JAMESTOWN, ND – University of Jamestown Music is pleased to host Dr. Melissa McCann and Dr. Bethany Mamola for a concert of songs by the well-known German Romantic composer, Richard Strauss.

They are performing selections from two of Strauss’ most significant song compositions – “Songs by Clemens Brentano” (a romantic poet best known for his folk poem collection called “The Youth’s Magic Horn”) and “The Four Last Songs,” his last completed composition and published the year after his death. They will conclude the program with a duet from his 1933 opera, Arabella.

The the free, public concert will take place at 2 pm Sunday, Sept. 29, in the the Lobby of the Reiland Fine Arts Center.

Hailed for her “great sense of line and legato,” soprano Melissa McCann is a rising young talent in opera. She was named winner of the Riverside Opera Auditions (2020), NATS-LA Young Artist Auditions (2014), and Redlands Bowl Young Artist Auditions (2014).

The upcoming season includes role debuts as Adina in “L’elisir d’amore” (Missouri Valley Chamber Orchestra), Elena in “A Visit to Baba Yaga,” Dancer in “Tin Heart, Tinsel Rose,” and Tree (cover) in “Winter Giant” as part of “Fairy Tale Suite” (Badlands Opera Project). She returns to Winifred Smith Hall at University of California, Irvine as a guest recitalist.

In the 2022-23 season, McCann appeared as the Soprano Soloist in Pergolesi’s “Stabat Mater” and “Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostri” (Dakota Pro Musica), Soprano Soloist in Handel’s “Messiah” (Missouri Valley Chamber Orchestra), and as a guest soloist with the McKinney Philharmonic. Recent role debuts include Fortuna in “Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria” (dell’Arte Opera Ensemble), Pertelote in the world premiere of “Chanticleer” (Dakota Pro Musica), and Soprano Soloist in Mozart’s “Requiem” (Bismarck-Mandan Symphony Orchestra).

Career highlights include her Carnegie Hall debut under the baton of Kristof Van Grysperre and her performance of the American National Anthem for President Barack Obama at the University of California, Irvine 50th Anniversary Celebration. Operatic highlights include her critically acclaimed performance of Zerbinetta in “Ariadne auf Naxos” (Highlands Opera Studio) as “particularly charming” (Opera Canada); Xanthe in “Die liebe der Danae” (Pittsburgh Festival Opera); Lucy in “Three Penny Opera” (Pacific Opera Theatre); Polissena in “Radamisto” (Accademia Europa dell’Opera); and Musetta in “La Boheme” (Opera San Jose). McCann currently serves as Professor of Voice and Director of the Vocal Arts Ensemble at the University of Mary, in Bismarck, North Dakota.

Soprano Bethany Grace Mamola has charmed audiences with her stage presence and warm vocal timbre. The Cleveland Plain Dealer praised her with “…the most beautiful singing, whose Carolina was as disarming in characterization as it was expressive in vocal shading.” Arts Atlanta wrote that Bethany “was that rare talent who commands not only the virtuosity of a seasoned operatic vocalist but also the stage presence and acting prowess necessary to truly embody the character she presents”.Bethany has been a featured soloist with the National Repertory Orchestra Festival in Colorado, the Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta, DeKalb Symphony Orchestra, the Abilene Philharmonic, the Sausalito Song Society, the McKinney Philharmonic, the River Cities Symphony Orchestra, and Cleveland Opera Theatre, among others. Her stage credits include Susanna in “Le Nozze di Figaro,” Drusilla in “L’incornazione di Poppea,” Zerlina in “Don Giovanni,” Carolina in “Il Matrimonio Segreto,” La Princesse in “L’enfants et les Sortileges, Cendrillon,” and Polly Peachum in “The Three Penny Opera.”

In September 2021 Dr. Mamola made her directorial debut as creative director of “Try Me” at the Winspear Opera House in conjunction with ATT Performing Arts “Elevator Project” in Dallas, Texas. Bethany won the 2011 Stockton Opera Guild Competition and the 2011 UOP Conservatory Concerto Competition. She holds a DMA in voice from the University of North Texas, a Masters of Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music and a Bachelors of Music in voice from the University of the Pacific’s Conservatory of Music. In addition to performance, Dr. Mamola is an enthusiastic educator in voice and opera. She is on the faculty of Emory University as Director of Vocal Studies.

John Clodfelter is Assistant Professor of Piano and Collaborative Arts at the University of Jamestown in North Dakota where, in addition to teaching piano, he also teaches Music History. He originally began music study in piano performance. While a student at DePauw University, Mr. Clodfelter discovered his love for collaborative piano. This was further nurtured in his studies at Indiana University. From 1996-2015, John Clodfelter worked at DePauw University as a staff accompanist and vocal coach. In the summer of 2005, he received a grant to study in Vienna, Austria, where he worked with Walter Moore and Carolyne Hague at the Univeritat fur Musik und Darstellende Kunst. Clodfelter’s teachers include Dr. Lorna Griffitt, Evelyne Brancart and Hans Graff in piano performance. His teachers in chamber music include Leonard Hokanson, Rostislav Dubinsky, and Nariaki Sugiura. In 2017, he completed a Master’s Degree at the University of North Dakota in Collaborative Piano. John is most passionate about German and French Art Song literature. This passion has resulted in frequent performance collaborations with Soprano, Pamela Coburn as well as playing in lessons and Masterclasses with, Thomas Hampson, Elly Ameling, Richard Hundley, John Corigliano, and George Crumb.