Mozart At The Summit features clarinetist Michael Kissinger, the Bravo! Northwest Chorale, Northwest Chamber Orchestra, and conductor and pianist Maria Manzo. The album includes Wolfgang Mozart’s famous Clarinet Concerto and Requiem Mass.

Clarinetist 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 is Founder and Artistic Director of the Vancouver Wine & Jazz Festival. He has been Guest Conductor of the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra in Dubrovnik, Croatia and created the Dubrovnik Jazz Festival in a 5-year project with the City of Dubrovnik. Michael has been a clarinetist and conductor with choirs, orchestras, jazz bands and classical groups in the U.S. and Europe and with such diverse artists as Jose Feliciano, Diane Schuur, Stanley Jordan, NATO Jazz Orchestra, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Brubeck Brothers Jazz Quartet, Oregon String Quartet, Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, and others.

Conductor & Pianist Maria Manzo is co-founder and Music Director of Bravo! Concerts Northwest and the Founding Conductor of the Bravo! Northwest Chorale. Under her direction, the Bravo! Chorale has collaborated with acclaimed artists and organizations including Melissa Manchester, The Brubeck Brothers Quartet, the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, 56th US Army Band, Portland Opera, Pacific Youth Chorus, Seattle Jazz Singers, Duke Ellington School of the Arts Jazz Orchestra, and others. Dr. Manzo’s choral repertoire includes Baroque, Renaissance, Romantic, and 20th Century music, and ranges from choral classics to contemporary jazz. She 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.

There are musical summits – composers, musicians, and pieces that rise above others and define a style, era, or genre. Mozart is one such artist, and two of his final compositions – the Concerto for Clarinet & Orchestra K. 622, and the Requiem in d minor K. 626 – are musical mountaintop experiences for audiences and musicians.

SONG LIST:

Requiem K. 626

1. Requiem (4:52)

2. Kyrie (2:16)

3. Dies Irae (1:46)

4. Tuba Mirum (3:48)

5. Rex Tremendae (1:59)

6. Recordare (6:15)

7. Confutatis (2:38)

8. Lacrimosa (3:31)

9. Domine Jesu (3:25)

10.  Hostias (4:08)

11.  Sanctus (1:26)

12.  Benedictus (5:13)

13.  Agnus Dei (3:51)

14.  Lux Aeterna (5:43)

Clarinet Concerto K. 622

15.  Allegro (14:07)

16.  Adagio (7:07)

17.  Rondo (9:53)