CFAMC Members Directory

The following is a listing of the currently active members of the CFAMC.

To be listed as an active member, we ask only that you:

Make an annual membership contribution when you join or renew your membership.
Complete a member profile.

NOTE: If your name does not appear on this page, it means that you have not made an annual membership contribution for more than a year.

John Akins, DMA
1416 Washington Ave.
Springfield, MO, USA 65802
Email:

About John Akins...

John R. Akins (b. 1939), a Michigan native, received his B.M. and M.M. in theory/composition from Southern Methodist University and a D.M.A. in composition from the University of Texas, Austin, studying at the latter with Hunter Johnson and Kent Kennan. He has taught at Texas Lutheran College, at the University of Maine at Machias, and from 1977-2010 at Evangel University, Springfield, MO, where he hosted the 2003 CFAMC Mid-Central Regional conference. He has received commissions from the Missouri Music Teachers Association twice, as well as from the Machias Bay (Maine) Community Concerts Association, the Springfield (MO) Symphony Orchestra, and tenor Ron Brendel. Besides CFAMC, he also has membership in Society of Composers, Inc. (SCI) and Society for Electro Acoustic Music in the United States (SEAMUS) and has had numerous performances at their regional and national conferences.

Statement of Faith

I subscribe to what the Assemblies of God publishes as their “Four Cardinal Doctrines,” as well as their “16 Fundamental Truths”* of which the “cardinal doctrines”" are a part. These four are stated as follows:

Salvation through Jesus Christ who provided the supreme sacrifice for sin (John 3:3,16,17; Romans 10:13; Ephesians 2:8,9);

Divine healing for the sick as provided in Christ's death (James 5:14-16);

The second coming of Christ as He returns for those who have accepted Him (1 Thessalonians 4:16,17; 1 Corinthians 15:51,52);

Baptism in the Holy Spirit for empowering believers (Acts 1:8; 2:4,17,18,38,39). I have personally experienced salvation, baptism in the Holy Spirit and divine healing in my own life and I carry the personal hope of Christ's bodily second return to the Earth. Further, I strive to "grow in grace," and to be Christ's hand extended to others in need, whether spiritual or physical.

* One can find the full listing of these 16 truths at the following link: http://ag.org/top/Beliefs/Statement_of_Fundamental_Truths/sft_short.cfm

Travis Alford, Composer/ Performer/ Teacher
Brandeis University/Gordon College
286 School Street #1
Watertown, MA, USA 02472
Email:

Website: http://www.travisalford.com

About Travis Alford...

Travis Alford (b. 1983) is a composer, trumpet player, and improviser in the Boston area. His compositions have been performed at venues across the United States and beyond including the June in Buffalo Festival, the ACA Summer Music Festival, the Composers Conference at Wellesley College, the Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice, the Exploring Trumpet International Seminar in Kalavrita, Greece, and the NewMusic@ECU Festival, by groups such as the Meridian Arts Ensemble, the Lydian String Quartet, Second Instrumental Unit, and members of the New York New Music Ensemble. Travis was recently awarded a 2010 ASCAP Young Composers Award for his work, Breathing Room.

As a performer, Travis remains active as a freelance musician and is committed to the promotion of new music, playing regularly for concerts and premieres of his colleagues. He is also co-founder and Artistic Director of the experimental & collaborative COMPROVISED Music Series (Boston & NY), and is director of the Park Street Brass, based at Park Street Church in Boston.

Travis is currently instructor of Composition and Counterpoint at Gordon College and an Affiliated artist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He holds degrees in theory and composition from the New England Conservatory and East Carolina University, and is currently working toward a PhD. in composition at Brandeis University. Travis has studied composition with Eric Chasalow, David Rakowski, Lee Hyla, Edward Jacobs, Mark Richardson, and Mark Taggart. He has studied trumpet formally with Britton Theurer, and informally with Brian McWhorter and Jon Nelson. He has also studied Contemporary Improvisation with Tanya Kalmanovitch.

