Clarinetist and conductor Michael Kissinger is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Vancouver Wine & Jazz Festival and the Bravo! Vancouver Concert Series.  He also serves as the United States Guest Conductor for the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra (DSO, Dubrovnik, Croatia).  See www.bravoconcerts.com and www.dso.hr.

Michael has performed as a solo clarinetist and with orchestras, jazz ensembles and chamber groups in the U.S. and Europe including such diverse ensembles as the Spoleto Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy, Heidelberg Opera Orchestra, Ciompi String Quartet, Carolina String Quartet, North Carolina Symphony, Greensboro Symphony, Lansing Symphony, St. Stephen’s Chamber Orchestra, Raleigh Ballet Orchestra, Raleigh Civic Symphony, New Washingtonian’s Jazz Orchestra and the Rochester Big Band, among others.  From 1989-1991 he was a solo artist in the prestigious North Carolina Visiting Artist program, where he also produced a radio series for National Public Radio.  He founded the American Music Festival in Beaufort, North Carolina, and was Artistic Director until 1993.  He has performed on numerous commercial recordings including Wynton Marsalis’s Grammy-nominated album, Carnival and the CBS Masterworks recording Quiet City.

Michael earned the Doctorate of Musical Arts degree (DMA) from the Eastman School of Music, and holds graduate and undergraduate music degrees from Michigan State University and the University of North Carolina.  Dr. Kissinger has served on music faculties at UNC-Wilmington, Meredith College, the Eastman School of Music, Wake Technical Community College, Pamlico Community College, Albion College, New England Music Camp, Rocky Mount High School, and the Hochstein School of Music.

The Vancouver Wine & Jazz Festival is “…the largest festival of its kind in the Northwest…” (KATU Channel 2, Portland, OR) and is “…one of the most important jazz festivals in the Northwest…” (Northwest Jazz Profile Magazine).  The Festival was awarded 2008 Most Outstanding Tourism Event by the Clark County Commissioners.  Now recognized by the City of Vancouver as the #1 cultural arts event in Southwest Washington, the Festival has attracted more than 100,000 jazz, wine and art aficionados from 17 states and Canada since its premier in 1998.

Dr. Kissinger has produced over thirty internationally acclaimed jazz and blues artists including: Arturo Sandoval, Bela Fleck, BeauSoleil, Blind Boys of Alabama, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Bo Diddley, Booker T. Jones, Bobby Shew, Chick Corea, Chuck Mangione, David Sanborn, Diane Schuur, Dr. John, Eddie Palmieri, Ed Shaughnessy, Ernie Watts, Four Freshmen, James Cotton, Jean-Luc Ponty, Jose Feliciano, Kenny Loggins, Los Lobos, Mavis Staples, Melissa Manchester, Poncho Sanchez, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Ramsey Lewis, Regina Carter, Spanish Harlem Orchestra, Spyro Gyra, Stanley Clarke, Take 6, The Louis Armstrong Society Jazz Band, The 5th Dimension, The Temptations, The Yellowjackets, and others. 

Bravo! Vancouver (now in its 16th season) presents classical, sacred, chamber music and jazz concerts from December through June each season.  Each season, Bravo! Vancouver features the 60-voice Bravo! Vancouver Chorale, Washington Chamber Orchestra, Northwest Jazz Orchestra and guest artists in concert.  Bravo! Vancouver has presented a wide variety of sacred and secular choral repertoire including Johannes Brahms’ German Requiem, J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, the Requiems of Mozart, Gabriel Fauré, Maurice Duruflé and Guiseppe Verdi, Joseph Haydn’s Te Deum and Creation, and Francis Poulenc’s Gloria to name just a few.  The Bravo! Vancouver Chorale has established itself as one of the premiere civic choral groups in the Pacific Northwest.  The Chorale prides itself on its ability to perform diverse repertoire, and is equally at home performing jazz and popular music.  It has presented concerts of Dave Brubeck’s powerful jazz Mass, To Hope: A Celebration; as well as songs from Broadway musicals, American folk and patriotic songs, Spirituals and more.  In June 2000, the Chorale released its premiere compact disc recording: George Frederic Handel’s Messiah: An Oratorio, recorded live in concert.  In July 2001 the Chorale engaged in its first national tour to Washington D.C. and New York City.  Performances included concerts at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Concert Hall and at the 25th Anniversary National Pastoral Musician’s National Conference in Washington D.C. The New Washingtonians Jazz Orchestra from the Duke Ellington School for the Performing Arts collaborated with the Chorale on the tour.  The tour concerts featured a program of American sacred music, including Ellington’s Sacred Concert.

Dr. Kissinger and his wife and artistic partner, Maria Manzo, recently completed a 5-concert tour with the Bravo! Vancouver Chorale and DSO in Croatia in July 2009; and a Pacific Northwest tour in September 2008 with the DSO and the Bravo! Vancouver Chorale with concerts in Portland, Vancouver, Olympia, Edmonds and Seattle.  Michael produced the Bravo! Chorale’s most recent CD recording Hear My Prayer: The American Spiritual, released in December 2006.  His numerous choral music compositions are published by Sound Music Publications (www.smpjazz.com) in Edmonds, WA.