Michael Kissinger named U.S.
conductor for Dobrovnik orchestra

Conductor and clarinetist Michael Kissinger has been appointed United States conductor of the Dobrovnik Symphony Orchestra in Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Kissinger is the artistic director and conductor of Bravo! Vancouver and is the founder and artistic director of the Vancouver Wine & Jazz Festival.

For the next several seasons Kissinger will be traveling to Croatia to conduct and perform. He will also be developing a jazz festival for the “Pearl of the Adriatic.”

Last fall the Dobrovnik Symphony Orchestra performed in the Pacific Northwest, and this June members of the Bravo! Chorale will be performing a reciprocal concert tour.

As a clarinetist Kissinger has performed and recorded with orchestras, ensembles and musicians around the world, including the Heidelberg Opera Orchestra, Spoleto Festival die Due Mondi Orchestra, Duke University’s Ciompi String Quartet, and with jazz trumpeter Winton Marsalis. Kissinger holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of North Carolina and Michigan State University and earned a doctorate in musical arts from the Eastman School of Music.

ACE gets new directors

Komi Kalevor, Stacee Sellers and Jason Tol have been appointed to the board of directors of Affordable Community Environments, reports executive director Leah Greenwood.

Kalevor is the Interim Housing director at Portland Development Commission where he oversees a department focused on creating jobs, homeownership and affordable rental housing opportunities. He has also served on the Habitat for Humanity and Homestead Capital Boards of Directors.

Sellers, mayor of Washougal, represents East Clark County.

Tol is the relationship manager at Umpqua Bank’s downtown office.

ACE is a not-for-profit developer providing affordable housing for families, seniors and residents with special needs in Clark County.

Berger Abram shortens name

Effective Monday, BERGER/ABAM Engineers Inc. officially becomes BergerABAM. Since 2006, when the firm acquired The JD White Company, Inc., BergerABAM has offered fully integrated project development services from concept to completion.

“The new corporate identity better reflects our expanded mission as a leading civil and structural engineering consulting firm now with full-service planning, natural resources, and public involvement/communications management services,” says John White, BergerABAM Vice President and Regional Business Development Director.

BergerABAM has its headquarters in Federal Way and offices in Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, Las Vegas, and Houston.

First-half property taxes due

First-half property taxes are due on Thursday, April 30, reminds Doug Lasher Clark county treasurer.

Lasher says, “If you have not received your 2009 first-half tax statement or have lost it, you can visit our web site at www.clark.wa.gov/treasurer/property or call the Treasurer’s Office at 397-2252 for a duplicate statement.”

Taxpayers also have the ability to pay property taxes using a credit card online only at the Treasurer’s website using either Visa or Mastercard beginning Monday, April 20. A non-refundable convenience fee is charged by a third-party payment processor for all on-line credit card payments.

In addition, current tax statements may also be paid at any Clark County branch of First Independent Bank.

Calendar

The Unknown Artists Auction begins at 6 p.m. this evening in the Vancouver Church of Christ, 9019 NE 89th Street. The $15 per couple includes admission, dessert. Entertainment is provided by violists Joel & Karen Kennedy and karaoke singers Richard Wolf and Rod Lindsay. Art items made by local artists will be available for auction with all proceeds going to build houses for poor families in Mexico. For further information, call 696-0548. <> A Magical Melodrama is being presented at 7 p.m. this evening and Saturday evening, April 18, and at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 19, in the Magenta Theater, 606 Main Street. For further information, call 687-7891. <> A memorial for Jim “Bubba” Larson, who died in March and was for decades was the guiding hand in Vancouver’s annual Fourth of July fireworks celebration is from 2 to 6 p.m. Saturday, April 18, in Chronis Restaurant, 812 Main Street. <> An overview of common problems in landscape trees is being presented from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m. Saturday, April 18, in the Marshall Community Center, 1009 McLoughlin Boulevard. For further information, call 619-1108. <> Jim Fischer & Friends entertain in support of the Fort Vancouver Seafarers Center at the 7 p.m. Saturday, April 18, in the Royal Durst Theater in the  Vancouver School For The Arts & Academics 3101 Main Street. For tickets and further information, call 694-9300. <> The Vancouver Symphony Orchestra concerts this weekend will show off the three young artists winners and the music of some of the best-known composers: Wagner, Mozart, Mendelssohn and von Koch. The Young Artists program features young performers, violinist Kelly Talim, a seventh grader at Whitford Middle School in Portland, pianist Stephanie Cai, a seventh grader at Waluga Jr. High School in Lake Oswego, and alto saxophonist Ted Schaller, a senior at Lake Oswego High School in Lake Oswego. Vancouver Symphony music director Salvador Brotons conducts. The concerts are at 3 p.m. Saturday, April 18, and 7 p.m. Sunday, April 19, in the concert hall at Skyview High School, 1300 NW 139th Street. Tickets prices range from $7 for students to $40 for reserved seating.

Community Calendar Links

• Southwest Washington Center for the Arts

• Greater Vancouver Chamber Community 

• City of Vancouver Calendar