Janette Erickson (flute) and Laura Porter (harp) open the series at 4:00 p.m. Sunday, September 16. Erickson is the principal flutist of the Fresno Philharmonic Orchestra, director of Les Flutes Enchantees and founder of the chamber ensemble Moment Musical and the International Flute Festival at FPU, where she is an adjunct faculty member. She earned bachelor's and master's degrees from California State University, Fresno. Erickson has performed at National Flute Association annual conventions and won the 1995 the N.F.A. Best New Flute Choir Publication Award for one of her editions of flute choir works written by Russell. S. Howland, one of her teachers at CSUF.
Laura Porter is principal harp with the Fresno Philharmonic and adjunct faculty at FPU. She has performed in Fresno, Bakersfield, Modesto, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo and Sacramento. Porter appears with Moment Musical, Orpheus, Soli Deo Gloria and Fresno Community Chorus and founded the Fresno Area Harp Circle. Porter has a bachelor's degree from Mills College and a master's from the University of Southern California. She has won a Philanthropic Educational Organization Scholar Award and placed second in the young professional division of the American Harp Society's National Competition.
All Pacific Artist Series performances will be in McDonald Hall Atrium on the main FPU campus, 1717 S. Chestnut Ave., Fresno. Admission is $12 for general admissions, $8 for seniors and $5 for students, payable at the door. For more information on any FPU music event, call 559-453-2267, email music@fresno.eduor check the Web at fresno.edu/department/music/events/
Schedule
- Alan Durst (saxophone) and Hatem Nadim (piano), Friday, October 26, 2012, 7:30 p.m.
- Corey Whitehead (guitar), Thursday, January, 17, 2013, 7:30 p.m.
- Bradley Lehman (harpsichord), Friday, February 22, 2013, 7:30 p.m.
- Arlene Steffen (piano), Sunday, March 17, 2013, 4:00 p.m.
Artists
Alan Durst has appeared in concert halls including The John F. Kennedy Center and Los Angeles Disney Hall, and with the New West Symphony, Santa Barbara Symphony, Gang Nam Symphony Orchestra, Korean-American Symphony and Fresno Philharmonic. He is the co-founder of the Panama International Saxophone Quartet and teaches at California State University, Fresno, and FPU. Durst was the only North American representative at the International Saxophone Masterclasses at the Conservatorium von Amsterdam, Holland (1998). He has a doctor of musical arts is from the University of California, Los Angeles, a master of music from the University of Miami and a bachelor's from the Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory of Music.
Hatem Nadim began piano study at the Cairo Conservatoire at age 10, graduating with honors. He also graduated from the University at Frankfurt, Germany. Nadim was on the faculty at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz and the University of Music in Mannheim before becoming staff accompanist at California State University, Fresno, in 2006. He is an annual guest artist at the Vielsaitig Festival in Füssen, Germany, and on the faculty of the Opera Academy of San Franciscosummer program. Nadim's latest record is a complete collection of the Mozart violin sonatas and variations with the German violinist Susanne Rabenschlag for Avi-Music and Deutschland Radio.
Corey Whitehead was one of five flamenco guitarists in the world, and the only one from the United States, to receive the full scholarship to study in Córdoba at La forma y naturaleza de la guitarra flamenca. Whitehead received his doctor of musical arts, master's and bachelor's degrees from the University of Arizona. A member of the California State University, Fresno, faculty since 2006, he is also adjunct faculty at FPU. Whitehead's book The Flamenco/Classical Guitar Tradition, Mel Bay, 2009, was co-authored with Juan Serrano. His current work includes transcription and engraving for Flamenco: Obra Didactica-Aristica (a 10-volume book-DVD of 50 flamenco works by luminary artists).
Bradley Lehman earned master's degrees in early keyboard instruments and musicology and a doctorate in harpsichord from the University of Michigan. His B.A. is from Goshen College. Lehman's repertoire spans solo keyboard literature from 1500 to 1775, Renaissance and Baroque ensemble music and some modern works. In addition to his concert work in North America, Germany and Costa Rica, he has served several congregations as organist and music leader. In addition to performing on harpsichord, organ, clavichord, virginal, fortepiano and piano, Lehman composes hymns and keyboard music and produces recordings. He also discovered a keyboard temperament believed to have been Johann Sebastian Bach's preference for the Well-Tempered Clavier.
Arlene Steffen teaches piano and piano pedagogy at FPU. Her B.A. is from Goshen College and her M.M. is from Wichita State University. Her private students are active participants and winners in festivals and competitions, and in 2012 one was chosen to perform in a masterclass with the legendary Byron Janis. Her articles have appeared in Clavier Companion. Steffen is a planning committee member for the Independent Music Teachers forum for the National Conference for Keyboard Pedagogy and president of Music Teachers' Association of California, Fresno County Branch.