Heidi Bryant and Meredith Mihm at Café Congo
Sunday | March 24 | 4 pm
First Congregational Church | 161 W Broadway St. (Johnson St. canopied entrance)
Heidi Bryant and Meredith Mihm will perform at Café Congo at First Congregational Church on Sunday, March 24th at 4 pm. A freewill donation will be accepted with proceeds benefiting the Winona Immigration Network.
Heidi Bryant grew up as the black sheep in a musical family, choosing flute and guitar over piano. After graduating with a BA in music, she married her roadie and moved around the country raising their two children. She dabbled in music along the way, singing in a cappella ensembles, learning jazz guitar, and taking flute lessons. Finally, after living here for a few years, she found a new musical family in Winona. She has been performing with Flutistry since 2011, followed by joining the Winona Municipal Band, duetting with Frank Bures, playing with the wind quintet Frankly, My Dears, and performing with Winds of Winona. In 2018, she began studying flute again with Dr. Rachel Haug, who has helped her transition from mom to serious musician.
Dr. Meredith Mihm spent her childhood as a piano teacher’s daughter and was shocked at the age of 14 to discover that the piano, ever-present and always taken for granted, was also her passion. She went on to earn a Doctorate in Piano Performance with assistantships in piano pedagogy and collaborative piano. She is thrilled to still be able to spend her days doing both of those things, from teaching at Viterbo University, where she was recently given the Adjunct Instructor of the Year award, to teaching in her home piano studio, to serving as the Music Minister at Faith Lutheran Church, where she plays piano and organ, along with directing the praise band and the choir. Meredith’s four children are the light of her life, and so she valiantly attempts to straddle the divide between mom and serious musician.
Heidi and Meredith began their musical collaboration in the summer of 2022. They have performed at Faith Lutheran Church, the Blue Heron Coffeehouse, and MMAM. Their partnership has given each of them the opportunity to dive into interesting and challenging repertoire.
The program for Café Congo features three movements from the “Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano” by Claude Bolling, made popular in the 1970s by Jean Pierre Rampal. Meredith will perform the Siloti/Busoni piano transcription of Bach’s D minor “Chaconne” for solo violin. Additional flute/piano pieces include contemporary composer/flutist Valerie Coleman’s “Requiem Milonga,” Lukas Foss’ “Three American Pieces,” and Franz Doppler’s “Andante” and “Rondo” for two flutes with special guest Dr. Rachel Haug.
Free will donations support the Winona Immigration Network (WIN), an organization that is made up of many congregations in the Winona area. They work to welcome immigrants, support them to help meet their daily needs, and assist them through the asylum and immigration process.
Café Congo is a Social Action Initiative of the church, raising over $50K for good causes since opening in 2017.
Café Congo and Heidi Bryant are members of the River Arts Alliance. To learn more about the benefits of membership, please visit: riverartsalliance.org/membership/.