Studio Faculty - Handbells

Biography

Nancy Jessup earned the A.A. degree in Music at Pasadena City College, B.A. in American Studies at California State College at Los Angeles, and M.A. in Education at Concordia University Irvine. She has a California State Teaching Credential, Elementary K-9 and has been teaching for over 45 years.

She teaches handbells at Concordia University Irvine, where she is responsible for up to two of the handbell choirs, including overseeing any student directors for those groups, teaching private handbell lessons, coaching the performing handbell ensemble, RESOUND!, and handbell coaching on all levels. Nancy teaches the Handbell Methods course and administrates an annual handbell festival.

Nancy has served as national Membership Chairman for the American Guild of English Handbell Ringers, now the Handbell Musician of America, and as Chairman of the Handbell Industry Council.

In February 1996, Nancy performed the American Premiere of John Tavener’s Quartet No. 2: The Last Sleep of the Virgin, with the Chilingirian String Quartet at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, California.

She has taught handbells and chimes with all ages and levels of expertise. She has conducted workshops across the United States, in Canada, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Her particular specialty is the area of solo ringing. She has been Handbell Editor for National Music Publishers, and is both co-author of a book on solo and ensemble ringing, and co- producer of a video teaching tape on the same subject. Nancy has been a classroom teacher on the elementary level for years. During that time she also directed a 4th-6th grade handbell choir.

Nancy has been married to her best friend, George, for 45 years. He recently retired from Disneyland as a project manager in the facilities department. They have one grown son, Jon, who is married to a wonderful Indonesian woman. They are both chefs.

Biography

Professor Johnson teaches at Concordia as well as her own private violin studio. She has performed with The American Ballet Theatre, The Joffrey Ballet, The Bolshoi Ballet and touring Broadway shows including "The Light in the Piazza", "The Color Purple", "The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber", "South Pacific", "West Side Story", Disney's "The Lion King" and "White Christmas". In addition, she is also an active freelance musician with local symphonies in the Los Angeles and Orange County areas, a studio recording musician for the movies, and has performed with various artists including Andrea Bocelli, Josh Groban, Bebe Newirth, The Vandals and Steve Perry.

Education

• Graduate Performance Diploma from the Peabody Conservatory of Music at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland
• Master of Music from the Peabody Conservatory of Music at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland
• Bachelor of Music - University of California, Irvine

Teaching

• Individual Violin Lessons

Studio Faculty - Viola

Biography

Phillip Triggs holds his MM from Northwestern University and BM from Chapman University, both in viola performance. His teachers have included Roland Vamos, Robert Becker, Jeffrey Irvine, James Dunham, and William Fitzpatrick. He performs frequently with Pacific Symphony in Orange County and maintains a small private studio in Aliso Viejo, CA. Mr. Triggs is also on the music faculty at Santa Ana College and Concordia University Irvine.

Education

BM Chapman University
MM Northwestern University
Aspen Music Festival and School

Teaching

Applied Viola

Adjunct Professor

Biography

Jenny Hyunseung Oh, cellist, has established her career as a soloist, chamber musician and instructor. She received her Bachelor of Music Degree from Seoul National University, and she earned a Master of Music Degree from Peabody Conservatory. She also received her Graduate Certificate in Music Performance at the University of Southern California.

Jenny has appeared as a soloist with Bucheon Philharmonic Orchestra in Korea and North Hungarian Symphony Orchestra in Hungary. She also has performed as a chamber musician in numerous concerts throughout the United States, Korea, Germany and France. She is a passionate member of a chamber music, Charis Christian Chamber and W trio of USC alumni. She is also a coach of the Junior Chamber Music in Orange County. Since 2017, Jenny teaches as an adjunct professor at Concordia University.

Studio Faculty - String Bass

Biography

Matt Hare is well known as a performer and educator. He is on faculty at the University of California at Irvine, Concordia University, Saddleback College, and is a string coach at Irvine, Laguna Hills, Trabuco Hills, and San Clemente high schools. He frequently gives recitals and master classes that often include his own transcriptions and arrangements.

Previously he was first director of educational programs at Lemur Music, a retailer that specializes in the double bass. He has been on faculty at Luther, Cornell, and Wartburg Colleges and the Lutheran Summer Music Academy and Festival.

Dr. Hare freelances with many ensembles in Southern California, including the San Bernardino and San Diego Symphonies. He has been a regular member of the bass sections of the Quad Cities and Peoria Symphonies, and has played in the sections of many symphonies in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

He holds a BA from Bloomsburg University, an MM from Butler University, and a DMA from the University of Iowa. His major teachers were Mark R. Jelinek, Diana Gannett, David Murray, and Volkan Orhon.

Studio Faculty - Harp

Biography

Mindy Ball is principal harpist with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra with yearly seasons that include a classical, chamber, pops and children’s series along with intensive participation with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra’s training programs. Ball also performs as principal harpist for Opera Pacific and Pacific Chorale, as well as with major touring ballet companies such as the Royal Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, Kirov Ballet and American Ballet Theater. Along with a busy freelance and recording career, Ball also teaches harp at Cal State Fullerton, Biola, and Chapman universities.