Travis resides in Watertown, MA, with his lovely wife, Lauren.

Petra Anderson, Student
University of the Pacific
Stockton, CA, USA
Email:
Website: http://www.petraandersonmusic.com/

About Petra Anderson...

Petra Anderson is an alumna of Interlochen Center for the Arts’ Arts Camp (2007) where she studied with Dr. John Boyle and Dr. Roshanne Etezady. In 2008 Petra’s work was premiered by fEARnoMUSIC, a professional Portland based new music ensemble, as part of their young composer’s project. Currently she is studying music composition at the Conservatory of Music at the University of the Pacific where she is a senior; she studies with Dr. Robert Coburn and Dr. François Rose. In 2011 she studied composition at Bowdoin International Music Festival with Dr. Robert Beaser and Derek Bermel.

Petra’s work was recognized in a competition at Pacific, the first Gilbertson Composition Competition, in 2010 securing a special premier of her woodwind quintet Colloquy by faculty. She is also the 2011 winner of the Mu Phi Epsilon International Composition Competition in Division I Class B for her voice and piano work, Orhcard Swings. In 2010 she developed and carried out student research in composition for which she received large grants and community support to create and produce a work of performance art honoring American Veterans.

Petra is active on her campus as the publicist for the Composer’s Club, organizing events for new music; and as President of the Mu Eta Chapter of the Professional Music Fraternity, Mu Phi Epsilon. She is from Colorado and plans to pursue a PhD to take her passion for music and learning to the highest level.

Soli Deo Gloria

Ryan Apple
2040 Edmund Way
Lansing, MI, USA 48917
Email:

Devin Arrington
6236 Fifth Ave.
Apt. 204C
Pittsburgh, PA, USA 15232
Email:
Website: http://www.devinarrington.com
http://www.pittsburghweddingviolinist.com

Jesse Ayers
Malone College
228 17th Street NW
Canton, OH, USA 44703
Email:
Website: http://jesseayers.com

About Jesse Ayers...

Jesse Ayers (b.1951) has twice had his music selected to represent the United States at the ISCM World Music Days (Slovenia 2003 and Warsaw 1992). His most recent work, "Jericho," a large-scale surround-sound composition for wind symphony, choir, and narrator, was recently performed in nine cities across the southern and mid-western United States. Ayers' other surround-sound work, "...and they gathered on Mount Carmel" (Elijah and the prophets of Baal) has been performed by a number of collegiate bands and has been recorded by the Valparaiso University Chamber Concert Band. His work for solo tuba and synthesized tape, "The Dancing King," (David dancing before the Lord) has been performed on four continents and released on two CDs.
Dr. Ayers has been a guest composer on the campuses of California State University Bakersfield, Heidelberg College (Ohio), Valparaiso University (Indiana), Virginia Tech, and Carson-Newman College (Tennessee) and has held a fellowship at the Atlantic Center for the Arts. Ayers earned the Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Composition from the University of Tennessee where he studied composition with David Van Vactor, John Anthony Lennon, Guy Bachman, and Allen Johnson; choral conducting with Donald Neuen; and percussion with F. Michael Combs. He also holds the the Doctorate of Musical Arts in composition from the University of Kentucky where he studied composition with Joseph Baber and aural skills pedagogy with Kate Covington. He has had master classes with composers Karel Husa, Norman Dello Joio, and Vaclav Nelhybel. Ayers maintains a full teaching schedule at Malone College in Canton, Ohio, where he serves as Professor of Music. In 2001, he was awarded the college's Distinguished Faculty Award for Scholarship/Creative Expression by his peers. He has received 15 awards from ASCAP, and grants from Meet the Composer and the American Music Center.

Charles (Chuck) Beck
Swan-Cross, Ltd.
229 W. Main St.
Alexandria, OH, USA 43001
Email:
Website: http://www.swan-cross.com

About Charles (Chuck) Beck...

