NEDERLAND - On Saturday, October 4, 2025, Jessica Nilles Kressin and Marianna McLean, pianists who perform as the “Rhapsody Duo,” debuted a program of theirs at the Nederland Community Presbyterian Church.

The performance of the program, titled “Grieg and Rags: A Journey from the American South to Scandinavian Fjords,” served as a fundraiser for the Nederland Area Seniors, with 10% of donations going to the organization.

Kressin and McLean have been performing together for over five years. McLean, having studied piano since the age of six, gave occasional performances after emigrating from the Soviet Union to the United States in 1990.

McLean started taking piano lessons from Kressin, who holds a doctorate of piano performance from the University of Colorado Boulder. Her teaching completely changed McLean’s playing.

The two have since performed in recitals together.

They have worked for nearly a year to devise the program for this performance, which they planned to perform first in Boulder and then in Davenport, Iowa.

Kressin currently serves as the pianist for First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, Boulder. The church’s music director, Kajsa Teitelbaum, learned of Kressin and McLean’s program as the church choir geared up for a retreat in Nederland.

Kressin, McLean, and Teitelbaum worked to organize an additional performance on the weekend of the retreat, since the Rhapsody Duo felt ready to play the program for an audience.

The program consisted of solos and duets from composers Edvard Grieg, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Scott Joplin, and Jean Sebelius, and the two opened with an additional surprise piece by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

The two love performing together and developing their dynamic through each performance. They have no plans to stop the momentum they’ve started as a duo any time soon.