NYC Jazz Vocalist Marianne Solivan in Concert at Weis Center

The 2009 Jazzmobile Vocal Competition finalist has graced recital halls, jam sessions and club stages with such noted musicians as Roy Hargrove, Steve Lacy, Jeremy Pelt, Ray Gallon, Ugonna Ukegwo, and Jane Monheit's sidemen Neal Minor and Michael Kanan. Solivan's album, "Prisoner of Love," received 4 Stars in Downbeat Magazine's September 2012 issue.

Kathryn Maguet, executive director of the Weis Center, says, "We're thrilled to present Marianne Solivan, a true rising talent in the realm of vocal jazz performance. She's creating quite a positive buzz with her recent brilliant recording 'Prisoner of Love.' I'm sure audiences will be captured by this emerging artist's beautiful voice coupled with clear and stylish phrasing."

Born in Queens, N.Y., Solivan's family lived in Venezuela and New Jersey before settling in Massachusetts, where she attended high school. Already an alto sax student, it was in secondary school that she began singing seriously, studying classical voice and appearing in musical theater productions.

Upon graduating, she entered The Boston Conservatory with a concentration in musical theater. After her first year in college, Solivan took time off from school and drifted away from singing, not returning for three years. The urge to resume studying voice and go back to school coincided with her discovery of the voice that would become her greatest influence: Ella Fitzgerald.

She says of Fitzgerald, "There's such tremendous hopefulness in all her music. No matter how sad the ballad, no matter how bad the break-up song, there's always a silver lining."

Solivan was singing pop when she entered Berklee College of Music, but quickly decided she wanted to learn jazz. Earning a dual degree in music performance and education, she taught music for a year before entering New England Conservatory and earning a master's degree in jazz studies.

The next event in the Weis Center's Janet Weis Jazz Series will be a performance by Tia Fuller on Saturday, April 27, at 7:30 p.m. at the Campus Theatre in Lewisburg. The performance will coincide with Lewisburg's Celebration of the Arts. Perhaps best known as the saxophone player for R&B star Beyonc, Fuller is an accomplished performer in her own right. She has recorded three CDs with her quartet and has been featured in Jazz Improv Magazine, The Philadelphia Tribune, The Star Ledger, Downbeat Magazine and many others.

For more information about these events, contact Lisa Leighton, marketing and outreach coordinator, at 570-577-3727 or by email at lisa.leighton@bucknell.edu.