Born in February, 1954. Reborn in late July, 1973. Mr. Beck has a Master of Music degree in Music Composition from Bowling Green State University, 1991. While there, he studied with Dr. Donald Wilson, who encouraged him to join the CFAMC. Currently, Mr. Beck is residing near Columbus, OH, where he enjoys an unofficial status as “composer in residence” at Centenary United Methodist Church in Granville, OH.

Mr. Beck is somewhat eclectic as a composer, with works ranging from pop/contemporary praise & worship in style to more classically oriented. He has written children's Vacation Bible School music, choral works, symphonic pieces, and other works that defy classification. His works have been performed both across the United States and internationally.

Statement of Faith

God rescued me from myself when I was 19 years old. Even after that, he has had a lot of cleanup to do in my life, and He does a pretty good job when I'm not getting in the way. He alone knows why He bothers, because it is still pretty much a mystery to me. I think it is His nature as a God who is Love.

Nonetheless, the most important thing in my life for most of life now has been my relationship with Abba. I really don't have the words to adequately describe what that means to me. Yes, I believe that correct doctrine is important, and I am definitely what might be loosely termed an "orthodox fundamentalist", in that I believe that the Bible is inerrant as originally given, and that we can—and must—let it be our sole guide for living and relating with God and others. But that only begins to convey what my relationship with God is really all about.

As a composer among composers here, I view us as I do the flowers of creation. Some are common. Some are exotic and delicate. Some are tiny, almost unnoticeable. Some are huge and splashy and attention-grabbing. Some are colorful. Some are drab. All are beautiful, created by God both for His purposes and His/our enjoyment.

Jeremy Begbie, Honorary member
Ridley Hall
Cambridge, UK CB3 9HG
Email:

Thomas Beverly
One Trinity Place #375
San Antonio, TX, USA 78212
Email:

About Thomas Beverly...

Tom Beverly, born in 1988, is native of Bellville, Texas. He is a junior music composition major at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. Before arriving at Trinity University, Beverly did not have any formal music education, just an old guitar, a few little riffs and tunes, and a lot of lofty ideas. At Trinity, he chose to pursue music composition and has studied with Dr. Timothy Kramer, Dr. David Heuser, Jack W. Stamps, and Brian Nelson. His primary instrument is the organ, and he is currently taking lessons with Dr. David Heller. Beverly studied abroad in fall 2008 in Prague, Czech Republic where he studied composition with the Czech composer Michal Rataj and researched contemporary Czech music. His piece "Melos I" for solo flute was recently selected to be performed at the Society of Composers, Inc. Region VI conference, hosted at Oklahoma City University. At this time he is an active member of the Trinity University Chamber Ensemble (TUCHÉ), which will perform throughout the Trinity and San Antonio community.

Stephen Blake
6610 Allott Ave.
Van Nuys, CA, USA 91401
Email:

Jennifer Bottoni
2040 Allen Blvd #2
Middleton, WI, USA 53562

About Jennifer Bottoni...

Jennifer Bottoni is student at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, FL, who is finishing her master's thesis from Wisconsin.

Allen Brings, Professor emeritus
Queens College (CUNY)
199 Mountain Rd.
Wilton, CT, USA 06897-1526
Email:
Website: http://amc.net/allenbrings

About Allen Brings...

