“Michael is the best clarinetist I have ever worked with, and I've heard them all.”

Pianist and Conductor Dr. Maria Manzo is co-founder and Music Director of Bravo! Concerts Northwest.  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 the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra (DSO), Melissa Manchester, Brubeck Brothers Jazz Quartet, New Washingtonians Jazz Orchestra, Sno-King Chorale, Pacific Youth Choir, Seattle Jazz Singers, 56th US Army Band, 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 a Pacific Northwest tour in 2008 which featured American and Croatian choral music with concerts in Portland, Vancouver, Olympia, Edmonds, and Seattle for the International CroatiaFest.

The Bravo! Chorale released several CD recordings under her direction including; Hear My Prayer: The American Spiritual, Mozart At The Summit, and Songs In The Key of Faith.  Hear My Prayer 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 African American Spiritual and is an authority on the music of the American choral composer and arranger Jester Hairston – composer of Amen, Elijah Rock, I Want Jesus To Walk With Me – and other well-known Spirituals. She was a contributing scholar on the Humanities Advisory Council to the 2015 award-winning documentary film Amen: The Life And Music Of Jester Hairston. 

Maria is currently Director of Music at The Madeleine Church in Portland, Oregon.  From 1993-2014, Dr. Manzo was Director of Music at St. Joseph Church in Vancouver, Washington, where she also produced the CD recording A St. Joseph Christmas.

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 in the Northwest with performances in Spokane, Seattle, Tacoma and Portland.

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.  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.

She performs with the trio Sirens, and with the Elysium Quartet which includes violinist Tatiana Kolchanova, cellist Collin Oldham, and clarinetist Michael Kissinger.

Her most recent recording is The Tango Project with the Elysium Quartet.

Conductor, clarinetist, composer, educator, and producer Michael Kissinger began his music career at age 16 when he produced his first concert featuring the legendary jazz jclarinetist Woody Herman and The Thundering Herd.

He was United States Guest Conductor of the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra in Dubrovnik, Croatia from 2006-2016 and served as Artistic Director of the Dubrovnik Jazz Festival for a five-year partnership with the City of Dubrovnik. He is the Artistic Director of Bravo! Concerts Northwest and is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Vancouver Wine & Jazz Festival. For the past thirty years he has worked as a conductor, clarinetist, composer, educator and producer.

Michael has been a conductor and clarinetist with choirs, orchestras, jazz artists, and chamber groups including Jose Feliciano, Diane Schuur, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Brubeck Brothers Jazz Quartet; and ensembles including Seattle Jazz Singers, Sno-King Chorale, 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 New Washingtonian’s Jazz Orchestra.  He toured for two years as a 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 as a clarinetist on various recordings, including the GRAMMY-nominated Wynton Marsalis recordings Carnaval, and Quiet City on the CBS Masterworks label.

As Founder and Artistic Director of the Vancouver Wine & Jazz Festival, Michael has produced concerts featuring more than 250 GRAMMY-winning and internationally acclaimed artists including: Al Jarreau, Arturo Sandoval, Bela Fleck, Blind Boys of Alabama, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Bo Diddley, Brubeck Brothers Quartet, Chick Corea, Chuck Mangione, David Sanborn, Diane Schuur, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Don McLean, Eddie Palmieri, and others; as well as regional jazz and blues bands and student ensembles.

The Festival celebrated its 25th Anniversary in 2025. It was awarded a 2023 Event of The Year by the Washington Festivals and Events Association. It is considered “…the largest festival of its kind in the Northwest…” (ABC TV, KATU 2, Portland, OR).  Since 1998, the Festival has attracted more than 150,000 people from 30 states and Canada.

Michael's choral music is published by International Liturgy Publications (Nashville, TN) He has produced two CD recordings featuring the Bravo! Chorale & Northwest Chamber Orchestra: Handel’s Messiah and Hear My Prayer: The American Spiritual and The Tango Project with the Elysium Quartet.

As a producer and arts manager, Dr. Kissinger has raised more than $7,500,000 for music programs over the past 30 years.  Michael has taught at George Fox University (OR), the University of North Carolina-Wilmington (NC), Meredith College (NC), the Eastman School of Music Community Education School (NY), Albion College (MI), Hochstein School of Music (NY), North Carolina State University (NC), Wake Technical College (NC), Pamlico Community College (NC), Rocky Mount Middle and High School (NC), and the New England Music Camp in Waterville, Maine. Michael is a Teaching Artist with the Virtu Academy in New York City. 

Michael 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 Greensboro.