Friday night Concert artist: Natalie Conte has studied vocal performance and immersed herself in the world of opera since childhood. Her devotion to the art shines through in her passionate performances. Currently based in Virginia, Natalie is in high demand as a soloist throughout the Mid-Atlantic. She most frequently appears as a soloist for the Lyric Opera Baltimore, performing both main stage roles and outreach programs. Other memorable local performances include singing the soprano solo in Verdi’s Requiem in Lancaster, PA, Barber’s masterpiece Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra, Britten’s War Requiem in Lancaster, PA, and a salon recital of all Richard Strauss music, including his Vier Letzte Lieder. Natalie has brought her talents to operatic productions in such roles as Anna in Nabucco with Lyric Opera Baltimore, the title role in Aida with Center Stage Opera, Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte with Opera Lancaster and Baltimore Concert Opera, La Ciesca in Gianni Schicchi with Baltimore Concert Opera, Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus with Opera Anne Arundel Community College, Alice Ford in Verdi’s Falstaff, among others.

Natalie debuted internationally in 2005, playing the Countess in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro with the Operafestival di Roma. She was also a participant in the 2005 St. Petersburg Conservatory’s Convention of Conservatories. While in Russia, she performed programs of Russian romances and American art songs throughout St. Petersburg and Moscow. Natalie is a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory of Music of Johns Hopkins University where she earned a Master and Bachelor of Music. While there, she won awards for excellence in both performance and academics. In April of 2011 she won second prize in the Russell C. Wonderlic Memorial Competition. In 2013, Natalie was a finalist in the Washington International Competition; she also won the grand prize for the Vocal Arts DC Young Artist Competition. As part of the award, the Vocal Arts Society presented her in recitals at the Kennedy Center and Phillips Collection in Washington, DC. In 2014, Natalie performed in master class with Marilyn Horne at Carnegie Hall, during the Weill Institute of Music’s program The Song Continues, and with Montserrat Caballé in Zaragoza, Spain. Natalie’s most recent credits include winning first prize in the Maryland Lyric Opera competition, singing with the Washington Concert Opera under the baton of Maestro Antony Walker, performing in the chorus at the Metropolitan Opera, and winning first prize in the National Federation of Music’s competition for young artists.

Friday afternoon session: Music that Motivates, Mary Sallee will share a variety of compositions that she has written to motivate her students as well as teach important musical concepts at the piano. Selections will include original compositions and arrangements covering a variety of styles and levels.

Saturday morning session: Teaching Jazz & Ragtime 101, This session is designed to equip ‘classically’ trained teachers with basic techniques when teaching jazz and ragtime style repertoire. The session will cover how teachers can help their students learn how to practice when it comes to jazz rhythm patterns, articulation, harmony and voicing.

Native Oklahoman, Mary Sallee, is a Nationally Certified Teacher of Music (NCTM), and has run her own piano studio in Norman, Oklahoma since 1988. She holds a double bachelors degree in piano performance and vocal music education as well as a masters in piano performance and pedagogy, all from the University of Oklahoma. While there, she studied with professors Ed Gates, Jane Magrath and E.L. Lancaster. After graduating, she studied for one year at the Hochschule fur Musik in Vienna as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar. In 1987, she was one of six graduate students chosen to perform and teach at the National Conference on Piano Pedagogy.

As a composer, Mary writes a majority of the music used in her piano studio as well as vocal and choral music. She has over 60 publications with various publishers including Alfred, FJH, Carl Fischer and Willis/Hal Leonard. Over the years, several of her original pieces have made the Federated Music Teachers list. Mary is also a choral musician and church pianist and freelances as a guest conductor for various choirs. She enjoys composing for voice and piano and has been commissioned to write several choral works for churches, community choirs and arts organizations. In 2000, she produced a CD of her original works for soprano and piano entitled; Every Time I Feel the Spirit. That same year she represented OMTA in the MTNA Distinguished Composer Competition with her commission: A Modern Wedding Cantata.

Mrs. Sallee has written several articles for Keyboard Companion and has presented pedagogical workshops across the country as well as the MTNA National Conference. She has taught piano at the International Music Camp in Manitoba, Canada and served on the adjunct piano faculty at Oklahoma Baptist University for three years.

Mary is a versatile performer and enjoys freelancing as an accompanist, church pianist and dinner/jazz pianist. For twenty years, her jazz group has performed throughout the Oklahoma City metro and has been featured at the annual Jazz in June Festival in Norman.

As an active member of MTNA, Mary serves as V. Pres. of her local MTA and chairs a local music festival and state piano competition. She also adjudicates piano and composition from the local to the national level. In 2005, she started the Oklahoma Composition Festival as well as a local composition competition for the Norman MTA. She is a past president two local associations as well as the Oklahoma MTA. In 2012-14, she served as a MTNA Director representing the South-Central Division. Mary was awarded an MTNA and CFO Fellow by her state and joined the MTNA Legacy Society in 2016.

Mary is very active in her community and church where she helps run their food pantry as well as serving as a liaison for the local homeless shelter and various commissions. She has served as pianist for her Rotary Club where she has 22 years perfect attendance. From 2004- 2011, she served as the official accompanist for the International Rotary Assembly held in San Diego. In 2008, she was recognized as Volunteer of the Year by the Norman United Way.

Mary lives with her husband Larry and their very spoiled gray cat, Rebel.

Friday afternoon session: History of the River Campus and the Vincentians.

Saturday morning session: Dreamers, Join Jerry for an eye-opening account of some of the many stars who started far from the glitter of Los Angeles or New York, yet found their way into important roles in the history of American music and entertainment.

Jerry Ford has been entertaining audiences throughout the Midwest since 1957. He was a fixture at the Purple Crackle & Colony Club in E. Cape. Ill. for many years. He has performed with Bob Crosby, Dick Jergens, Ted Weems and Jack Stalcup. He’s provided “back-up” music for such stars as Bob Hope, Red Skelton, Ray Stevens, Bobby Vinton, Ted Lewis and others. His orchestra continues to provide music for major shows in the area. Members are an extended family and travel weekends keeping music of the “Big Band Era” alive in a 5 state area. In addition to the Jerry Ford Orchestra, Jerry has a Combo, a German Band and a Dixieland Band. His groups play for a variety of events and do a substantial amount of charity performances. He also has performed in the Cape Girardeau Municipal Band since 1957, assuming the lead trumpet chair in 1960. The band gives 14 “Concerts in the Park “ on Wednesday evenings throughout the summer in Cape Girardeau’s Capaha Park.

Mr. Ford served in the Missouri House of Representatives from 1978-1982. He is the recipient of Southeastern Missouri 2015 Spirit of America Award and the 2017 Missouri Arts Award as an individual artist. He is a member and volunteer at the Cape River Heritage Museum. The list of organizations he invests his time and money is quite long.