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Ahn, Joel

01 Mar 2015 / Comments Off / by

Joel Ahn – Composer/Arranger

Joel Ahn was born in 1957 in a remote mountain village in Korea, as a son of Baptist minister. Decades ago, Korea was one of the most underdeveloped and poor countries in the world in the aftermath of war. So, he spent his childhood and adolescence in a primitive environment. He began studying music late at the age of 15, and he was self-educated until he went to college in Seoul.

Dankuk University; Seoul, Korea (B.A.)

Southern Baptist Theological Seminary; Louisville, KY (Master of Church Music)

University of North Texas; Denton, TX (DMA in Piano Performance)

Musikhochschule; Vienna, Austria (Diploma in composition).

During his college years, he composed in avant-garde style for some years – not because he was attracted to it but because that was the prevalent mode of composition(as it is nowadays). But while studying in Vienna in his early 30’s, he seriously questioned the essence and value of modern music. Thus, he denounced progressive modernism and has since become an ardent devotée of the traditional style of music from the 18th and 19th century. As to such reversal of compositional mode, he was crucially influenced by Kurt Schwertzik, his major professor in Hochschule. So, his music strives for absolute beauty incarnated in Bach, Haydn and Mozart.

So far, he wrote over 700 works – mostly sacred.

He was awarded with the first prize at the first YourLDS composition competition with a choralwork <Psalm 23rd> in Oct. 2013.

Hampton, Bradley

20 Feb 2015 / Comments Off / by
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Bradley Hampton – Composer/Arranger

Bradley loves vocal harmony. Most of his teenage years were spent transcribing the music of The Beach Boys, The Hi-Lo’s, and Take 6. He would use his younger siblings as his experimental guinea pigs, teaching them those transcribed parts as well as practicing on them his own new creations.

Bradley has shared the stage with great vocal groups such as: Rockapella, The Nylons, The House Jacks, The Blenders, The Drifters, The Bobs, The Knudsen Bros., The Manhattan Transfer, and Jon Secada. Bradley is the music director, a singer, and arranger for the internationally award-winning a cappella group SoundStage. Award-winning credits include having won the L.A. Harmony Sweeps twice! SoundStage was recently featured on Emerald City Productions album Sing Me a Song: A cappella from around the World for Kids.

Bradley holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education with an emphasis in Composition from California State University, San Bernardino.  He now teaches classes in songwriting and arranging within the commercial music program at CSUSB. He is also the director of Vocal Jazz. In 2012 his vocal jazz group has opened for The Manhattan Transfer and in February 2014 they opened the show for The Real Group.

His arrangements are sung by numerous vocal groups including Voicemale on “Hims II”, and West Side 5 on their self-titled album (as well as Voices Only Forte II). He arranged the theme song for the award-winning web series “Dead Grandma” hosted by Jon Header. You can hear his jingles played on The Tim Conway Jr. Show as well as his arrangements sung as promo for the hit a cappella movie “Pitch Perfect”

He has won several awards for his original compositions including 3rd place in the choral category for the Your LDS Music Store 2013 music contest  and honorable mentions for original song in the 1997 New Era music contest.

Bradley has been a judge for the regional Harmony Sweepstakes and ICCA’s.

When not composing or arranging, he plays piano accompanying for various vocalists, school and church choirs, and musical theater productions.

 

 

 

Prince, Mary Lou

16 Feb 2015 / Comments Off / by

Mary Lou Prince – Composer/Arranger

Mary Lou Prince was born and raised in Los Angeles California.  During her early years she took every opportunity to attend concerts ranging from classical to rock, jazz and folk.  She earned a Master’s Degree in composition from Brigham Young University and then studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris for a year.

In 1983 she went to Japan and stayed there for 24 years, working extensively with Japanese musicians and writing music for the koto (Japanese harp) and shakuhachi (bamboo flute). She worked in collaboration with playwright and lyricist Patty Willis and wrote music for award winning theater pieces that were performed in Edinburgh, Scotland, New York, Los Angeles and all over Japan, and a film called Feast of Light.  She received national awards for her compositions for traditional Japanese instruments, commissions from the city of Kanazawa to compose music for the stage and to work with Geisha musicians, and composed music for TV Documentaries. Her music has been broadcast on the BBC in Britain, NHK in Japan, and NPR in the United States.  Her works include three symphonies, choral works, a woodwind quintet, string quartets, songs for solo voice and piano, music for koto and shakuhachi, and solo piano works. Some of her strongest artistic influences are from long term travels to the holy places of the world: visiting a synagogue in India, mosques in Damascus and China, Buddhist temples in Nepal and Korea, Coptic Christian churches in Egypt, and also from fourteen years of listening to choruses of frogs and cicadas from the front porch of an old farmhouse in the mountains of western Japan.