Studio Faculty - Flute

Biography

An active freelance flutist in the Los Angeles area, Julie Long has played with nearly every major local ensemble at every major local venue. Hailed "a terrific flutist" by Julius Baker and called "the real deal" by Jim Walker, Julie is most comfortable playing a variety of classical genres: from early music to contemporary, from solo to large ensemble.

As an orchestral flutist, Julie has performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Music Center Opera Orchestra, Pacific Symphony, Pasadena Symphony, Long Beach Symphony, Los Angeles Master Chorale Orchestra and others. She became a member of the Riverside County Philharmonic Orchestra after winning the second flute audition in the Fall of 2005. As a studio recording artist she has played on dozens of major motion picture soundtracks, such as Fantastic Four, Superman Returns and Horton Hears a Who.

Julie became passionate about chamber music as a student at U.S.C., where she was recipient of the Outstanding Woodwind Chamber Music Student Award for two consecutive years. In 1999 Julie joined the new music group, Ensemble Green, which specializes in performing music of Los Angeles composers. She is also a member of the Resonance Flute Consort, a unique recording ensemble which recently released its second CD, consisting of original arrangements of movie and television music. With a D.M.A. minor in early music, Julie plays wooden Renaissance and Baroque flutes and has performed with the Los Angeles Baroque Orchestra and Bach Collegium San Diego.

Julie has presented dozens of solo recitals and was one of six finalists in the National Flute Association Young Artist Solo Competition in 2000 and 2002. Her knowledge and interpretation of the flute repertoire has led her to inspire many young flute students. She is currently flute professor at Long Beach City College and Concordia University, Irvine. She has been flute coach for the Idyllwild Arts Summer Program since 1997.

Education

• B.M. Flute Performance - Cleveland Institute of Music
• M.M. Flute Performance - University of Southern California
• D.M.A. Flute Performance - University of Southern California

Teaching

• Individual Flute Lessons
• Director, Flute Choir

Studio Faculty - Oboe

Bassoon Instructor

Biography

Renowned for her musicality and warm sound, bassoonist Elizabeth Low-Atwater, is quickly establishing herself in the southern California music scene. As a fellowship recipient, she attended UCLA for her Master's degree studying with John Steinmetz and received her Bachelor's degree from California State University at Fullerton with Dr. Rebecca Rivera. In the summer of 2010, she was invited to participate in the Hot Springs Music Festival and studied under Gwendolyn Rose.

Elizabeth maintains an active performing career playing with groups like the Dana Point Symphony, Center Stage Opera Company, as well as many other regional projects. As an avid chamber musician, she is a member of many different groups including the Neapolitan Trio, West Coast Wind Quintet, and Ensemble Christo. While in graduate work, she became a two-time finalist of the Coleman Chamber Competition, as well as participate in the UCLA Gluck chamber outreach scholarship program.

Elizabeth is an adjunct faculty member at three colleges and she provides musical coaching at two high schools. She also holds a private studio where her students have gone on to play in honor orchestras, chamber events, and received music scholarships in higher education.

Studio Faculty - Clarinet

Biography

Margaret Thornhill has performed as a soloist in the United States and Europe, making her New York recital debut at Merkin Hall in 1982 and her UK debut at St. Martin-in-the-Fields in 1991. Critics have raved about her performances of the Mozart Concerto, K. 622 as being "music of incomparable grace and almost unbearable poignancy." "Thornhill's performance was as loveable as Mozart was loving" (Peninsula Times-Tribune), of the Stravinsky Three Pieces as "Thornhill's musicality, technique, and control are extraordinary" (Palo Alto Times). John Rockwell, former lead music critic of the New York Times, called her performances of Rorem, Brahms, Levy and Berg a recital "nicely planned and nicely played".

Margaret was for ten years founder/director and clarinetist with the Matrix Chamber Ensemble, a Los Angeles-based 20th century group which won numerous local, state and national grants and awards, was selected for the touring roster of the California Arts Council, and performed for Community Concerts. She collaborates as a chamber musician with Los Angeles Philharmonic, recording studio and LA Opera principals, and is a member of "Category V" woodwind quintet. She frequently performs as a duo with pianist Twyla Meyer.

On historical clarinets, she has performed and recorded for Centaur records with the Santa Cruz Baroque Festival, with the Los Angeles Baroque Orchestra at the Getty Museum, and with the chamber groups Divertimento and Clarion.

