ALEXANDER PLATT makes his debut as Music Director and Conductor of the Grand Forks Symphony with this stunning concert of orchestral and vocal music.  A former conducting fellow at Aspen and Tanglewood, Mr. Platt is Music Director of the La Crosse Symphony in Wisconsin, the Marion Indiana Philharmonic, and the Wisconsin Philharmonic; he spends his summers as Music Director of the Maverick Concerts in Woodstock, New York, the oldest summer chamber music festival in America. In addition to appearance with the Houston Symphony, the London Sinfonia, the Freiburg Philharmonic in Germany and the Aalborg Symphony in Denmark, he spent two years as apprentice conductor of the Minnesota Orchestra, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Minnesota Opera; twelve years as Music Director of the Racine Symphony; three years as Principal Conductor of the Boca Raton Symphonia; and a decade as Resident Conductor at Chicago Opera Theater, where he led the Chicago premieres of Britten’s DEATH IN VENICE, Adams’ NIXON IN CHINA, the Bizet/Peter Brook LA TRAGEDIE DE CARMEN, the Hans Krasa/Tony Kushner BRUNDIBAR, and the Britten/Shakespeare A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM. While a Marshall Scholar at King’s College, Cambridge, Mr Platt reconstructed the lost chamber version of the Mahler Fourth Symphony, which has gone on to be a classic of the repertoire with several commerical recordings; he has recorded for Cedille Records (with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra), National Public Radio, the South-West German Radio and the BBC.

Meet the unpredictable Maria Jette.  Maybe you've heard her on "A Prairie Home Companion" and think you know her. But Jette is everything you'd never expect from the Twin Cities' busiest, most versatile lyric soprano.

So many classical singers do early music or opera, but wouldn't be caught dead performing contemporary music. Jette does it all, refusing to let anyone else define her. She might sing excerpts from Strauss' "Die Fledermaus" at the Lake Harriet bandshell, a Tide commercial, Mahler's Symphony No. 4 with the Charlotte Symphony or a sing-along with pianist Dan Chouinard at the Fitz.

Maria Jette has appeared with The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Houston, New York Chamber Symphony among others.  She has been a regular guest at the San Luis Obispo Mozart and Oregon Bach Festivals and the Oregon Festival of American Music, and is often heard nationally on Garrison Keillor’s  A Prairie Home Companion.