Quinn, Christopher

01 Feb 2015 / Comments Off / by
Christopher Quinn

Christopher Quinn – Conductor/Composer/Arranger

Dr. Christopher Quinn (Director of Music, Professor) came to Westminster College in 1994 after completing a DMA in piano performance from the University of Colorado at Boulder where he received two awards in teaching. Within the first year at Westminster, Dr. Quinn created several performing ensembles and new music classes. Student interest grew rapidly and a new music minor degree program was created that included private lessons, performing ensembles, and academic music courses.

Under his leadership, the music faculty grew to over twenty-five adjuncts and two full-time music faculty members. Dr. Quinn formed the highly acclaimed Westminster Chamber Singers in 1996. The choir began touring nationally and internationally in 2000 and has a huge following wherever they perform. Most recently, the choir received a one-half million dollar gift to under-right all future tours; they celebrated in 2014 with a hugely successful tour of the United Kingdom.

With the recent construction of The Emma Eccles Jones Conservatory for Music, the music program launched a new Bachelor of Arts degree in music. The program is thriving in its fourth year with the addition of two new full-time faculty members, a staff accompanist, and a technical director.

In 2003, Dr. Quinn was awarded the distinguished Gore Excellence in Teaching Award; an honor bestowed on one faculty member each year. He also received the distinguished Naomi Weyher Renewal Leave which provided an opportunity to pursue post-doctorate work in conducting and a solo piano recording, A Tribute: The Piano Stylings of Ken Manzer. In 2014, Dr. Quinn was awarded a sabbatical leave to study composition with David Zabriskie and Steven Roens. His setting of The Lord’s Prayer has been rearranged with new harmonies and is set to be published in 2015 with several other choral works.

With the growth of the music program came many gifts to the music program. Dr. Quinn has actively participated in bringing over 8 million dollars in gifts to Westminster College. Last year, for his many years of service and excellence, Dr. Quinn was honored to be named the Florence J. Gillmor Professor of Music.

 

 

 

 

Pike, Aaron

17 Jan 2015 / Comments Off / by
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Aaron Pike – Composer/Arranger

Composer Aaron Pike was raised in Caldwell, Idaho where he pursued music at a young age. His first major work, “Omaha Beach” was premiered when he was 17. Since then he has had works performed at Rice University, The Brevard Music Center, San Francisco Conservatory and Brigham Young University- Idaho. He was a featured composer at the 2008 New Music Festival at the University of Nebraska-Kearney, the winner of the 2009 Marion Richter American Music Composition Award through the National Federation of Music clubs, Finalist for the 2010 ASCAP Morton Gould Awards and winner of the 2010 Biannual Choral Competition at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

 
He currently serves as Director of Music at St. John’s UCC in San Francisco and works with SF Opera. 

Wixom, Skyler

17 Jan 2015 / Comments Off / by
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Skyler Wixom – Lyricist

Skyler Wixom was born in Idaho Falls, Idaho to Bret and Terri Wixom. Throughout his High School career, he developed a love for the choral arts and discovered a fascination for texts that were selected and put to music. He started writing poetry himself for the purpose of someday having his works composed into beautiful choral arrangements. After High School, Skyler served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Minnesota, where he developed a love for studying, serving, and teaching others. Currently, Skyler is working on his English Education Undergraduate Degree at Brigham-Young University-Idaho, where he continues to write poetry and enhance his ability to communicate through words and text to a large variety of different audiences.

 

 

Merrill, Michael

13 Jan 2015 / Comments Off / by
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Michael Merrill – Composer/Arranger

Michael Merrill was born into a military family in 1988 in Tachikawa, Tokyo, Japan, and claims Albany, Oregon, USA as his home. He began taking piano lessons like a good little boy as a child, but quickly grew bored of it and quit like a normal little boy. He began playing the saxophone in 5th grade and singing in choir during high school, getting involved in theater and stage musicals along the way. He started “composing” at around twelve when he would fiddle around at the piano, trying to play various tunes by ear and experiment with different patterns. He changed his mind from wanting to be a history teacher to a professional musician after playing in band under the direction of Stuart Welsh at West Albany High School, Oregon, who premiered his first orchestration for band in Spring of 2006.

Beginning later that year, he attended Brigham Young University-Idaho where he studied music education for the first few years. After some changes in mind and heart, he ultimately decided to change from music education and saxophone performance, under the tutelage of Dr. Mark Watkins, to composition. He was accepted into the then-budding composition program in 2012 and began his studies under Dr. Daniel Kerr, and later with Darrell Brown. While at BYU-Idaho, Michael received commissions from various students for their senior recitals, including one from a particularly lovely lady who would later become his wife. He received many awards and recognitions for his music, including two 2nd prizes (Glory to God in the Highest, Winter 2012, and Anthem for Doomed Youth, Fall, 2012) and one 1st place in the school’s Research and Creative Works Conference (Mass for the Last Days, Winter 2014). Anthem for Doomed Youth was also the winner of the school’s first art song competition in June of 2012, where Michael also won the “Audience Favorite” award with Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me Too (text by Shel Silverstein). In the fall of 2013, Michael’s operetta Perfection of the Life (libretto by Ray Alston) was selected for performance by the school’s opera scenes program, and was well received by the audience on its premiere in December of that year. He graduated with a B.M.S. in Composition and Saxophone Performance in April of 2014.