Margaret writes a column about clarinet choir literature for THE CLARINET, the journal of the International Clarinet Association, and contributes articles on clarinet technique and pedagogy for British Clarinet and Saxophone and Australian Clarinet and Saxophone. She is founder/conductor of the Los Angeles Clarinet Choir, a 16 member ensemble which has been featured at the International Clarinet Association ClarinetFest 2007 in Vancouver, Canada, 2010 in Austin, Texas, and 2011 in Los Angeles, and for standing-room only audiences at the South Pasadena Eclectic Music Festival and the Vandoren Clarinet Ensemble Festival at UCLA. In 2006, she founded the the Claremont Clarinet Festival, where she is the master teacher in a summer workshop for advanced clarinetists, in residence at Pomona College for a week in June. She coaches chamber music for CMNC (SF Bay Area) and the Chamber Music Society of Santa Barbara and conducts clarinetmasterclasses throughout California and the west.

A former member of the faculty of UCSC and Stanford University, Margaret was for five years professor of instrumental music at Occidental College, and is Adjunct Professor of Clarinet at Concordia University, Irvine.

Margaret currently has a flourishing private studio in Los Angeles where her advanced students typically describe her teaching as "transforming".

http://www.margaretthornhill.com

Studio Faculty - Saxophone

Biography

JAY MASON graduated from CSU, Long Beach, playing lead alto and soprano saxophone in that school’s top-rated wind ensemble, jazz ensemble and orchestra. In 1981 he was a featured soloist at the North American Saxophone Alliance national convention, and in 1983 the University Saxophone Quartet, of which he was a member, were finalists in the Coleman Chamber Ensemble Competition.

After graduation Jay has had a busy freelance performance career. Based in the Los Angeles area, he appears regularly on numerous live concerts and on many studio projects for motion pictures, television and video games. A few of the performers he’s worked with are Michael Buble’, Johnny Mathis, Michael Finestein, Peabo Bryson and Christina Aguilera, the Los Angeles Master Chorale and the Pacific Symphony. Live performances include Broadway shows such as Kinky Boots, Wicked, Spamalot, Jekyll and Hyde and The Addams Family, and he is a member of Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band which has toured throughout the United States, Canada and Asia.

Motion picture and television credits include American Dad, Disney’s ‘Frozen’, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Princess and the Frog, The Tonight Show, Dragon Tales, Toy Story 3 and a number of commercials for companies such as United Airlines and Ford Motor Company. He has also performed on recordings for artists such as Barry Manilow, Michael Finestein, and John Lithgow of Third Rock from the Sun fame.

Jay rounds out his activities by teaching at the Bob Cole Conservatory at CSU Long Beach, Concordia University, and his teaching studio in Irvine, CA. as well as appearances as a guest artist and clinician for high schools and universities throughout the United States. His students have consistently won chairs in the SCSBOA All Star Jazz and Wind Ensemble Honor Groups, are attending major music university programs at schools like Eastman School of Music, Indiana University, CSULB, University of North Texas, and Berklee College of Music. Several have gone on to careers in music as professional performers, educators and producers.

Trumpet Instrcutor

Biography

Richard Chasin holds a Bachelor of Music Degree in Trumpet Performance from the University of Michigan, where he was a student of Armando Ghitalla, former principal trumpet with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Further study was done at the Aspen Music School and the Tanglewood Institute.

Richard has been teaching trumpet for over 25 years and has had many of his students perform with the All Southern California Honor Band as well as the California All State Honor Band at both the high school and junior high school levels. Richard's students have also been members of the Orange County Youth Orchestra and the Pacific Symphony Institute. Professor Chasin is currently a music faculty member at five colleges and universities. He has also taught trumpet at UC Irvine and Irvine Valley College.

Studio Faculty - Trombone & Euphonium

Biography

Len Wicks attended Vanguard University and California State University, Fullerton, where he graduated with a B.A. in Music. He currently works as a music specialist with the N.M.U.S.D. as well as a member of the adjunct music faculty at Concordia University Irvine. He is also on the faculty at Mariners Christian School, where he is the band teacher.

Len’s work as a private instructor spans 30 years and includes Crystal Cathedral Academy and Brethren Christian Schools, and includes tutoring on all brass and woodwind instruments. Len also works as a professional musician and has performed with numerous bands, orchestras and ensembles throughout the Los Angeles and Orange County areas.

Education

• California Sate University Fullerton School of the Arts B.A. Music

Teaching

Len teaches Brass Techniques, Jazz Band, and coaches Brass Ensembles for the University Bands and Orchestras. His private study studios include trombone, bass trombone, and euphonium.

Studio Faculty, Horn

Tuba Professor

David Holben embarked on his musical journey in 1985 near Pittsburgh, PA, achieving degrees in music from the Eastman School of Music (B.M. ’96), University of Arizona (MM, ’00) and the University of Southern California (DMA, ’11). His major teachers include Sam Pilafian, Daniel Perantoni, Jim Self, Norm Pearson, Cherry Beauregard and David McCollum; a list of iconic figures diverse in talent whose pedagogical ideas have helped David discover his unique sound and versatile style of playing. Dr. Holben has performed with the Pacific, San Diego, Santa Barbara, New West and Pasadena Symphonies, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, and professional brass quintets across the Southwestern United States. He has performed with artists such as Victor Vanacore, Jeff Tyzik, Scott Copeland, Chris Botti and Andrea Bocelli.

