Fresno Pacific University - Pacific Artist Series

Arlene Steffen, piano

Arlene Steffen, M.M., joined the Fresno Pacific University music department in 1997, teaching piano and piano pedagogy and accompanying Pacific Chamber Singers. A graduate of both Goshen College and Wichita State University, she studied with Marvin Blickenstaff and Andrew Trechak and has performed in masterclass with Konrad Wolff, Robert Shannon and Michael Zenge. She continues to perform regularly as both soloist and accompanist, and her students are active in festivals and competitions. Steffen moderates an online forum for piano students and teachers and is an active member and secretary for the Fresno branch of the Music Teachers’ Association of California.

Tina Carter, piano

Tina Carter received her bachelor of arts in music at California State University, Fresno, where she studied piano with Ena Bronstein and Bob L. Bennett. She also studied piano pedagogy with Dr. Bennett and taught under his direction at the Youth Piano Conservatory, a university-sponsored program. She has enjoyed both solo and ensemble playing in and around Fresno and has presented recitals as an accompanist to vocalists and instrumentalists. Having taught piano in the Fresno area since 1980, she is a member of the Music Teachers’ Association of California and has served on the board of directors at the local level in several offices, including president. Carter maintains a private piano studio in Fresno.

Chris Janzen

Chris Janzen is a faculty member in studio art and adjunct faculty member in music at Fresno Pacific University. He holds a bachelor's degree from Bethel College in North Newton, Kansas, and a master of fine arts degree from the University of South Dakota. Janzen has had multiple solo and group art exhibitions and has performed on guitar in California, Iowa, Kansas and South Dakota.

Jesse Nathan

Jesse Nathan is an associate editor at McSweeney’s publishing house and a contributing editor at The Rumpus, an online magazine. His writing has appeared widely, including in Sojourners, Tin House, San Francisco Chronicle, Adbusters and elsewhere. He lives in the fog at the top of a hill not far from the geographic center of San Francisco.

Hanna Nielsen, soprano

Hanna Nielsen graduated from Fresno Pacific University in 2004, completing her bachelor of arts degree in vocal performance. As a student, she was involved in the choral ensembles under the direction of Roy Klassen and studied voice with Deborah Sauer-Ferrand. Since graduating, Nielsen has been involved in the community’s musical culture through several organizations including the Fresno Grand Opera. In 2007, she received her master of arts degree in performance from California State University, Fresno. While attending, she was a student of Helene Joseph-Weil, professor of voice. Nielsen has served as professor of voice at CSU, Fresno, and as a vocal coach for the Kastner Intermediate School choirs with her colleague, Marc McAlexander. Nielsen has maintained a voice studio since 2004 and is active in pursuit of her great loves of teaching and performing.

Joungmin Sur, piano

Joungmin Sur was born in Seoul, Korea. She studied music composition at Dankook University in Seoul, Korea, and earned an master of music degree in composition from the same university in 2003. In 2007 she started her master of arts degree in piano performance at California State University, Fresno, with Professor Andreas Werz and graduated in 2009. As a composer, her works have been performed by CSUF's Percussion Ensemble, Concert Choir, Guitar Ensemble and Fresno State Symphony Orchestra. Also, her Korean fusion oratorio "Festival Messiah" was premiered in Seoul, Korea, in 2005. She received an award in the Choral Music Division from the Sungnam International Composer's Competition in 2004. Her choral music has been published by Chorus Center (Seoul, Korea) since 2000. She is currently serving as an accompanist at both California State University, Fresno, and Fresno Pacific University.

Jane Shelly, flute

Jane Shelly is enjoying her twentieth season as principal flute of the Greater Bridgeport Symphony. She is also principal flute of the Wallingford Symphony and assistant principal flute of the Norwalk Symphony. Shelly is co-founder of the Wilton Music Studios where she has a large studio of private students and runs a flute choir. In addition, she is an active chamber and free-lance musician. She is the flutist for the Guastavino Trio with whom she has performed in Merkin Hall in New York City as well as throughout Connecticut and New Jersey. Shelly is active in arts administration, holding the position of operations and education manager with the Norwalk Symphony. She holds a bachelor of arts degree with a major in music from Ithaca College and a master’s in music performance degree from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Shelly has studied with Roger Stevens (Los Angeles Philharmonic) and with Julius Baker (New York Philharmonic).

Walter Saul, piano

Walter Saul is professor of music at Fresno Pacific University, where he teaches piano, theory, composition, music history and music appreciation. He has been named “Composer of the Year” in North Carolina in 1986 and in Oregon in 1990, and has earned many other honors for his compositions which have been performed in 16 states and three nations. He has won ASCAP Special Awards each year since 1990 for his works and has been invited to the Ernest Bloch Composers Symposium in Newport, Oregon, as a participant composer in 1996 and 1999. In June 2004 two preludes and fugues from his major piano work From Alpha to Omega were performed at Carnegie Hall by Walter Cosand. An original arrangement of the tenth prelude and fugue From Alpha to Omega for wind ensemble was performed on April 1, 2009, by the Fresno Pacific University Community Wind Ensemble, also in Carnegie Hall. As a pianist he has performed and presented clinics extensively on the East and West Coasts. He has released two CD’s of his works: Out of Darkness Into His Marvelous Light (1998) and From Alpha to Omega (2002). A third CD, Songs of Requited Love, in collaboration with Fresno Pacific University Professor Emeritus Larry Warkentin, was released in January, 2007. A fourth CD, Les flûtes enchantées, includes Walter Saul’s Wings Of The Dawn.

Joanna Hersey, tuba

Joana Ross Hersey is assistant professor of low brass at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, where she teaches trombone, euphonium and tuba and conducts the Low Brass Ensemble. Hersey studied with Dan Perantoni at Arizona State University, received a master of music in tuba performance from the New England Conservatory of Music studying with Chester Schmitz, and earned her doctor of musical arts in tuba performance from the Hartt School. As principle tubist with the United States Coast Guard Band, Hersey performed throughout the country as a soloist and clinician. She is a founding member of the Athena Brass Band and has been featured at the Great American Brass Band Festival in Danville, Kentucky. As a member of the Alchemy Tuba-Euphonium Quartet, Hersey performs throughout North America and Europe and can be heard on the group’s compact disc recording Village Dances.

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