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Michael Merrill

Michael currently lives in Rigby, Idaho, and will be moving to the United Kingdom later this year where he will study under Royal Composer Paul Mealor FRSA. Michael and his wife, Helen, enjoy Harry Potter, Doctor Who, and going on walks together. Helen is also the 2nd Oboist in the Idaho Falls Symphony.

 

 

Moore, J. Chris

26 Oct 2014 / Comments Off / by

J. Chris Moore – Composer/Performer/Educator

J. Chris Moore, a 1971 graduate of CCM with a Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance and choral education, taught public school music for two years before being named the Executive Director of the Springfield Arts Council, a position from which he will retire this coming August after 39 years of dedicated service.  His High Street United Methodist Chancel Choir has toured Germany and currently sponsors a monthly Sanctuary Series of visiting artists.  Chris has performed as soloist with the Springfield Symphony and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestras, has performed and served as assistant music conductor of the Stephen Foster Story in Bardstown, Kentucky, and has years of experience both accompanying, directing and conducting music theater productions throughout the Miami Valley.  He is currently directing and choreographing Kenton Ridge High Schools production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.”   Chris regularly consults with not for profit arts organizations in the areas of board and program development, and fundraising, and has 20 pieces of choral music published by Lorenz Publishing and Beckenhorst Press.

 

 

 

Emmers, Beth

19 Oct 2014 / Comments Off / by

Beth Emmers – Composer/Arranger

Beth grew up in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada with her 4 brothers and 1 sister. She has been playing the piano since she could reach the keys. She wrote her first song at the age of 6 and hasn’t looked back since then.

Beth studied jazz piano arranging and performance at Humber College in Toronto, Canada, and found the jazz theory an asset to her composing and arranging. She has arranged many hymns for her church choirs over the years, and has composed many solos, choral and small group pieces, instilling a unique mix of styles, while keeping an inspired tone.

A couple of highlights in Beth’s musical career include: Winning 2nd place at Provincials in 1997 for her song ‘Prima Vista’, ‘Lullaby for Baby Joseph’ performed at BYU’s Joseph Smith Birthday Celebration (2005); and winning 2nd place in the Your LDS Sheet Music Contest, (Contemporary Christian Category 2013) for her song ‘He Loves Me’.

She is the mother of 4 beautiful girls and has a fantastic, supportive husband who has written many lyrics for Beth’s songs over the years, including award winning ‘He Loves Me’. They currently live in Manitoba, Canada.

Pew, Douglas

14 Oct 2014 / Comments Off / by
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Douglas Pew – Composer/Arranger

American composer Douglas Pew (b. 1980) is noted for his ability to strike at the root of the emotional world through his music “with a showman’s touch and a poet’s soul” (Jake Heggie). His music has been heralded as “stunning…magical” (Washington Times) and “sensual, other-worldly, expressive and showcasing a rich harmonic pallet, sure to connect with audiences, while saying something fresh, profound and meaningful” (Scott Holden, pianist).

Douglas and librettist Dara Weiberg will have their newly commissioned one-act opera, “Penny”, premiered at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The work was commissioned by Washington National Opera and will be performed by the WNO’s Domingo-Cafritz Young Artists as a part of the American Opera Initiative. Joining the production team is Manitoba Chamber Orchestra Music Director, Anne Manson, and Shakespeare Theater Company in Washington D.C. Associate Director, Alan Paul. In preparation for the premiere, “Penny” will be workshopped in the summer of 2014 at the Glimmerglass Opera Festival. 

Pew and Weinberg’s first opera, “A Game of Hearts” was similarly commissioned by Washington National Opera. After it’s premiere at the Kennedy Center in 2012 and subsequent performance by the NANOWorks Opera Company in Cincinnati, OH, it was selected for performance at the 2014 Opera America New Works Forum in New York City.

Additionally, Douglas has received commissions and performances from ensembles such as the Cincinnati Bach Ensemble, Polish Chamber Choir, Atlanta Opera, Miami University Men’s Glee Club, and the Timpanogos Symphony Orchestra, among others. He has received multiple awards including a Barlow Endowment commission, 1st prize in the 2009 SCI/ASCAP Student Composers Commission Competition, Musica Sacra International Choral Composition Competition in Poland, ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composers Award, Susan and For Schumann Fellowship at the Aspen Music Festival, and the Tangeman Sacred Music Center.

Douglas holds Masters and Doctoral degrees from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of music as well as a post-graduate certificate from the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw, Poland where he studied with internationally acclaimed composer Paweł Łukaszewski under the auspices of a Fulbright Grant. Douglas currently lives in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area where he teaches at Northern Kentucky University, is composer-in-residence at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, and is active as a local conductor and vocalist. His music is published by Boosey & Hawkes, Jackman Music Corporation, Blue Shore Music and HolySheetMusic.com

 

 

 

 

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