Studio Faculty - Percussion

Biography

William Schlitt is an accomplished percussion performer and educator. A native to Southern California, he has been active in the music industry for over 35 years.

His teachers include Hollywood studio legends Hal Rees and Earl Hatch, as well as jazz great Chuck Flores and the Los Angeles Philharmonic's Raynor Carroll.

He has performed as a recording artist for a variety of motion pictures, television and audio recordings and was formerly principal percussionist with Music Theater of Southern California. He has performed under such conductors as Pierre Boulez, Robert Shaw, Christoph Eschenbach, and Esa-Pekka Salonen and premiered a work by composer John Cage. Continuing to be active as a freelance musician in Southern California, Bill works with groups such as the Angeles Chorale, the Crystal Cathedral Orchestra, and the Karousel Kids Theater Group. He also currently performs as timpanist with the Redlands Symphony, and as an extra percussionist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

As an educator, Bill has authored the drumset method book, Rock Connection, and is in demand as a percussion clinician. He currently serves on the faculty at Concordia University-Irvine, the University of Redlands, Azusa Pacific University, California State Polytechnic University-Pomona, Vanguard University, and the Idyllwild Arts Academy. For the last eighteen years he has been on the faculty of the Idyllwild Arts Summer Festival where he coaches students from around the world to play at the famed Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.

Studio Faculty - Voice

Studio Faculty - Voice

Biography

Karla Kniss graduated from Oberlin Conservatory with a BM in vocal performance and music education. She received her masters from USC with William Vennard, studied at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, and received a scholarship to study with Pierre Bernat for two years in Paris, France. She received a License de Concert at the Ecole Nornale de Musicue. She has performed recitals in Austria, France, and the U.S. under the auspices of the American Embassies. She is past president of the Los Angeles chapter of NATS and MTAC-Orange County West branch, member of Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honors Society, and is very active adjudicating.

Biography

Tenor Robert MacNeil has been praised by the Los Angeles Times for possessing a voice that is “clarion” and “clear”. After making his San Francisco Opera debut as the High Priest of Neptune in Mozart’s Idomeneo, he returned to perform in productions of Salome, Le Nozze di Figaro and in Werther, for which Opera News said Robert MacNeil “sang with panache.” Mr. MacNeil most recently performed with LA Opera in Lohengrin, after previous appearances including The Stigmatized, Fidelio, Il Trovatore, Der Rosenkavalier, Festival Play of Daniel, Tannhäuser, La Bohèmeand Il Tabarro. The tenor made his debut with the famed Ojai Festival under Kent Nagano in Orff’s Die Kluge and recorded the role of Martin in Copland’s opera The Tender Land, which was released on the Koch International Label.

An accomplished concert artist, the tenor has been soloist in more than sixty performances of Handel’s Messiah. He has soloed with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in performances of Elijah, the Sydney(Australia) Choral Festival in the Berlioz Requiem and in Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Central Union Philharmonic in Beijing. He made his Carnegie Hall solo debut in Britten’s The World of the Spirit and appeared in Rome with the Orchestra Roma Symphonia in Verdi’s Requiem. He has appeared as a guest artist with the Oregon Symphony, Aspen Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Pacific Symphony, Oregon Festival of American Music, Pacific Chorale, Long Beach Opera, Pasadena Symphony, California Philharmonic, Angeles Chorale, Opera Santa Barbara, New West Symphony, Santa Barbara Symphony, Bozeman Symphony and numerous concerts with the San Diego Chamber Orchestra, Third Angle New Music Ensemble, William Hall Master Chorale, Bakersfield Symphony, California Master Chorale and the Cascade Music Festival.

The tenor, a National Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, has his B.M. from Chapman University and M.M. from the University of Southern California. At the University of Southern California, he was a Marilyn Horne Scholar and was named Most Outstanding Graduate Student from the Thornton School of Music.

Biography

Dr. Clarissa Shan joins the Concordia University Irvine Music Faculty in the Fall 2015 Semester. Dr. Shan received a doctorate of musical arts degree at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music. She also holds a master’s degree from USC and a bachelor of arts degree from La Sierra University.

Dr. Shan is an active soprano performer throughout southern California. She has sung roles such as The Queen of the Night in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Cendrillon in Viardot's Cendrillon,Lauretta and Nella in Gianni Schicchi, Crobyle in Massenet’s Thaïs,Giannetta in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore, Cissy in Albert Herring, and Annina in La Traviata. Ms. Shan’s other major works include soprano solos in the Bach Cantata 140, Fauré Requiem in D minor, Handel Messiah, Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Mass in C minor, Rutter Requiem and Magnificat, and the Vivaldi Gloria.

Ms. Shan has won first place in competitions such as the Burbank Philharmonic Orchestra Young Artist Competition, the Redlands Bowl Young Artist Competition, and the grand prize in the Brentwood Symphony Young Artist Competition. Besides performing, Ms. Shan also shares her passion of music with the younger generation by teaching voice to undergraduate students as well as classes at USC.

