Mezzo soprano Cynthia Stiehl will present a benefit concert for the Door County Maritime Museum as part of the Third Avenue Playhouse’s Tuesdays at TAP Series on April 24 beginning at 7:30 pm at the downtown Sturgeon Bay theater.
The concert is titled “I Get a Kick Out of Cole,” a tribute by Stiehl to the famous American composer Cole Porter. It’s a program Stiehl initially produced for a concert she gave at the Birch Creek Music Performance Center along with pianist Judith Jackson, who will again accompany Stiehl for the TAP performance.
“I’ve always felt that Porter and (George) Gershwin were America’s Franz Schuberts,” said Stiehl. “I just think it’s so important to sing our American songs and these songs just exude love and passion. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”
The concert continues Stiehl’s own passion for Door County’s non-profit community. Her concerts regularly support charitable causes so it’s easy to see why she is excited about this new TAP concert series which benefits a different charity each week.
“I just love and support the Tuesdays at Tap idea that Jim (Valcq) and Bob (Boles) have come up with,” says Stiehl. “That’s especially the case this time of the year when non-profits don’t get a lot of exposure.”
She’s also excited about helping out the Maritime Museum. “I’m just absolutely delighted to do this for the Maritime Museum,” says Stiehl. “And (the program) is appropriate since a number of the songs come from the musical “Anything Goes” which, of course, is set on a cruise boat.”
Well known to Door County audiences, Stiehl is a graduate of the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music. Among her other benefit performances were for the Peninsula Music Festival, the American Folklore Theatre, the Hardy Gallery, Björklunden, Birch Creek Music Performance Center and the YMCA in Door County. Her emphasis on American works is reflected in a full recital of songs she performed by Samuel Barber with Grammy-winning concert pianist John Browning. She has also performed Aaron Copland’s American Songs.
Tickets sell for $15 (adults) and $10 (students) and can be purchased at the Museum, 120 N. Madison Ave., Sturgeon Bay between 10 am – 5 pm daily or from the TAP Box Office, 239 N. Third Ave., between 10 am – 3 pm Monday-Friday.
For more information call the Maritime Museum at 920.743.5958 visit its Website at www.dcmm.org or call TAP at 920.743.1760 (www.thirdavenueplayhouse.com).
