LAKELAND, Fla. (Jan. 17, 2008) — Florida Southern College and the Festival of Fine Arts welcome Grammy-winning soprano Sylvia McNair on Jan. 31. The performance takes place at 7:30 p.m. in Branscomb Auditorium on the Florida Southern campus.

During her 25-year career as one of the world's leading opera singers, McNair has won two Grammy Awards, produced over 70 recordings and performed with almost every major American and European orchestra and opera company, including The Met, Chicago Lyric Opera, the Salzburg Festival, the New York Philharmonic, the San Francisco Opera, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the Philharmonics of Vienna and Berlin. Most recently she has transitioned from opera to the Great American Songbook. Rex Reed wrote of her songbook performances, “Her phrasing is exemplary. Her modulations are inspired. I could get used to this kind of ecstasy."

Tickets are $30. FSC students are admitted free of charge; non-FSC students admitted at half price. For ticket information, contact the Branscomb Auditorium box office at (863) 680-4296.