Dr. HyeJung Shin, a native of Korea, is an active collaborative pianist and vocal coach. As a collaborative pianist, Dr. Shin has given numerous performances in Korea, the United States, Austria, Canada and Japan. Dr. Shin has worked extensively in recitals and masterclasses with renowned musicians, including Barbara Boney, Graham Johnson, Martin Katz, Jake Heggie, John Musto, Linda Watson, Gabriele Lechner, Jennifer Ringo, Speranza Scappucci and Warren Johnson.

Passionate about chamber music, performed and studied at the Aspen Music Festival as a recipient of the Lynette Gutner Memorial Fellowship under Prof. Rita Sloan. Dr. Shin also appeared in many music festivals such as Song Fest, CA, Grandin Festival, OH, Brevard Music Festival, NC, Bay View Music Festival, MI and the Vancouver International Song Institute, BC, Canada. In the summers 2015-2018, Dr. Shin joined the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria as a repetitor and also performed in the International Double Reed Society Conference, Tokyo in Japan in 2015. Dr. Shin was the pianist for the University of Southern California (USC) Thornton Chamber Singers, under the direction of Jo-Michael Scheibe, a formal national president of the American Choral Director’s Association (ACDA).

Dr. Shin received the Master of Music degree in collaborative piano with full scholarship under the instruction of Kenneth Griffiths from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. Dr. Shin earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Keyboard Collaborative Arts as a teaching assistant under Dr. Alan Smith at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Sothern California. Dr. Shin was elected to Pi Kappa Lambda by Eta Chapter of the National Music Honors Society in 2017 and is a recipient of the Gwendolyn and Adolph Koldofsky Memorial Endowed Scholarship, Keyboard Collaborative Arts Ensemble Award and the Keyboard Collaborative Arts Department Award at the University of Sothern California. Dr. Shin has served as a principal musician at the University of California Los Angeles, Herb Alpert School of Music and currently works at Concordia University, Irvine as a vocal coach/collaborative pianist.

Biography

Dr. Hyunjoo Choi received her M.M and D.M.A degree in piano performance from Michigan State University under Yong hi Moon. While completing her D.M.A. degree in Michigan State University, Dr. Choi has been recipient of scholarship with working as staff accompanist in the same school. Since she moved to California, she has served as a staff accompanist at Hope International University and Saddleback College. She was also teaching piano lesson in Flint School of Performing Arts and pianoforte. She has performed and studied in worldwide music festival such as the Millennium Keyboard Festival in Spain, The Banff Keyboard Festival and The Orford Music Festival in Canada, and The Chautauqua institute Summer Festival in New York. As a soloist and chamber musician, Dr. Choi performed Rachmaninoff 2nd concerto as keyboardist in Contemporary Music night with Flint Orchestra, The Real New Music 2009, and many solo recitals in Auditorium of Michigan State University.

Assistant Professor of Music, Director of Worship Arts Leadership Institute

Biography

Steve Young is Assistant Professor of Music and the Director of the Worship Arts Leadership Institute at Concordia University Irvine. He directs the commercial music program, leads the chapel worship bands, and teaches music theory, music technology, ensemble leadership, worship arts and keyboard performance. Steve also leads workshops and is a conference speaker throughout the country in the areas of music and worship arts.

Steve comes to Concordia Irvine with more than 25 years of professional experience as a studio and touring musician, composer, arranger, producer, creative consultant and church leader. An active music producer, Steve has produced projects in New York City, Nashville and Los Angeles, working with world class studio musicians and engineers. As a pianist and keyboard player, he has recorded and performed with recording artists such as Cheri Keaggy, Fernando Ortega, John Patitucci, Tony Award winner Nobert Leo Butz, The Maranatha Praise Band, Patty Cabrera and Crystal Lewis. An active arranger, Steve has written hundreds of arrangements for studio and stage. Steve also composes music for radio, film and television as well as concert music. His string quartet, American Hymn (2014) was recently premiered at the University of Pittsburgh. As a student at Concordia, Steve's original score for the play Hyppolytus (1990) won a meritorious achievement award from the Kennedy Center/American College Theater Festival.

Steve is the architect of the music technology program at CU. He has been published in numerous publications such as Worship Leader. CCM, Roland User's Group magazine and his book All About Music Technology in Worship was published by Hal Leonard Publishing in 2004.

As a church leader, Steve has served as Creative Arts Director at a Southern California megachurch, and has served as co-planmter for two start-up church — one in Southern California and one in the New York City area. He has served on the advisory board for the Arts Movement at Willow Creek Community Church, been a speaker/clinician for Integrity Music, Maranatha Music, and a consultant and creative coach for dozens of churches in the U.S.

