made a profit.
She came to the Northfield Arts Guild from her role as Director of Education and Community Engagement for Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, a position she served in for over three and a half years. Accomplishments at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre included securing the funding and support for providing the country’s first-ever Autism/Sensory-Friendly performance of The Nutcracker (December 2013) and beginning a robust accessibility initiative, including an audio-description program for visually-impaired patrons at PBT as well as adaptive dance for youth on the autism spectrum. For her work in accessibility, she received the John F. Kennedy Center’s Leadership Exchange in Arts and Disability Emerging Leader Award in 2013.