A native of New York City, Allen Brings received a Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude from Queens College and a Master of Arts degree from Columbia University, where he was a Mosenthal Fellow and a student of Otto Luening, and a doctorate in theory and composition from Boston University, where he was a teaching fellow and a student of Gardner Read. In 1962 he was a Naumburg Fellow at Princeton University, where he studied with Roger Sessions. He has twice served as chairman of the eastern region of the American Society of University Composers and is currently vice-president of Connecticut Composers. His published compositions, which include works for orchestra, band, chorus, a wide variety of chamber ensembles, piano, organ, harpsichord, guitar, and voice, have been recorded for Navona Records, Capstone, Centaur, Grenadilla, Contemporary Record Society, North/South Consonance, Arizona University Recordings, and Vienna Modern Ma sters.
A pianist as well as a composer, Brings has performed extensively both here and abroad especially in programs of music for piano, four-hands, with Genevieve Chinn, with whom he has recorded for Orion, CRI, and Centaur. He is also co-author of A New Approach to Keyboard Harmony, published by W. W. Norton, and has contributed articles to College Music Symposium, College Music Society Newsletter, Contemporary Music Newsletter, Society of Composers Newsletter, New Music Connoisseur, New Oxford Review, ComposerUSA, sounding board, and Adoremus Bulletin. He is Professor Emeritus of Music at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College of the City University of New York, where he was co-ordinator of the theory and ear training program, and is a director of the Weston Music Center and School of the Performing Arts in Weston, Connecticut, where he teaches piano and theory.

Statement of Faith

I am a Christian, whether as composer or anything else, by reason of my baptism as a infant and my confirmation as an emerging adult. This status I further affirm as I recite with my fellow Christians the Nicene creed each Sunday and as I began to do when I first learned the Apostles’ Creed as a child. How well I behave as a Christian I will learn when, trembling, I see God face to face and plead for His mercy, knowing that I have not earned union with Him and that I would be presumptuous if I believed I had. Although I have never hidden the fact that I am a Christian—composing From Psalterium Davidicum or a setting of the Ordinary of the Mass in Latin and Greek or signing off every piece with the inscription “Ad maiorem gloriam Dei” is not something likely to be done by one not a Christian—I have also not gone out of my way to broadcast the fact. My reasons are compelling, at least to me: for one thing, I am keenly aware that I am more sinner than saint; for another, I do not believe that I ought to brag about a grace which I received at baptism through no effort of my own. I also believe that proclaiming the “good news” can be more effectively done by demonstrating how the “good life” is lived than by telling Christians and non-Christians alike how it is to be done. Maybe I prefer to identify myself more with the publican than with the Pharisee, although saying this might itself be an affectation. “Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.”

Douglas Brown, Graduate Assistant
Houghton College
P.O. Box 111
Houghton, NY, USA 14744
Email:
Website: http://www.threecandlesmusic.com/html/douglas_brown.html

About Douglas Brown...

Composer, educator, and church musician Douglas Brown (b. 1970) is a 2010 graduate of Wayland Baptist University, receiving a bachelor’s degree with a concentration in Music Theory & Composition. He served three terms as president of the Wayland student chapter of the Society of Composers, Inc. and is proud to have studied for eight semesters under the tutelage of composer Gary D. Belshaw.

Mr. Brown is currently in graduate studies at Houghton College, where he studies under Sun Mi Ro and David Davies in pursuit of a master’s degree in music composition.

He has been married for over ten years to Jennifer Berryman Brown, who has a master’s degree in music from Stephen F. Austin State University and teaches music classes for Wayland Baptist University’s Virtual Campus, plus private voice and piano in their home.

Donald Bryson, Rev.
The Gospel Mailbox
PO Box 2446
Chattanooga, TN, USA 37409
Email:

Website: http://www.gospelmailbox.org

Gabriel Cabanillas
517 CR 212
Marengo, OH, USA 43334
Email:

About Gabriel Cabanillas...

I am soon to have a BM in Music Composition from Ohio Northern University this coming May. I look forward to serving God and his people in what ever way I can. Aside from performing in several academic ensembles, I enjoy leading worship at my campus' services. Besides composing in various styles, I am a pianist, guitarist, drummer, double bassist/electric bassist, singer, song writer, and worship leader. I enjoy serving the Lord with my hands, my mind, my worship, and realization of how much I need Him.

