Biography - Michael Kissinger

Conductor, clarinetist, composer, educator, and producer Michael Kissinger began his music career at age 16 when he produced his first concert featuring the legendary clarinetist Woody Herman and The Thundering Herd.  

He was United States Guest Conductor of the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra in Dubrovnik, Croatia from 2006-2016 and served as Artistic Director of the Dubrovnik Jazz Festival for a five-year partnership with the City of Dubrovnik. He is currently Artistic Director of Bravo! Concerts Northwest and is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Vancouver Wine & Jazz Festival. For the past thirty years he has worked as a conductor, clarinetist, composer, educator and producer in the USA, Italy, and Croatia. 

Michael has been a conductor and clarinetist with choirs, orchestras, jazz artists, and chamber groups including Jose Feliciano, Diane Schuur, Stanley Jordan, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Brubeck Brothers Jazz Quartet; and ensembles including Seattle Jazz Singers, Sno-King Chorale, Oregon String Quartet, Spoleto Festival Orchestra dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy, Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, Ciompi String Quartet, Carolina String Quartet, North Carolina Symphony, Greensboro Symphony, Lansing Symphony, St. Stephen’s Chamber Orchestra, Raleigh Civic Symphony, and the New Washingtonian’s Jazz Orchestra.  He toured for two years as a North Carolina Visiting Artist and performed more than 200 concerts and educational programs throughout the state.  He co-founded the American Music Festival in Beaufort, NC, which celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2019.  He has performed as a clarinetist on various recordings, including the GRAMMY-nominated Wynton Marsalis recordings Carnaval, and Quiet City on the CBS Masterworks label. 

As Founder and Artistic Director of the Vancouver Wine & Jazz Festival, Dr. Kissinger has produced concerts featuring more than 250 GRAMMY-winning and internationally acclaimed artists including: Al Jarreau, Allen Toussaint, Arturo Sandoval, Bela Fleck, Blind Boys of Alabama, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Bo Diddley, Booker T. Jones, Brubeck Brothers Quartet, Chick Corea, Chuck Mangione, Coco Montoya, David Sanborn, Diane Schuur, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Don McLean, Dr. John, Eddie Palmieri, Family Stone, Jane Monheit, Jean-Luc Ponty, John Hammond, John Pizzarelli, Jose Feliciano, Judy Collins, Kenny Loggins, Lee Ritenour, Los Lobos, Manhattan Transfer, Marcia Ball, Mavis Staples, Melissa Manchester, Nicholas Payton, Pacific Mambo Orchestra, Poncho Sanchez, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Ramsey Lewis, Regina Carter, Rita Coolidge, Spanish Harlem Orchestra, Spyro Gyra, Stanley Clarke, Stanley Jordan, Take 6, The Louis Armstrong Society Jazz Band, The 5th Dimension, The Rippingtons, The Temptations, The Yellowjackets, Toshiko Akiyoshi, WAR and others; as well as regional jazz and blues bands and student ensembles.

The Festival celebrated its 25th Anniversary in 2025. It was awarded a 2023 Event of The Year by the Washington Festivals and Events Association. It is “…the largest festival of its kind in the Northwest…” (ABC TV, KATU 2, Portland, OR).  Since 1998, the Festival has attracted more than 150,000 people from 27 states, China, Japan, Europe, and Canada.

His choral music compositions are published by International Liturgy Publications (Nashville, TN) He has produced two CD recordings featuring the Bravo! Chorale & Northwest Chamber Orchestra: Handel’s Messiah and Hear My Prayer: The American Spiritual. 

As a producer and arts manager, Dr. Kissinger has raised and managed more than $7,500,000 for orchestras, choirs and jazz and concert arts programs over the past 30 years. A dedicated music educator, Michael has taught at George Fox University (OR), the University of North Carolina-Wilmington (NC), Meredith College (NC), the Eastman School of Music Community Education School (NY), Albion College (MI), Hochstein School of Music (NY), North Carolina State University (NC), Wake Technical College (NC), Pamlico Community College (NC), Rocky Mount Middle and High School (NC), and the New England Music Camp in Waterville, Maine. Michael currently works as a Teaching Artist with the Virtu Academy in New York City, and the Russian Key to Music School in Vancouver, WA. 

Michael earned his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music, a Master of Music from Michigan State University, and his Bachelor of Music from the University of North Carolina Greensboro.