Hesston College graduate Tami Jantzi, internationally-acclaimed concert artist and opera singer, will be featured in Amahl and the Night Visitors presented November 22 and 24 (Thursday and Saturday evenings) during Thanksgiving Weekend festivities at the college. Based in Wiesbaden, Germany, the 1986 graduate of Hesston College will perform the lead role as the mother in the opera by Gian Carlo Menotti, presented by the college s Music and Theatre departments.

Megan Tyner, director of the Theatre department, is stage director of the production. Matt Schloneger, voice professor, will be the music director, while Bradley Kauffman will conduct the orchestra. A member of the college s music faculty, Kauffman directs the Bel Canto Singers and serves as director of the instrumental program.

Tami is probably one of the most successful music alumni as both a concert artist and opera singer in the international scene, particularly in Europe and the U.S., said Schloneger. We re happy she will be able to return to Hesston College to perform the lead role in Amahl and the Night Visitors . Both performances will be held at Hesston Mennonite Church, Thursday at 8 p.m. and Saturday at 7 p.m.

Schloneger, along with baritone Tony Brown, Hesston College artist-in-residence, and Ben Kliewer (a 2007 Bethel College grad living in Hesston) will play the roles of the Wise Men. Amahl will be played by Tara Harms-Becker (freshman, Hesston, Kan.). Jasmine Martin (freshman, New Holland, Pa.) is an understudy of the mother s role and will play that role in a performance of the opera for school-aged children earlier in the week (9:30 a.m., Tuesday, November 20, at Hesston Mennonite Church).