Statement of Faith

I believe in God the Father who created the Heavens and the Earth. He is the ruler above all things [the living and the dead]. Jesus Christ, who is my personal Savior, was sent to the world to fulfill the message of the prophets and teach humans how to love each other [and ultimately serve the Lord]. Jesus’ purpose was to die on the cross as an ultimate sacrifice for the sins of everyone in the entire world. The Holy Spirit is my internal guide to all of my earthly trials and struggles [and much more].
“So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.” ~Romans 8:6
By believing in Jesus Christ, accepting Him as my personal Savior, and following his footsteps on a daily basis, I am able to catch glimpses of Christ and his beauty.
“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” ~ John 14:6
As a Christian, I am called to use my hands to serve my fellow brothers and sisters. Whether they are in need of my time, advice, or a glass of water, I must serve them honestly and wholeheartedly.
“Anyone who wants to be my disciple must follow me, because my servants must be where I am. And the Father will honor anyone who serves me.” ~John 12:26
Whatever I do, I must always rememeber... “He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.” ~John 3:30

David Canfield
3052 Ramble Rd. West
Bloomington, IN, USA 47408
Email:

About David Canfield...

David DeBoor Canfield was born in 1950 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Early music studies were undertaken with his father, John Clair Canfield, a music educator for many years in Florida. Canfield graduated in 1972 from Covenant College as the first composition major of that institution. In 1979, he obtained his MM from Indiana University and his DM from the same institution in 1984. His primary teacher there was John Eaton, but he also studied with Bernhard Heiden and Frederick Fox. Not wishing to pursue teaching composition as his career, Canfield began Ars Antiqua in 1978, a business devoted to selling classical records by mail to customers around the world. This business quickly grew to the largest of its kind in the world, but he retired from active retail sales in 2005, continuing at the present time in record sales only as a wholesaler. He has continued to compose, however, and the approximately 70 works in his official catalog have been performed by a number of orchestras and ensembles in Indiana (including the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra) and abroad (most recently the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra and the US Navy Band). In 2001, a three-day festival of his music was given by faculty and students of the University of Central Oklahoma, and his music has been recorded on the Crystal, Enharmonic and Recherché labels, among others. All of the above, however, Canfield considers “loss” compared to the riches of knowing Christ (Phil. 3:7). His most important work currently for the kingdom of God is serving as an elder at Church of the Good Shepherd, Bloomington, IN, teaching biblical theology and Church history at ClearNote Pastors College (also in Bloomington), and the mentoring he does with young men with sexual addictions. He describes his musical style as “free tonality.”

Daniel Carillo, Professor
City College of New York
P.O. Box 217
Mountainville, NY, USA 10953
Email:

About Daniel Carillo...

Dan Carillo is a guitarist, composer and arranger with extensive international experience. He has contributed as a guitarist and featured soloist to dozens of recordings with Tania Maria, Jon Lucien, Lonnie Liston Smith, the Paul Winter Consort, Chico Hamilton, Dianne Reeves, Dave Brubeck, Letta M’Bulu and Harry Belafonte. His versatility as an arranger can be heard in arrangements for various ensembles, including orchestra, in several recordings by Jon Lucien and Tania Maria. As a studio musician, he has performed on countless radio and television jingles, television soundtracks, and feature film soundtracks. He has appeared on television and radio broadcasts including The Tonight Show, BET Jazziz, and The Nancy Wilson Show, as well as many broadcast specials. He has released three recordings of original music, Crossings of the Spirit and Child’s Play for Iris Records and Homage for Imara Music. He has composed several pieces for a variety of chamber groups including “Passacaglia,” for flute and marimba, “This, then, is how you pray,” for chamber orchestra, soprano and baritone soloists, and “By Faith,” his most recent composition, which is a four-movement piano sonata. He studied composition with Mario Davidowsky. He has been on the faculty at City College since 1986 and serves the Music Department as the Director of Jazz Studies Programs.

Statement of Faith

I am a born again Christian. I accept through faith that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. I believe salvation can only be achieved through the grace of God and that my sins have been forgiven through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. I believe the Holy Spirit completes the Holy Trinity and I rely heavily on his presence in my life and in my heart to guide my path.

