Maa Vue, known as the 'Hmong Adele,' collaborates with Appleton North High School choir

It seems an unlikely creative partnership, between a Hmong singer from Wausau and a choir director from Appleton North High School.

Even so, it might be perfect timing for Maa Vue, who has been called the Hmong Adele on the PBS television show "Wisconsin Life," and Luke Aumann, a teacher who strives to use music to bring about greater understanding among his diverse groups of students, to work together to create some ground-breaking music.

Vue is readying for a fall concert that aims to offer up a new kind of Hmong musical performance. The showcase will add to a performing career that has garnered millions of views on her YouTube channel and made her one of the top performers at Hmong events across the country. Aumann is helping her on her way.

Vue is still nailing down the details of her fall concert, which will be held in Milwaukee and will accompany the release of her fourth album. The late September event will include performances of her songs using Western-style orchestration, mainstream set design, high-level dancing and story-telling aspects, Vue said.

"We have not seen a Hmong concert that has featured an orchestra, strings, like you do see in an American-style concert," she said.

That's where Aumann comes in. He's written new musical accompaniment for a few of Vue's songs for the fall showcase.

He and his students will give Appleton audiences an early glimpse of the work during two performances of Appleton North's annual spring choir concert, called "Windows & Mirrors". Two performances will be held at 5:15 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on May 15 at the school.

A teen fan invites Maa Vue to Appleton

This all started more than a year ago, when the Appleton North students were prepping for the 2023 "Windows & Mirrors" concert. The title refers to how music can be used as a window to understand other people, or a mirror to understand ourselves. Aumann often asks students to identify songs that particularly resonate with them, helps them understand themselves. Students from diverse backgrounds are encouraged to share the music of their heritage, and often those songs get performed by the entire choir.

One of Aumann's students, Mali Lor, chose "Tsab Ntawv," one of Vue's songs. The song's title in English is translated to "The Letter," and about a singer writing a letter to an older version of herself. It's a hopeful, encouraging message, "I know that the time is hard for you. I believe that you will overcome it all one day," a line from the lyrics say.

Lor chose it, she said, because Vue's "voice is very strong, the way she sings her songs, it's very meaningful."

The theme of the song resonated with Lor, too, she said. "It's about being in a very dark hole, but you can rise up from that dark spot," Lor said.

Vue sings nearly all her songs in Hmong, which also resonates with Lor. She grew up speaking both Hmong and English in her home, and she said she and her Hmong friends often talk using both languages, a form of "Hmongish."

Lor, now a 16-year-old junior, said translating Hmong to English can be hard at times, because often two English words will be needed to bring across the meaning. "Sometimes when you speak it in Hmong, it's more powerful," Lor said.

On a whim, Lor reached out to Vue to invite her to North's concert last year. Vue surprised her by showing up, after reaching out to Aumann. He and Vue connected on a musical level, and Vue learned that Aumann writes music.

"It was a very serendipitous thing," Aumann said.

Using western-style instrumentation and instruments to back up Hmong songs

Vue's albums and her live performances focus on her clear, bright voice, which is backed up by computer-generated music that sounds like instruments. She's eager to add live, Western-style instruments, such as strings, drums and horns to back up her voice. Aumann is helping her achieve that goal by creating musical arrangements for a variety of instruments.

Vue told Aumann, who is experienced in creating musical arrangements, that she was looking for an orchestral-style music and she wanted it to be "epic," he said with a laugh.

Related: Appleton schools ahead of the curve teaching Hmong American history in middle school

"I'm taking some of her songs that she is planning, and adding more Western, classic symphony orchestration," Aumann said. "For example, an oboe might have a melody line."

Lor has heard some of Aumann's arrangements as the Appleton North choir prepares for singing three of Vue's songs. She admits to being skeptical at first. She grew up listening to Vue's music as it was recorded and performed in concert. She wondered if adding western instruments might seem a bit "weird" at first, she said.

But then, as she heard more and started singing the songs with the choir, "it brought me happiness," she said. "I just found that very cool for him (Aumann) to be able to connect to different minds."

She clarified that she meant that the connection was not only between Vue and Aumann, but between cultures, western and Hmong, too.

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'Music is universal; don't let language be a barrier'

The "Mirrors & Windows" metaphor fits neatly into what Vue will be trying to accomplish with her fall concert; it will explore themes of identity and belonging. She hopes the message people will take away is that people can be proud of their heritage and ethnic history and still fit into today's America.

Vue won't perform at the Appleton North concert, because she wants the focus to be on student singers.

"I want to amplify their voices," she said. "I just want to share the songs, what they mean to me, and how they can connect to people. And why it's so powerful for all of us to realize that music is universal, and don't let language be a barrier to knowing about somebody or learning more about someone's identity."

Keith Uhlig is a regional features reporter for USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin based in Wausau. Contact him at 715-845-0651 or kuhlig@gannett.com. Follow him at @UhligK on X, formerly Twitter, and Instagram or on Facebook.

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Singer Maa Vue, 'the Hmong Adele,' works with Appleton North choir