A grant from the Iowa Arts Council is making it possible for the Muscatine Art Center to commemorate its 50th anniversary. The public is invited to attend a special event on Sunday, November 22nd with a 1:30 p.m. vocal concert by Katherine Eberle with piano accompaniment by Wayne Wyman.  At 2:30 p.m., "The Lady of the House", a life-size portrait of Laura Musser McColm Atkins by Muscatine artist Jon Fasanelli-Cawelti, will be unveiled.

The event is a celebration of Laura Musser's birthday (November 23, 1877). "Laura would certainly love a concert in her Music Room, and Kitty Eberle is a choice Laura would have appreciated," states Melanie Alexander, Director of the Muscatine Art Center. Laura studied music at Grant Seminary in Chicago and under Sbrigilia in Paris, France. Her beautiful mezzo-soprano voice often filled local performance spaces, especially Muscatine's First Methodist Episcopal Church (today, Wesley United Methodist).

Katherine Eberle, mezzo-soprano, has had a fascinating career of professional and collegiate engagements in both the United States and abroad. She specializes in oratorio, chamber music, art song, and opera. In the past twenty years, Eberle has performed in numerous engagements with orchestras, choral organizations, and chamber music groups. Concert credits include solo performances with the symphonies of Detroit, Lansing, Saginaw (Michigan), Atlanta, Macon, Rome, and Valdosta (Georgia). She has given over one hundred solo recitals as a guest artist in eighteen states as well as in Brazil, Canada, England, Ireland, the Netherlands, Russia, St. John and St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, and Canada. She made her New York debut at Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall in 1994. She was an Artistic Ambassador for the United States Information Agency doing solo concert tours in South America (in 1995 she appeared in Argentina, Ecuador, Peru, Trinidad, and Tobago) and in Korea in 1997. A Van Lawrence Fellowship Winner from the Voice Foundation, Eberle was named a 2012 Obermann Fellow in Residence for her research on Women Composers. Eberle earned degrees from the Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory (BME), the University of Cincinnati (MM), and the University of Michigan (DMA). She has taught at the University of Iowa since 1991.

Eberle will be accompanied by Wayne Wyman, a sought-after coach, an insightful stage director, and an exciting conductor whose career has included numerous guest appearances as a conductor and stage director, as well as serving as Artistic Director of two regional opera companies (Capital Opera in Raleigh, NC and Lyric Opera of San Antonio.) His work has been consistently well received by the public and lauded by critics. Always interested in the operatic artists of the future, Wyman founded and directed the Lyric Studio young artist program while at the artistic helm of the San Antonio company. Wyman also directed the opera program at UT-San Antonio, serving as conductor, stage director, and coach. Wyman earned an Artist Diploma in Opera from the Cincinnati Conservatory and studied privately with the Director of the Opera School at the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna. Currently, Wyman is Opera Coach at the University of Iowa and is on the faculty of the American Institute of Musical Studies (AIMS) in Graz, Austria. He has presented opera masterclasses at New York University, University of Dayton, Rice University, and other American universities.

Eberle and Wyman will present an entertaining musical program with works by Stephen Sondheim and Aaron Copeland and holiday classics such as "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" and "Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire". Passages from Laura Musser McColm's 1936 and 1937 will be read by Eberle.

Following the 1:30 p.m. concert, "The Lady of the House" will be unveiled. Jon Fasanelli-Cawelti was commissioned to complete the portrait for the 50th anniversary in 2015. The Iowa Arts Council provided a project grant in the amount of $9,425 to support 50th anniversary projects such as a series of banners in downtown Muscatine featuring collections from the Muscatine Art Center, concerts, a photography exhibition by Muscatine artist Randy Richmond, and special events presented as part of the 50th anniversary exhibition which will run through January 3, 2016.

The work by Fasanelli-Cawelti will be an addition to the collection of artwork portraying Laura Musser. George Grey Barnard, a noted American sculptor, was perhaps the first when he used marble to captured Laura as a child. She posed multiple times for Oscar Grossheim, and one of his photographs was used for Austrian artist, Thomas Riss, to create the colorful portrait hanging in the Reception Room. The Musser family also commissioned a bronze relief bust of Laura.

"Fasanelli-Cawelti was provided with a range of images of Laura, capturing as a child, adolescent, a young bride, and a widow," explains Alexander. "In this contemporary piece, Fasanelli-Cawelti, was asked to help tell the story of Laura Musser McColm Atkins as someone who was shaped by Muscatine, her family, and life experiences that included both great joys and sorrows." Fasanelli-Cawelti attended the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa from 1978 to 1985, where he studied Printmaking. He worked as personal assistant and printer for Mauricio Lasansky, from 1985 to 1998, in his Iowa City studio. Since his departure from Iowa City in 1998, he has resided in Muscatine, Iowa, with his wife and two daughters, continuing to print from his private studio. Fasanelli-Cawelti served as a part-time instructor at Muscatine Community College.

"We would like the Muscatine community to celebrate with the staff, board, and volunteers of the Muscatine Art Center as we mark our 50th Anniversary and the anniversary of Laura Musser's birth." Alexander continued, "The Musser-McColm home has provide a place for generations of local people to explore local history and to see truly remarkable works of art."

The concert and unveiling are free of charge. Light refreshments will be served. Reservations are requested and can be made by calling 563-263-8282.