June Pops: Salute to the Andrews Sisters
Guest Artists
All ASO guest artists appear through the generosity of the
Maurice and Dorothy Stubnitz Foundation Guest Artist Fund.
ELIZABETH MAJOR, soprano
Soprano Elizabeth Major is assistant professor of voice at Adrian College, where she teaches studio voice, opera workshop, diction, and vocal pedagogy. Major received her master's degree in voice from Northwestern University and has sung principal roles with Connecticut Opera, Lake George Opera Festival, and Minnesota Opera, including Adele in Die Fledermaus, Gretel in Hansel and Gretel, Rosina in Barber of Seville, Juliette in Romeo and Juliette and Maria in West Side Story. She has appeared with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Connecticut, Illinois, Grand Rapids, Ann Arbor and Adrian symphonies, among others. Major has taught on the faculties of the University of Michigan, Albion College, and the Israel Vocal Arts Institute in Tel Aviv. She maintains a private voice studio in Ann Arbor, where she resides with her husband, Tim Furbacher, and their daughters, Sonya and Natasha.
MONICA SWARTOUT-BEBOW, mezzo soprano
Monica Swartout-Bebow started her career singing jazz and cabaret styles and continues to appear at club and concert venues in the Midwest, including Davenport's in Chicago, the Kerrytown Concert House in Ann Arbor, the Cadillac Club in Lansing, and the Toledo Museum of Art. She made her professional operatic debut as Juno in the Detroit Oratorio Society's production of Handel's Semele, in which the Detroit News described her as "captivating." Her other opera credits include work with the Dayton Opera, Toledo Opera, Michigan Opera Works, and the Lincoln Center Institute in New York City. Her concert engagements include solo appearances with the Lakeside Singers in Chicago, Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, Ann Arbor Symphony, Toledo Symphony, and the American Institute of Musical Studies Orchestra in Graz, Austria. Beginning in 2004, Swartout-Bebow spent two years in Chicago, where she sang on various jingles and recordings, served as mezzo soprano soloist for the Lakestreet Church in Evanston, and performed as an ensemble member and featured soloist with the Lakeside Singers, a professional chorale under the direction of Robert Bowker. Swartout-Bebow has enjoyed teaching privately for 15 years and in 2004 taught in an interim capacity on the faculty of Grand Valley State University. She is the private voice teacher in residence at Huron High School in Ann Arbor and maintains a private studio at the Kerrytown Concert House. Swartout-Bebow holds a master's degree with highest honors in voice performance from the University of Michigan. She lives in Milan with her husband, John, and their 4-year-old daughter, Delaney.
WENDY BLOOM, mezzo soprano
Wendy Bloom has a diverse performance background that includes opera, oratorio, early music, chamber music, choral music, recitals, cabaret, and musical theater. She holds a bachelor of music education degree from Cornell College and a master of fine arts degree in vocal performance from the University of Iowa.
Among her frequent appearances as a concert soloist have been performances with the Ann Arbor Symphony, Saginaw Choral Society, Baltimore Choral Arts Society, Detroit Symphony, Flint Symphony, Jackson Symphony, Lansing Symphony, Grand Rapids Symphony, Toledo Symphony, and the Rackham Symphonic Choir. Bloom spent three years performing and touring with the baroque orchestra Ars Musica. She has sung frequently with Vox, a 12-voice a cappella early music ensemble. She has sung as a soloist with the Michigan Bach Festival, Cayman Island International Music Festival, and the Classical Music Seminar of Eisenstadt, Austria.
Bloom is a regular member of Conspirare, a Grammy-nominated professional choir in Austin, Texas, and the Santa Fe Desert Chorale in New Mexico.
She has recently created a solo recital, The New American Songbook, with pianist Kevin Bylsma. The program includes contemporary American art song as well as songs from musical theater and cabaret.
Bloom has displayed her acting talents in numerous operatic and musical theater roles, including Desirée in A Little Night Music and the title roles in Carmen, Kiss Me Kate, and The Mystery of Edwin Drood. In 2004 she appeared as Stella Deems in Stephen Sondheim's Follies, in a performance featuring several members of the original cast. In October 2003 she was featured in the premiere performance of a new major work by Enid Sutherland, Daphne and Apollo Remade. Most recently she played Lalume in Kiss Me Kate with the Jackson Symphony, and Maddy in Two Candles Burning, an opera by Stephen Rush and Michael Rodemer.
Bloom is the artistic director of a popular program at Kerrytown Concert House called "Wine, Women and Song," now in its eighth year. She has also brought composer Ricky Ian Gordon to Michigan for performances featuring Gordon at the piano with a roster of area singers and university students.
As one of the five founders of the Ann Arbor School for the Performing Arts, Bloom has conducted voice classes for younger singers, mini-classes for beginning adults, and classes for vocal music teachers. The school serves 550 students in programs including early childhood music, private instruction, group lessons, youth orchestras, choir, and jazz ensembles. She continues to serve the school as a vocal instructor.