Vanka relative is soprano at murals event

A personal dimension will be added to an already intimate evening Nov. 17 when Maxo Vanka’s great-niece takes the stage as the night’s soloist.

Amy Stetten moved to Pittsburgh with her family when she was 12 and as a child visited St. Nicholas Croatian Catholic Church in Millvale, where she saw the murals painted by her great-uncle on her father George’s side.

She also heard stories about “mystic Uncle Maxo, the birds he kept in the cuffs of his pants, his napkin drawings at dinner and the gentle response he had when 4-year-old George stepped on his guitar,” reports the non-profit Society to Preserve the Millvale Murals of Maxo Vanka on its website.

They are sponsors of the second annual Applaud the Light, which will include performance and prose, an update on progress made in conserving the murals, and a demonstration of lighting recently completed for “Christ on the Battlefield,” “Mary on the Battlefield,” “The Capitalist” and “Simple Family Meal.”

Ms. Stetten is a soprano and a member of the Bach Choir of Pittsburgh. She studied music and physics at Barnard College in Manhattan, continued her music education at the New England Conservatory and earned a doctorate in physics from Carnegie Mellon University.

Others participating in the evening’s programming include actors David Conrad, Wali Jamal and MichaelSullivan;theBachChoir,cellist