• Date(s): March 18, 2023 @ 7:00 - 9:00pm
• Event category: Music

Location:  Warkentine Culture and Arts Center, Elizabeth V. Lyles Theater

Admission:
$35 General Audience
$20 FPU Community/Alumni ID Cardholders, and all Students K-12

To view a digital copy of the program, click here.

The Fresno Pacific University Music Department presents “The Beauty We Love,” a special concert featuring Grammy Award-winning cellist Eugene Friesen. Friesen, a native of Fresno and an alumna of FPU, is the son of Dietrich Friesen who served the college for over thirty-five years in the music department. Eugene Friesen, a graduate of the Yale School of Music, has toured the world as a soloist and as a member of the Paul Winter Consort with whom he’s recorded over 20 CDs, four of which won Grammy Awards.

Friesen is a trailblazer on the cello, his innovative improvisational style and original techniques – and twenty years teaching at the Berklee College of Music in Boston - have influenced generations of players. Friesen’s program, including sounds and ideas drawn from travels on six continents, features a diverse repertoire that includes his original music, J.S. Bach, electronics, natural soundscapes, and the poetry of Rumi to paint a portrait of a world united in hope.

“The Beauty We Love” will also feature pianist and baritone vocalist Milton Friesen, and soprano Elizabeth Rogers. Born and raised in Manhattan, Elizabeth Rogers began her professional singing career at the age of nine in the children’s choruses of the Metropolitan and New York City Opera. Now living in Vermont, she sings stories of the large and small themes that run through a human life. Her voice – which has been compared to Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell – has a delicacy, clarity, and purity that perfectly underscores her insightful lyrics.

Milt Friesen received an undergraduate degree in vocal performance from S.U.N.Y. and a graduate degree in choral conducting from Fresno State University. He is a retired Music Educator, Worship Pastor, and vocal soloist. Inspired with a love of sacred and classical music by his parents, as well as a love for contemporary, improvisational music from his brother, Milt’s pursuits as conductor, performer and educator have focused on music’s ability to establish and foster a sense of community and appreciation for one another through a variety of musical genres.