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- OUR COMPOSERS -
| Kent Jon Fenske received his M.A. in Composition and Theory from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, having studied with Dominick Argento and Paul Fetler. His undergraduate work was completed at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, with instructors Conrad DeJong (composition), Lillian Tan (piano), and Elliot Wold (vocal/choral). Versatile as a performer, Kent has been featured as baritone soloist with the University of Minnesota combined choirs and orchestra in Bruckner’s “Te Deum.” He was also one of eight soloists in the premier of “Quartet” by John Cage. As a pianist, Kent has soloed with the St. Croix Valley Orchestra in Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A Minor, and continues to enjoy accompanying various recitalists throughout the region. Kent’s compositions have been performed throughout the Midwest, Canada, and Europe by such groups as the Bach Society of Minnesota, the Metropolitan Lutheran Chorale, the University of Minnesota Men's Chorus, the University of Wisconsin (River Falls Concert Choir and Chamber Singers). His works have also been featured on Minnesota Public Radio. Mr Fenske is currently Director of Music and Liturgy at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Lino Lakes Minnesota, a position he has held since 1988. In his spare time, he enjoys celebrating life with his family, and watching the wildlife on a duck pond in beautiful Mahtomedi, Minnesota.
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| Curtis Heard is active in the Los Angeles area as a pianist, musical director, composer and arranger. His career in music began in high school, accompanying, and playing for ballet studios. Over ensuing years, he has performed with renowned Southern California organizations such as the Pacific Symphony, the Cypress Pops Orchestra, Zephyr: Voices Unbound, and other professional ensembles. He has accompanied---and also performed as music director---for numerous musical theater and civic light opera productions. Additionally, he teaches music at Wilson High School (Long Beach), and directs the choir at Aldersgate United Methodist Church (Tustin). Curtis has composed and arranged piano, choral/vocal, and instrumental works for concert stage, theatre, as well as church. His well-crafted compositions have been perfomed and recorded by numerous choirs and soloists. (Choral arrangements are also published through Delamo Music.) He lives in Seal Beach with his singer/actress wife, Lisa Bode Heard, and their son, Clayton.
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| Cory
Johnson received his Master of Music Degree in Composition from CSU Long Beach. He has won numerous awards for composition, including the Irwin Kostal Award from The American Society of Music Arrangers and Composers. A number of his published pieces have been
performed at venues across the country, including major choral festivals, and he has been commissioned to write for professional choral groups, universities, and churches. He presently teaches theory at Fullerton College (California), and also works as a pianist, organist, and jazz arranger. He lives in Huntington Beach with his wife Dawn. (For more information, visit Cory's website.)
Other published works of Cory Johnson
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| Donald Neufeld has been a professor of music at Azusa Pacific University since 1972, where he has taught music theory, counterpoint, orchestration, arranging, form and analysis, techniques classes (woodwind, string, brass, and percussion), and advanced levels in many of the foregoing, including advanced analysis of form and style. 1998-99, brought him an additional assignment as interim dean of the School of Music. Dr Neufeld has composed and arranged music for various university ensembles, and has served as a consultant and resource for various churches and musical organizations. (He even composed APU’s Alma Mater in 1991.) His compositions and arrangements have been performed both nationally and internationally. He has published and recorded more than 100 compositions or arrangements with Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), Glorysound, Lillenas, Telarc, Resmiranda, and Pauline Records, and has produced many--if not most--of the APU University Choir and Orchestra recordings. Don received a Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Pasadena Nazarene College (now Point Loma University), and a Master of Arts in Music Theory from California State University, Fullerton. Along with his university duties, he is an adjudicator for various local school districts, and directs the choir at Grace Baptist Church, Glendora.
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| Kenneth
Neufeld is a Los Angeles-based composer/arranger, with well over 300 works to his credit. The range of his compositions currently extends from choral/vocal settings, keyboard and instrumental works, to full-scale musical theatre. His choral writing is characterized by exceptional voice-leading, rendering each vocal line highly singable. His solo songs often require wide vocal and dramatic ranges; and instrumentally, his work can, at times, be quite technically-demanding (...keyboardists, in particular will agree). His style stems primarily from classical roots---most notably, the Late Romantic to Early 20th Century English and French schools. While melodic, and tonal, his music is seldom without harmonic complexity, and often features distinct (but subtle) jazz flavorings. Mr Neufeld's works, have been performed nationally and internationally, in such venues as the Walt Disney Concert Hall (Los Angeles), Carnegie Hall (New York), Covent Garden (London) and the Sydney (Australia) Opera House, to name a few. He has been represented by such publishers as Aberdeen/Plymouth, Allans/EMI Australia, Jenson/Hal Leonard, and Walton. Currently, his works are available though Boosey & Hawkes, Colla Voce, Gentry, as well as Kensington Choralworks. In the Los Angeles area alone, Mr Neufeld's compositions and arrangements have been performed by such diverse performers as: the Los Angeles Master Chorale (under both Grant Gershon and Paul Salamunovich), L.A. Chamber Singers (under Peter Rutenberg), Zephyr: Voices Unbound (a conductorless, 12-voice ensemble), the Roger Wagner Chorale (under Jeannine Wagner), the L.A. A Cappella Symphony (a cross between the Swingle Singers and Spike Jones), and Pacific Swingline (vocal jazz quintet). Several honors have been awarded Ken's compositions. Many have been selected as featured works, and sung by combined choirs at choral festivals. In 2001, "Bring Me the Sunset" won the first statewide choral composition competition sponsored by the California chapter of the American Choral Directors Association, and “Veni, Sancte Spiritus” recently won the Juan Bautista Comes Choral Competition, out of Segorbe, Spain. Additionally, Mr Neufeld's second musical, "Before Never Never Land," was a finalist in two national competitions (The Richard Rodgers Production Award, and the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center's Music Theatre Conference), and was one of the winners of the international "Quest for New Musicals," receiving a showcase production in London. In Los Angeles, the musical was given a staged reading and placed under consideration for six months by the prestigious "Centre Theatre Group", which operates both the Ahmanson, and Mark Taper theatres. (For more information on Ken's musicals, visit ScottGuy.Biz and click on "Before Never Never Land" or "The Devil's Looking-Glass".) Ken graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from California State University at Long Beach, where he studied with Frank Pooler (choral music), John Prince (jazz), and Ken Remo (voice). Also in the L.A. area, he studied theory with Williametta Spencer, and '20th Century Techniques' with Rodger Vaughan. Other published works of Kenneth Neufeld
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