Press Release -- Amy Logan

Community voices can join with professional volunteers to perform Handel’s “Messiah” Sunday, Nov. 30, at UM.

Oct. 21, 2008

Contact: Habitat for Humanity of Missoula, 549-8210; Adjunct Assistant Professor Nancy Cooper, UM Department of Music, 243-2080.

‘MESSIAH’ CONCERT SET TO BENEFIT HABITAT FOR HUMANITY

MISSOULA —

Community voices can join with professional volunteers to perform Handel’s “Messiah” Sunday, Nov. 30, at The University of Montana.

The 13th annual event to raise funds for Habitat for Humanity of Missoula begins at 7:30 p.m. in the University Theatre. There is no charge for admission, but free-will donations will be accepted at the door.

The annual fundraiser brings together professional soloists, a 30-piece orchestra and a community choir of about 100 members for the hour-long performance.

This year, Handel’s “Messiah” will be conducted by Amy Brown Logan, a 2000 UM graduate who lives in Billings. Talented professionals whose careers also began in UM’s music program will be featured soloists, with musicians from the Missoula Symphony Orchestra, the String Orchestra of the Rockies, the UM Symphony Orchestra and area high schools.

Those who would like to join the performance as community choir members can collect pledges to participate. A minimum pledge total of $75 for adults and $40 for students is needed to perform in the concert. Area businesses will donate prizes for the 10 adult singers and five student singers with the highest pledge totals.

Pledge sheets and more information about the concert are available online at http://www.habitatmsla.org or by calling Habitat for Humanity of Missoula at 406-549-8210.

Two voluntary rehearsals will be held from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Nov. 16 and Nov. 23 in the Parish Hall of Holy Spirit Episcopal Church, located at 130 S. 6th St. E. in Missoula. A full dress rehearsal will take place at the University Theatre from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. the day of the performance.

Brown Logan received a UM degree in music education and clarinet performance. She is the choral director at Skyview High School in Billings, where she also teaches music in a private studio. She performs with the Billings Symphony and the High Plains Chamber Singers and is the artistic director and conductor of the Rimrock Opera Chorus for Kids. In September, Brown Logan portrayed Susanna in the Rimrock Opera production of “The Marriage of Figaro.”

Featured soloists this year are three UM graduates -- mezzo-soprano Angela Wilkes Andersen, tenor Steven Aadland and bass Howard Kingston -- and soprano Jennifer Jones, who attended UM from 1998 to 2001.

After graduating from UM in 2004, Wilkes Andersen went on to earn a master’s degree in vocal performance and opera studies in 2006 from The Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England. She has performed roles such as Orlofsky in “Die Fledermaus” and La Principessa in “Suor Angelica.” In December,
she will play the mother in Montana Lyric Opera’s production of “Amahl and the Night Visitors.”

Aadland, who came to UM from Absarokee, received a bachelor’s degree in voice performance in 2000. He then earned a master’s degree in voice from the University of Colorado, Boulder, performing several roles there, including the Prologue in Britten’s “The Turn of the Screw” and Felipe in the premiere of “Sara McKinnon,” a work by Mark Medoff and Randall Shinn. He makes frequent appearances as a guest soloist for Opera Plus in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and for the Montana Lyric Opera Company and has performed as a soloist with the Glacier Symphony in Kalispell and Bigfork.

Kingston, a native of England, received a bachelor’s degree in composition and music technology at UM in 2001 and a Master of Fine Arts degree in media arts from the University in 2004. He was commissioned that year to score director Michael Murphy’s multimedia production of Checkhov’s “Uncle Vanya,” which played in Missoula to critical acclaim. Among the many roles he has played are Gaston in Steve Martin’s award-winning play “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” and Scrooge in Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” Kingston also writes and produces music for local commercials and video productions.

Jones received degrees from Rocky Mountain College in Billings and Montana State University-Bozeman. She is a Billings native and enjoys performing in musical theater and opera, singing with various vocal ensembles and appearing as a recitalist and community soloist across Montana and in California. She currently sings with the cappella ensemble Dolce Canto and has performed with Montana’s Lyric Opera’s “Opera on Draft” and the Missoula City Band. Jones was featured with the Billings Symphony Orchestra as the soprano soloist for Rheinberger’s “The Star of Bethlehem.”

Since its founding in 1991, Habitat for Humanity of Missoula has completed 36 houses for area families.