Jon Powers

Spring 2019

Sometimes called the “Metho-Catholic-Rabbi” of Ohio Wesleyan, Jon has dedicated the past 43 years to serving college students with care and compassion as an ordained elder in full connection from the West Michigan Conference of the United Methodist Church.

Jon received a B.A. in public policy and ethnology from James Madison College at Michigan State University, and a Th.M. in Hebraic studies and pastoral care from the Boston University School of Theology. He has done postgraduate studies in higher education administration at the School of Education, University of Michigan; D.Min. studies in campus ministry at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C.; and Christian-Muslim studies at Georgetown University.

Jon and his wife, Susan, have two adult daughters, both OWU grads.

Elisabeth von Trapp

Spring 2017

For Elisabeth von Trapp, “the sounds of music” are part of her earliest memories. Born and raised in Vermont, Elisabeth is the granddaughter of the legendary Maria and Baron von Trapp, whose story inspired The Sound of Music. Singing professionally since childhood, Elisabeth has enthralled audiences from European cathedrals to Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center.

Inspired by her father Werner von Trapp’s guitar playing and singing, Elisabeth has carried on the legacy of the internationally renowned Trapp Family Singers. She began taking piano lessons when she was eight and by the age of sixteen she was playing guitar and traveling the back roads of New England performing with her siblings at weddings, gospel meetings and town halls.

Building on her famed family’s passion for music, Elisabeth has created her own artistic style, at once ethereal and earthy, delicate and powerful. Listeners have likened her to Judy Collins and Loreena McKennitt. With equal ease and eloquence, she sings timeless wonders like Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Favorite Things” and “Edelweiss,” “Lieder” by Mozart, Puccini’s “O Mio Babbino Caro,” soaring gospel tunes, pop classics like “A Whiter Shade of Pale” and her own stunning compositions.

Elisabeth has released five self-produced albums, and has performed across the United States, Austria, and Russia. Her music has been featured on National Public Radio, BBC-Radio, Japanese National Radio and CNN Spanish Radio. She has appeared on CBS’s Eye on People, ABC’s Good Morning America and BBC-TV.

No one leaves an Elisabeth von Trapp performance unchanged. Audiences of all ages are drawn by the promise of her famous name, awed by the beauty of her voice and musical arrangements – their hearts touched forever by the astonishing sound of her unique new music.