Presenting Great concerts of classical, jazz, sacred, and contemporary music
Pianist and Conductor
Dr. Maria Manzo is co-founder
and Music Director of Bravo!
Northwest (formerly Bravo!
Vancouver). She is the Founding
Conductor of the Bravo! Chorale.
Dr. Manzo has led the Chorale
on numerous regional, national
and international concert tours.
Under her direction, the Chorale has performed with Melissa Manchester, Brubeck Brothers Quartet, Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra (DSO) and others. She led the Bravo! Chorale and DSO on a concert tour in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Dr. Manzo also led the Bravo! Chorale, Sno-King Chorale (Edmonds, WA) and Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra in their Pacific Northwest tour in the fall of 2008 which featured American and Croatian choral music with concerts in Portland, Vancouver, Olympia, Edmonds, Seattle, Portland Center for the Performing Arts, Washington Performing Arts Center and Seattle Center. The Bravo! Chorale released the CD recording Hear My Prayer: The American Spiritualunder her direction. It features classic & contemporary American Spirituals, including those of Jester Hairston, Moses Hogan, William Dawson and others. Dr. Manzo is recognized for her scholarship on the American Negro Spiritual, and is an authority on the music of the American choral composer and arranger Jester Hairston, composer of Amen and other well-known Spirituals.
Maria is currently Director of Music at The Madeleine Church in Portland, Oregon where she serves as Choir Director and Parish Pianist / Organist and arranges liturgical music for services. From 1993-2014, Dr. Manzo was Pastoral Assistant and Director of Music at St. Joseph Church in Vancouver, Washington.
Dr. Manzo’s Bravo! Chorale was invited to perform at the 25th Annual National Pastoral Musician’s Conference in Washington D.C. This invitation developed into an East Coast concert tour with the Duke Ellington School of the Arts Jazz Orchestra in Washington D.C. and New York City featuring all-American sacred repertoire. The New Washingtonians Jazz Orchestra from the Duke Ellington School of the Arts collaborated with Dr. Manzo on this tour, with a final concert at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Concert Hall in New York City.
She has led her choirs on tours to Italy, with concerts in Rome, Florence, Venice and Assisi; and regionally here in the Northwest with performances in Spokane, Seattle, Tacoma and Portland. Maria has produced three CD recordings under her direction including: Then Sings My Soul; Hallelujah! A St. Joseph Christmas; and Songs in the Key of Faith.
An experienced Music Educator, Dr. Manzo taught Choral Music in the Spokane School District (Spokane, WA) and was Assistant Professor of Choral Music at North Carolina Wesleyan College. She maintains an active private studio of piano and voice students ranging from Middle School students to adults. Maria earned her B.A. and Master of Music degrees from Eastern Washington University and her Doctorate of Arts degree from the University of Northern Colorado.
Maria has performed extensively throughout the United States and Europe as a solo pianist and chamber musician. Recent performances include the Beethoven Triple Concerto with the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra and concerts with the Brubeck Brothers Jazz Quartet at the Dubrovnik Wine & Jazz Festival in Dubrovnik, Croatia.
Conductor, clarinetist,
composer, and producer
Dr. Michael Kissinger began
his music career at age 16 when
he produced his first concert
featuring the legendary American
clarinetist Woody Herman and
The Thundering Herd.
He is Artistic Director of Bravo! Concerts Northwest and Conductor of the Bravo! Chorale and Northwest Chamber Orchestra. He is Founder and Artistic Director of the Vancouver Wine & Jazz Festival. Since 2006 he has been United States Guest Conductor of the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra (DSO) in Dubrovnik, Croatia and served as Artistic Director of the Dubrovnik Jazz Festival in a 5-year project with the City of Dubrovnik. For the past thirty years he has worked as a conductor, clarinetist, composer, and producer.
Michael has been a clarinetist and conductor with orchestras, jazz bands and classical groups in the U.S. and Europe including Jazz and Pop artists Jose Feliciano, Diane Schuur, Stanley Jordan, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Brubeck Brothers Jazz Quartet; and ensembles including Oregon String Quartet, Spoleto Festival Orchestra dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy, Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, Ciompi String Quartet, Carolina String Quartet, North Carolina Symphony, Greensboro Symphony, Lansing Symphony, St. Stephen’s Chamber Orchestra, Raleigh Civic Symphony, and the New Washingtonian’s Jazz Orchestra. He toured for two years as North Carolina Visiting Artist and performed more than 200 concerts and educational programs throughout the state. He co-founded the American Music Festival in Beaufort, NC which celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2019. He has performed on numerous recordings, including the GRAMMY-nominated Wynton Marsalis recordings Carnival, and Quiet City.
Michael is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Vancouver Wine & Jazz Festival. Under his leadership the Festival became “…the largest festival of its kind in the Northwest…” (ABC TV, KATU 2, Portland, OR). The Festival has attracted more than 150,000 people from 23 states, China, Japan, Europe, and Canada since 1998. Michael has produced more than 250 GRAMMY-winning jazz and blues artist concerts including: Al Jarreau, Allen Toussaint, Arturo Sandoval, Bela Fleck, Blind Boys of Alabama, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Bo Diddley, Booker T. Jones, Brubeck Brothers Quartet, Chick Corea, Chuck Mangione, Coco Montoya, David Sanborn, Diane Schuur, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Don McLean, Dr. John, Eddie Palmieri, Family Stone, Jane Monheit, Jean-Luc Ponty, John Hammond, John Pizzarelli, Jose Feliciano, Judy Collins, Kenny Loggins, Lee Ritenour, Los Lobos, Manhattan Transfer, Marcia Ball, Mavis Staples, Melissa Manchester, Nicholas Payton, Pacific Mambo Orchestra, Poncho Sanchez, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Ramsey Lewis, Regina Carter, Rita Coolidge, Spanish Harlem Orchestra, Spyro Gyra, Stanley Clarke, Stanley Jordan, Take 6, The Louis Armstrong Society Jazz Band, The 5th Dimension, The Rippingtons, The Temptations, The Yellowjackets, Toshiko Akiyoshi, WAR and others; as well as more than 100 local and regional bands and student ensembles.
His sacred and jazz choral music compositions are published by International Liturgy Publications (Nashville, TN) and Sound Music Jazz Publications (Oceanside CA). His choral music ranges from children to adults. His most recent published music is “A Christmas Suite for Children” published by ILP, Nashville. Dr. Kissinger has taught at George Fox University, University of North Carolina-Wilmington, Meredith College, the Eastman School of Music, Albion College, Hochstein School of Music, North Carolina State University, Wake Technical College, Pamlico Community College, Rocky Mount Middle and High School and the New England Music Camp. He has produced two CD recordings featuring the Northwest Chamber Orchestra and Bravo! Chorale: Handel’s Messiah and Hear My Prayer: The American Spiritual.
As an arts manager, Dr. Kissinger has raised and managed more than $7,500,000 for orchestra, choir, and jazz programs.
He earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music, a Master of Music from Michigan State University, and his Bachelor of Music from the University of North Carolina.