Steve has studied composition with Dick Grove, Henry Mancini, Lalo Schifrin, Lennie Niehaus, Clare Fischer, Bill Conti, Jonathan Bailey Holland, John Fitz Rodgers, Roger Zahab and Rick Baitz. He has studied jazz piano with Dick Grove, Lou Levy, Victor Feldman, Russell Ferrante, Joyce Collins and Terry Trotter.

Education

• M.F.A. Music Composition — Vermont College of Fine Arts
• B.A. — Concordia University Irvine
• Graduate of Composing and Arranging Program — Grove Music (Los Angeles, CA)
• Graduate of Keyboard Instruction Program — Grove School of Music (Los Angeles, CA)

Assistant Professor of Church Music

Biography

Dr. Tom Mueller is Assistant Professor of Church Music and University Organist at Concordia University in Irvine, California, where he directs academic programs in keyboard, composition, and jazz. An award-winning church musician, he serves as the Associate Organist at St. James’ Church in Los Angeles, where he accompanies the acclaimed Choir of St. James’ under the direction of James Buonemani. He is an active recitalist, clinician, and adjudicator.

In 2014, Mueller was awarded first place in the Schoenstein Competition in Hymn-Playing, held in conjunction with the national convention of the American Guild of Organists in Boston, Massachusetts. He was honored by The Diapason as a member of the inaugural “20 Under 30” list of influential figures in the world of organ and church music in 2015.

He maintains an active concert schedule, and has performed at universities and churches across the United States. In 2010, he performed the complete organ works of J. S. Bach in a series of seventeen concerts in his native state of Maine. He has received numerous commissions for new choral and liturgical works, and performances of his compositions have been broadcast on national radio and television. Mueller is also an accomplished guitarist, and toured the country as a member of The Muellers, a nationally-recognized family bluegrass band. Their fourth album, The Muellers, was released in 2009.

Research interests include the early organ and keyboard works of J. S. Bach, the performance practice of organ continuo playing in the classical-era concerted sacred music of Germany and Austria, and the American reception of the nineteenth-century opera star Jenny Lind. He has presented workshops, masterclasses, and lectures for numerous organizations, including several chapters of the American Guild of Organists, and has served as a faculty member for the Guild’s Pipe Organ Encounter (POE) program for young organists. Most recently, he served as the Subdean of the Orange County AGO chapter, and serves on the national Committee for Continuing Professional Education (CCPE) of the AGO.

Mueller earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with David Higgs. He also holds degrees from the University of Notre Dame (M.S.M. in organ), and the University of Maine at Augusta (B.M. in jazz composition and piano), where he graduated summa cum laude. His former teachers include Craig Cramer, Alan Wingard, William Porter, Frank Mauceri, and Steve Grover, and he has performed in masterclasses with Stephen Tharp, Isabelle Demers, Ken Cowan, Alan Morrison, Michael Bauer, and Diane Meredith Belcher, among others. He resides in Orange County with his wife and two daughters.

Publications

• Mueller, Tom. “Mindful Hymnody and Leadership.” In In Tempo 2018, no. 2

• Mueller, Tom. “Towards the Recovery of Authentic Organ Continuo Practice in Haydn’s Concerted Sacred Music.” In Online Journal of the Haydn Society of North America 7, no. 2 (Fall 2017).

• Mueller, Tom. “The 2016 EROI Festival—Breath for Singing: The Organ and the Human Voice.” In The Diapason 1293 (2017): 22.

Presentations, Writing, and Workshops:

• “Musical Poetics: Rhetoric and Music in the Seventeenth Century and Applications for Modern Liberal Education,” Association for Core Texts and Courses 24th Annual Conference, Framingham, MA, April 2018.

• “Why Art? Music, History, and Faith Through the Eyes of Heinrich Schütz,” Concordia University Irvine Enduring Questions and Ideas Forum, September 2017.

• “A Leader and a Servant: Preparing Hymns for Congregational Singing,” LCMS Institute for Preaching, Liturgy, and Church Music, Chicago, July 2017

• “Organ Continuo Practice in Viennese Concerted Sacred Music,” American Guild of Organists National Convention, Houston, June 2016

• “Jenny Lind Sheet Music in Pre-Lindomania America,” North American Conference for Nineteenth-Century Music, Andover, MA, July 2015

• “Seventeenth-Century Influences on the Earliest Organ Works of J. S. Bach,” University of Notre Dame, October 2014

• “A New Evaluation of ‘Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern,’ BWV 739,” American Guild of Organists National Convention, Boston, June 2014

Professional Service and Memberships

• Co-chair, Programming Committee, American Guild of Organists 2019 Regional Convention, 2016–present

• Member, Committee for Continuing Professional Education (CCPE), American Guild of Organists, 2015–present

• Member, Association of Lutheran Church Musicians

• Member, Organ Historical Society

• Subdean, Orange County AGO chapter, 2015–2017

• Member, Education Committee, Los Angeles AGO chapter, 2014–2016

Current Teaching

• MUS 303 Music Theory III
• MUS 304 Music Theory IV
• MUS 305 Arranging
• MUS 403 Orchestration and Instrumentation
• MUS 430 History and Analysis of Modern Music
• MUS 482 Music Cultures: Musical Expression in Christianity

