Jessica Paul and company to host third segment of ‘Art Song Jamboree’ series Feb. 23

Jessica Paul, Luther College associate professor of music, will host the third of the four-part music performance series titled “Art Song Jamboree.”  The performance will be held Monday, Feb. 23 at 5:15 p.m. in the Center for Faith and Life Recital Hall.
   
The performance is open to the public with no charge for admission.
   
This is the third straight year that Luther has put on the Art Song series.  This year’s series is dedicated to the exploration of art song by women composers of the past and present.  Performers in each “Jam program” are a mix of vocal students under the direction of Paul and members of the Luther music faculty.
   
The program will feature works by Wang An-Ming, Jennifer Higdon, Vitezslava Kapralova, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel and Persis Vehar.

The program will feature six student performers: Maggie Boland, Rachel Grippen and Mallory Marlatt, sopranos; Lindsey Johnson and Kara Morrissey, mezzo-sopranos; and Zachary Owen, baritone. Also featured are Luther faculty Jessica Paul, piano, and Beth Ray-Westlund, mezzo-soprano; and guest Christine Seitz, University of Missouri Columbia faculty, and former Luther voice faculty, soprano.

Paul has been the creator and lead advocate of the Art Song series.  She says it is the brainchild of her research and her mission to find art song written by women composers of all eras, musical styles, languages and nationalities.  This year’s program series includes several women composers from the International Alliance of Women in Music and artists from around the globe.  The final program in the four-part installation is March 16. 

Paul, a native of Chicago, holds the bachelor of music in piano performance from Northwestern University.  Paul earned the master of music and doctor of musical arts degrees in vocal coaching and accompanying at the University of Illinois. 

She is frequently engaged as a collaborative pianist and guest clinician, and she has worked with such opera companies as the Pittsburgh Opera Theatre, Opera Theatre of Illinois, National Opera Company, Cleveland Opera Theatre, Virginia Opera Association, Lake George Opera Festival, Cedar Rapids Opera, and Pine Mountain Music Festival.
   
She is the former principal conductor and artistic director of the Dorian Opera Theatre. In her position as associate professor of music at Luther she serves as a vocal coach, collaborative pianist, and teacher of accompanying.