[Fairfield, CT, February 21, 2014] The Fairfield Public Library will host author Vivien Shotwell and her
newly released, debut novel, Vienna Nocturne on Monday, March 3. She will be discussing her book at 7 pm in
the Memorial Room of the Main Library, 1080 Old Post Road.
When Vivien Shotwell was an undergraduate studying at Williams College, her voice teacher assigned her
the haunting aria “Non temer, amato bene,” written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart for English soprano Anna
Storace on her departure from Vienna. It immediately struck Shotwell as something special. Vienna Nocturne
is a sweeping historical love story and a portrait of an age. It is a deeply moving novel that brings to life
two extraordinary figures—a thirty-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and a young English soprano, Anna
Storace, who was his muse.
A graduate of Williams College and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Vivien is also a classically-trained singer,
and recently received an Artist Diploma in opera performance from Yale University, where in February 2013
she sang the role of Romeo in Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi. She was a 2011 and 2009 Regional Finalist in
the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions; and the recipient of the 2013 Phyllis Curtin Career Entry
Prize and the 2012 David L. Kasdon Memorial Prize from the Yale School of Music. She has received grants
from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Nova Scotia Talent Trust, and has performed as a soloist with
the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, the Aradia Ensemble, the Orchestra of New England, and The New
Opera. A daughter of independent booksellers, Vivien was born in Colorado and raised in Nova Scotia. She
now divides her time between Halifax, Nova Scotia and New Haven, Connecticut.
Advanced registration is required due to the limited space. Books will be available for purchase and signing at
the event. All programs at the Fairfield Public Library are free of charge. For more information and to register
for this event call 203-256-3160, or visit us on the web www.fairfieldpubliclibrary.org . Follow the Fairfield

Public Library on Twitter: www.twitter.com/fairfieldpublib and Facebook: www.facebook.com/fairfieldlibrary.