• Applied Organ
• Applied Composition
• Applied Harpsichord
• Applied Jazz Piano

• Director, Concordia jazz ensembles
• Director, Concordia Americana Ensemble

Past Teaching Assignments

• MUS 102 Music Fundamentals
• MUS 111 Experiences in Music
• MUS 331 Music History I
• MUS 332 Music History II

Associate Professor of Church Music

Biography

Carol R. (Schroeder) McDaniel is now a full-time faculty member, having taught at Concordia since 1993. She is teaching courses in Organ and Service Playing, Church Music, Aural Skills and Children’s Music Methods; she also serves as the music faculty representative on the Chapel Planning Committee. She was instrumental in developing our first series of organ classes for students wanting to experience organ for the first time. Carol recently celebrated 30 years in music ministry as a teacher, conductor, organist and parish music administrator. She received her B.S. in Education, with an emphasis in organ, music education and parish music, from Concordia University, Seward, Nebraska in 1983. She was a graduate teaching assistant and received her Master of Music degree in Organ Performance from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1985. She has studied with Charles W. Ore, Quentin Faulkner, George Ritchie, Marianne Webb, Michael Burkhardt and Esther Jones. She has taken additional coursework at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Illinois, Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau, Missouri, University of California, Los Angeles, California, California State University, Fullerton, California, and Concordia University, Irvine, California. Carol serves part-time at Bethany Lutheran Church, Long Beach, California as Director of Music/Organist, and is a frequent clinician and organist for Lutheran events in the southern California area. When she’s not at Concordia or Bethany, Carol enjoys writing new hymn texts for worship, in addition to spending time traveling with her husband Gary and their four adult children.

Education

• Doctor of Worship Studies – Robert E. Webber Institute for Worship Studies (Jacksonville/Orange Park, FL)
• M.M. Organ Performance – University of Nebraska
• B.S. Education (music emphasis) – Concordia University (Seward, NE)

Research

• Recovering the Practice of the Spiritual Disciplines as preparation for corporate worship.
• Lectio Divina, an ancient-future way to study scripture. Adapted format for small groups and retreat settings.

Publications

Two recent Hymn texts:

God at Work 8.7.8.7.8.7 Suggested tune: Newly composed tune: GOTTESWERK © Carol McDaniel, OR Voices Raised to You We Offer, LSB (under copyright) OR a more common PD tune: REGENT SQUARE (Angel’s From the Realms of Glory)

God at work among His people
Serving us in prayer and praise
God at work in our vocations
Gifting, leading all our days
God creating, God relating: Soli Deo, Gloria!

God at work in Word and water
Font and pulpit, Holy Meal
God at work forgiving sinners
Justified: His grace will heal
God declaring, God repairing: Soli Deo, Gloria!

God at work in Vine and branches
Yielding fruit abundantly
God at work in dormant seasons
Nurturing the fruit to be
God abiding, God providing: Soli Deo, Gloria!

God at work while we are waiting
Forming life within the womb
God at work in Jesus’ dying
Rising up from death’s dark tomb
God conceiving, God receiving: Solus Christus, Gloria!

God at work: He sends His Spirit
Calling us to do our part
God at work in sanctifying
Breathing faith into the heart
God exploring, God restoring, Soli Deo, Gloria!

God at work: He sends His Spirit
Calling us to do our part
God at work in sanctifying
Breathing faith into the heart
God exploring, God restoring, Soli Deo, Gloria!

God at work before creation
God at work on Calvary
God at work in faith’s formation
God at work eternally
Triune God we laud and praise You: Alleluia, Gloria!

Carol R.S. McDaniel, August 7, 2014 (rev. 08/09/14) God’s Love is Grace Carol R.S. McDaniel (b. 1961) Meter: LM (8.8.8.8 iambic) Suggested Tune: WALY, WALY English Traditional Scripture Reference: Romans 6 and Romans 8

Persuaded, Yes! Of this I'm sure:
God’s love is strong and will endure!
His Spirit gives me faith to see
God’s love is grace; God’s love is free!

Baptized in Christ, who gives me breath
I share in His life-giving death
His love is true: for me He died
God’s love is grace, God’s love is wide!

When days are dark with doubt and fear
When nights are long and paths unclear
When demons rage: around, within,
God’s love is grace, God’s love will win!

The Risen Christ gives victory
His Spirit pleads eternally
With gift of water, Word and meal
God’s love is grace, God’s love will heal!

