Swedish Soprano Britt Marie Aruhn - Mother of Artist Diploma Student Leif Aruhn-Solén - to Sing Recital, Tuesday, March 21, 6:45 P.M., in Kulas Recital Hall Story by Michael Chipman
	THE PROGRAM Franz Schubert (1797-1828) • Heidenröslein • Ave Maria • Die Gebüsche Richard Strauss (1864-1949) • Allerseelen • Die Nacht • Cäcilie • Du meines Herzens Krönelein • Ich wollt' ein Sträusslein binden • Säusle, liebe Myrthe • Zueignung Peter Heisse (1830-1879) from Dyveke songs • Vildt, vildt, vildt suser blæsten Ture Rangström (1884-1947) • Melodi Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) • Var det en dröm • Flickan kom ifrån sin älsklings möte		Swedish Soprano Britt Marie Aruhn, photo by Peter Knutson When parents of Conservatory students arrive in Oberlin for performances, they usually take a front row seat and a backstage pass before catching a flight back home. But when artist diploma voice student Leif Aruhn-Solén's mother - acclaimed soprano Britt Marie Aruhn - arrives to see his performance as Don Ottavio in the Oberlin Opera Theater production of "Don Giovanni," she'll also take center stage in a performance of her own. That recital, slated for Tuesday, March 21, 6:45 p.m., in Kulas Recital Hall, promises to be a special treat for Oberlinians as soprano Britt Marie Aruhn, a member of the Royal Swedish Opera, is a popular performer at the leading opera houses of Europe. The recital will feature the works of Franz Schubert, Richard Strauss, Peter Heisse, Ture Rangström and Jean Sibelius. The performance will also feature pianist Russell Miller, teacher of collaborative piano at the Cleveland Institute of Music. "This recital is a very special event," says Richard Miller, Wheeler Professor of Singing and director of the Otto B. Schoepfle Vocal Arts Center. "She is a highly noted soprano in Sweden and has sung in major houses and with major orchestras in Europe. It is a great opportunity to hear such a fine recitalist and a fine singer and we are delighted that she is coming. Russell Miller, her accompanist is recognized as a leading accompanist particularly for singers and has an active concert schedule." It's only fair that Leif's mother must now travel to hear him perform. After all, Leif traveled with his mother throughout her active singing career, living in 10 different countries and attending many different schools. "I lived at various times in Brussels and Milan, and for five years in Copenhagen because my mother married a Danish man," says Aruhn-Solén. "Back then I took for granted how lucky I was to be around my mother's colleagues who are now considered some of the greatest singers in the world, such as Kiri te Kanawa, Anthony Rolph Johnson and Frederica von Stade. A relative late starter in voice, Leif studied piano until he was sixteen, and then began classical voice training. "Both of my parents are opera singers, so I didn't sing for many years because I didn't want people to think I was doing it just because my parents did. I wanted to do it by my own choice." Aruhn-Solén subsequently graduated from the Royal University College of Music in Stockholm, after which he sang professionally in the musical, "Kristina" by Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus (of ABBA fame) who also wrote the musical, "Chess." Leif first met his Oberlin voice teacher, Richard Miller, when he attended Miller's 1996 master class at the Royal University College of Music. "After that master class, I nurtured a secret dream to have Mr. Miller as my teacher," he says. "Then I auditioned and was accepted here and came to study with him. "Now that I'm doing opera, one of the good things about my background is that I came away with a sense of what is good singing. I also learned how much work and sacrifice and preparation it takes to become a great singer. I saw all the good and bad parts of this profession. My parents taught me to understand this career. My father was actually my voice teacher for the last two and a half years. He is a tenor and is the one who taught me whatever tenor technique I have acquired. It is really thanks to him that I made it here." About his mother's recital in Oberlin, Aruhn-Solén says, "I'm really excited for the Oberlin community to hear her, and for her to hear me in my first big operatic role. I'm glad she decided to give this recital and I hope people will enjoy it." About Britt Marie Aruhn Britt Marie Aruhn as Cio-Cio San in "Madama Butterfly" at Royal Swedish Opera, photo by Mats Bäcker Aruhn is a member of the Royal Swedish Opera, where she sings the leading roles for lyric and coloratura soprano. Aruhn sang Sandrina in Mozart's "La Finta Giardiniera" during the Vienna festival and in Brussels, Salzburg and Berlin. She sang the same role in a TV-production from the Drottningholm Theatre and in the Ingmar Bergman TV version of Mozart's "The Magic Flute." In 1995, Aruhn sang the title role in Carlisle Floyd's opera "Susannah" at its first Scandinavian performance. Last April, she also became the first singer to perform André Previn's song cycle "Honey and Rue" in Scandinavia. Aruhn has toured the United States twice: the first time as the winner of the prestigious Jenny Lind Scholarship; the second time in an outdoor concert in Battery Park, New York, together with baritone Håkan Hagegård, in celebration of the 125th anniversary of the American debut of the famous Swedish soprano Jenny Lind. Aruhn has an extensive concert repertoire of masses, oratorios and song cycles. In 1988, she was appointed a Royal Court Singer by the Swedish king, a title she shares with singers such as Birgit Nilsson, Elisabeth Söderström, Håkan Hagegård, Anne Sofie von Otter and Birgitta Svendén. About Russell Miller Russell Miller, photo by Louis Ouzer Pianist Russell Miller has performed as a collaborative and solo pianist at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Recital Hall and in recitals across the U.S. with violist Donald McInnes, violinist Zvi Zeitlin and soprano Dawn Kotoski. His concert tours have taken him to the Soviet Union and Alaska with cellist Stephen Kates, and to the Far East with tenor Robert White, and to the Isle of Man for the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition. Miller has appeared regularly with the Artemis Chamber Ensemble and has been an official accompanist for the Walter W. Naumburg Competition in New York, The American String Teachers Association National Solo Competition, and the D'Angelo Voice Competition. He has also served as operatic coach/accompanist for the Pine Mountain Music Festival and is musical director of the vocal quartet S A T B. Miller has served on the staff of the American Opera Center and the faculties of the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, the Eastman School of Music and is currently Teacher of Collaborative Piano at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Since 1987, he has coordinated and taught vocal and instrumental accompanying at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, and has been a guest panelist at national meetings of the Music Teachers' National Association and the National Conference on Piano Pedagogy.
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