The Finnish American Folk Festival of Naselle is pleased to welcome the return of . . .

Maria Mannisto, soprano

We have welcomed Maria and the Mannisto family to our festival since 2004 and had the joy of having Maria participate in our FinnFest USA ’06 Friday night concert at the Liberty Theater in Astoria, a memorable event.

Named Performer of the Year for 2007 by the Finlandia Foundation, Maria Mannisto has a strong start to her career as a soprano. Although Maria was first attracted to biology, she found she loved singing during her high school years, and her solo work convinced her to major in music. She recently received her Masters in Music performance from the University of Washington, where she studied voice under Tom Harper.

She has performed and toured with a number of outstanding local choirs including the Seattle Girls’ Choir, The Renaissance Singers, Opus 7, and the Tudor Choir. She made her operatic debut as the lead soprano in The Gospel of the Red-Hot Stars by Seattle composer Tom Baker. Maria is the primary organist and music director at Seattle’s Finnish Lutheran Church. She skillfully directs the Finnish Choral Society of Seattle.

In her concerts, Maria has highlighted the art songs of Finnish composer Toivo Kuula, a favorite not only for his music but for a personal connection with her family — her father attended school in Finland with Kuula’s nephew. She also sings tango, jazz, and the Swedish songs of Sibelius.

Maria was born and grew up in the Seattle area till she was seven years old. Her family moved to Canada and then Finland before settling once more in the Seattle area. Along the way, Maria attended Swedish speaking schools. Swedish was her first language at home — it is her mother’s native tongue. Her concerts are tri-lingual: Swedish, Finnish, and English.

Maria’s family members are all a lively part of the Finnish-American and Swedish-Finnish community in Seattle. The entire family is musical; her parents sing duets; her brother plays the violin; and they all take time, now and then, to perform together.

More music at the festival: finnam.naselle.net/2008/music/.