(April 2013, for Chloe Elizabeth Ruiz’s confirmation service. Revised July 2014, with an additional new stanza (4), at the LCMS Worship Institute)

Teaching

• Organ Class
• Private Organ Lessons
• Hymnody
• Planning Music for Christian Worship
• Music for Children
• Aural Skills
• Guided Readings

Studio Faculty - Guitar

Studio Faculty - Guitar

Biography

An Irvine, California native, Donovan Raitt started his musical career with the piano at the age of 5. At the age of 11, Donovan fell in love with the electric guitar and started taking private lessons. Unaware of his family's history with the electric guitar (Donovan's cousin is Grammy winning blues guitarist Bonnie Raitt), Donovan's love for the guitar grew as he started to perform regularly in a wide variety of styles. By the age of 18, Donovan had performed in many rock, blues, and top 40 bands and was a featured soloist with the University High school Jazz ensemble, performing at the Anaheim convention center, The Irvine Jazz Festival and Disneyland.

At the age of 18, Donovan started to teach private lessons in performance and composition in a wide variety of styles to aspiring guitarists of all ages. Donovan continues to further his love for teaching by holding teaching studios in the Orange County and Los Angeles areas. Donovan is an adjunct faculty member at Concordia University in Irvine, specializing in contemporary Christian music for the guitar. He also maintains a teaching studio at Jim's Music Center, the largest independent music store in California, and teaches beginning guitar classes in public schools with Excelsus Music Collaborators, a non-profit music education program. Donovan has also written, edited and published several online guitar lessons for www.zapguitar.com, www.strum-n-comfort.com and www.guitarschool.net. Donovan has also written his first guitar instruction book, "The Practical Guide to the Guitar."

In 2001 Donovan was admitted to the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California in the Studio/Jazz guitar program, and was the recipient of the Paul LaRose memorial scholarship for guitar. While at USC, Donovan studied jazz and contemporary guitar styles with Steve Trovato, Richard Smith, Frank Potenza, and Pat Kelley, as well as classical, flamenco and finger-style guitar with David Oakes and James Smith. Donovan graduated from the studio guitar program with honors from USC in 2005. Donovan is currently working towards his master's degree in Jazz Studies from California State University, Long Beach under the direction of Ron Eschete.

Donovan works regularly as a performing guitarist in both solo performance as well as with several groups and ensembles. Some of Donovan's clients include Princess Cruise Lines, The Orange County Financial Society, Congressman John Campbell (R-California), Considerate Done Entertainment, the Embassy Suites Hotel, In Good Company Entertainment, and many more.

Donovan is currently endorsed by Strum-N-Comfort thumb picks as well as Line 6 guitars and effects and continues to perform regularly in the Los Angeles and Orange County areas. Donovan is currently working on a CD of original music for solo guitar, which he hopes to finish by the end of the year.

Electric Bass Instructor

Biography

Ernie Nuñez began his professional career with the Long Beach Symphony and at Disneyland. He then started performing with such names as Poncho Sanchez, George Shearing, George Burns and toured with Les Brown and the Band of Renown as well as the Brian Setzer Orchestra playing electric and acoustic bass. Professor Nuñez has played with the Manhattan Transfer, Toni Tennille, Steve Allen, Steve Lawrence, Eydie Gorme and many other notable musical acts. Ernie’s versatile and diverse styles can be heard on hundreds of recordings, including those with Jane Monheit, Lou Rawls, Les Brown, Brian Setzer, and scores of others. Ernie was a member of the Brian Setzer Orchestra when the album “The Dirty Boogie” won the Grammy Awards in 1999 for Best Pop Performance by a Group with Vocal for “Jump Jive An’ Wail” and for Best Pop Instrumental of the Year for “Sleepwalk.” Ernie has recently been playing with Paul Anka – both on tour and on numerous television appearances. Ernie is currently performing with a Steps Ahead tribute band known as Magnetiq, as well as continuing studio work and freelancing domestically and internationally.

Studio Faculty - Drum Set

Biography

Professor Mark Converse received his Bachelor of Music degree from California State University, Northridge where he studied with Karen Ervic-Pershing, Joel Leach and Jerry Steinholz. He also studied drum set with legendary musicians: Nick Ceroli, Ed Shaughnessy, Steve Schaeffer, and Peter Erskine. After completing his degree, Converse continued to study snare drum technique and drum set with Freddie Gruber and Latin percussion with Luis Conte.

Uniquely qualified as a teacher by both university and individual study with some of southern California’s most esteemed percussionists and drummers, Mark is busy as a free-lance musician and brings real world experience to his teaching philosophy. This philosophy balances technique, literature, and musicianship with practical application.

Professor Converse has performed and or recorded with a wide variety of ensembles including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Santa Barbara Symphony, Santa Barbara Chamber Orchestra, Pasadena Symphony, and the Pageant of the Masters Orchestra. He has had the privilege of backing up such noted artists and entertainers as Paul Anka, Maureen McGovern, Carol Burnett, Carol Channing, Jason Alexander, Robert Goulet, Joely Fisher, Peggy Lee, Dudley Moore, and Steve Allen, to name a few.

Converse is an accomplished teacher of drum set, Latin and ethnic hand percussion, and symphonic percussion. His students have been accepted into high school and collegiate honor ensembles and won scholarships to various four-year institutions.