Concert 3
September 28, 2008 • 4:00 P.M.

Simply Elegant

Big Rapids High School Auditorium, Big Rapids, MI Map

Guest Artist Appearing with Edward Mallett:

SYLVIA NORRIS is well known to Michigan audiences as both a recitalist and orchestral musician.  A Michigan native, she has long been a member of the Battle Creek, and Traverse Symphony Orchestras, played for 17 years with the Grand Rapids Symphony and is currently principal harpist with the West Shore Symphony Orchestra. Sylvia has appeared with the Detroit Symphony as well as every other Michigan orchestra of note.  She is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, where she studied with Eileen Malone.  Other teachers include Lauralee Campbell, of Michigan State University, Nancy Allen at the Aspen Music Festival and Suzanne Balderston at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California, where she was the recipient of the Outstanding Harpist Award. She loves to play chamber music and plays in many chamber settings including the Dancing Bear Music Series and the Interlochen Arts Camp, where she was an instructor of harp for seven summers.

In 1993, Mrs. Norris was a featured recitalist at the American Harp Society National convention, where she performed with soprano Beverly Rinaldi.  She has been a concerto soloist with several Michigan Orchestras and recently performed on the CD of Cleveland Orchestra’s principle bassoonist Barrick Stees, playing opera arias for bassoon and harp. In recent years, she has been a featured performer on the Regent Seven Seas Cruise Line, performing as a solo harpist and as a featured headliner with her husband, baritone, Jeffery Norris and her daughters, Hayley and Emma.

In 2005, she was chosen to tour with Josh Groban to Bermuda where she was privileged to also appear in recital with legendary flutist, Sir James Galway. For the past five summers, Sylvia has hosted and produced the Traverse City harp Workshop featuring famed French harpist, Isabelle Perrin as recitalist and teacher. In the summer of 2008 she will again appear as a featured performer at the American Harp Society National Convention. Sylvia and her family reside in Traverse City where in addition to her performing, she continues to teach privately and is active in her church and community. Website

JEFFERY NORRIS began his professional career at the age of nineteen singing with Fred Warings' Pennsylvanians. A frequent soloist on the concert stage, Mr. Norris made his orchestral debut with the Omaha Symphony, singing Bach's Mass in B Minor and has since been soloist throughout the United States with many Symphony Orchestras.

His extensive orchestral repertoire includes performances of the Ninth Symphony of Beethoven, Mendelssohn's "Elijah", Handel's "Messiah", Bach's "St. Matthew Passion" and "Magnificat", Rossini's "Stabat Mater", Vaughan Williams "Hodie", the Masses of Mozart, Schubert, Haydn and Beethoven, the Requiems of Verdi, Faure, Durufle, Brahms and Mozart, as well as several Broadway reviews.

A gifted actor, Jeff, is very much at home in opera as well as straight dramatic plays. His stage experience ranges from operas such as THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO, DON GIOVANNI, LA BOHEME, TOSCA and LA TRAVIATA, to Kurt Weils, THREE PENNY OPERA.

Mr. Norris received his undergraduate degree from Michigan State University and his masters degree from the Eastman School of Music where he was in the voice studio of John Maloy. He was a fellowship recipient to the Music Academy of the West, where he studied with Martial Singher and was a three time fellowship recipient to the Aspen Music Festival where he studied with Beverly Johnson and most recently was with William McIver.

An active educator, Mr. Norris serves as instructor of voice at the Interlochen Arts Academy, Interlochen Arts Camp and the founder of the Advanced Vocal Program at Interlochen. His former students have been represented in every major conservatory and the finest schools of music in the United States, with many proceeding to enjoy professional careers in both performance and education. His former students can be found singing in diverse genres from musical theater to opera, with opera companies such as the New York Metropolitan and Chicago Lyric operas, and in many European opera houses. In 2006 Mr. Norris was honored as a Presidential Scholar in the Arts Instructor, and one of two teachers recognized nationally, Mr. Norris was named as "Distinguished Teacher in the Arts" for 2007 by the National Foundation for the Advancement in the Arts.