Jerry Casey
330 Lambourne Ave.
Worthington, OH, USA 43085-2438
Email:
Website: http://www.jerrycaseymusic.com

David Caudill
662 Jake Eggers Rd.
Vilas, NC, USA 28692
Email:

David Davies, Executive Committee Member
Augustana College
923 23 St.
Rock Island, IL, USA 61201
Email:

About David Davies...

David Horace Davies received a D.M.A. in composition in 2007 from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami (UM), where he studied with Dennis Kam, John Van der Slice and Robert Gower. Prior to his time at UM, he studied composition and conducting with Mark Hijleh and piano with Robert Galloway at Houghton College’s Greatbatch School of Music.

His composition The Wordless Book recently won the International Arts Movement’s 2010 Juried Music Competition and was performed by his wife, Carrie, at that organization’s annual conference in the Great Hall of Cooper Union in New York City.

Davies came to Augustana College in 2007, where he is an assistant professor of music and teaches music theory and composition. He serves as the choir director and organist at Good Shepherd Presbyterian Church (USA) in Rock Island. Previously, Davies was an adjunct professor at Miami Dade College and a graduate teaching assistant at the University of Miami. For several years, Davies has been an active member of the Society of Composers, Inc., and the College Music Society, and he has served on the executive advisory committee of the Christian Fellowship of Art Music Composers. The Davies live in Rock Island and have three (exceptionally) beautiful children and an orange cat named Whitefield.

In the Fall of 2011, David will be joining the music faculty of his alma mater, Houghton College.

Ken Davies
1418 Louis Alexis Trail
Gautier, MS, USA 39553
Email:
Website: http://www.kendavies.net

About Ken Davies...

Following ten years at Disney World as a performing trombonist with Gabriel’s Brass, Ken returned to school to complete two master’s degrees. Finishing his M.A. in Trombone Performance at Middle Tennessee State University, Murfreesboro, TN and an M.M. in Music Composition at the University of Colorado at Boulder, he returned to full-time composition. A commission to provide a choral/organ work for the American Guild of Organists Convention in Denver in 1998 set the stage for his God, The Artist Of Creation. Who Will Separate Us (from the Love of God) and If You Will Serve Him were new additions to his vocal church music repertoire. Ken’s Let All Mortal Flesh, Easter Call to Worship, Wedding Processional, Concert Piece for Brass Quintet and Organ and Quietudes for Organ (recorded in 2006 by organist Christopher Wicks of Oregon) have been widely performed. A three-movement work for solo piano, Sapphire Kaleidoscope, had its premiere performance at the National Conference of the Society of Composers in Greensboro, NC. All music is published by Kenvad Music (ASCAP) with CD’s on the Pattisan label. Soundclips, further details and new releases are available on his website. Ken also performs regularly with the Gulf Coast Brass Quintet and maintains an active studio teaching brass, keyboard and guitar.

Clive Davis
Berkshire School
245 North Undermountain Road
Sheffield, MA, USA 01257
Website: http://www.geocities.com/clivedavis1

About Clive Davis...

Clive Davis received his Bachelor of Music degree from Peabody Conservatory in 1989 and his Doctorate of Musical Arts from Boston University in 1994. His compositions have been performed by the Boston University Symphony Orchestra, the Berkshire Children’s Chorus, Convergence, the Arcadian Winds, and the Peabody Opera Institute, to name a few. He has received a number of awards and commissions for his compositions, including two ASCAP prizes. He is currently Adjunct Professor of Electronic Music at Simon’s Rock College and the Director of Music at Berkshire School.

Robert Denham
Biola University
7727 Friends Ave.
Whittier, CA, USA 90602
Email:

About Robert Denham...

A native of the San Francisco Bay Area, Robert Denham holds a DMA in composition from the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music (CCM) where he studied with Michael Fiday, Joel Hoffman, and Ricardo Zohn-Muldoon. His other degrees are from UCLA (MA Composition) where he studied with Roger Bourland, Ian Krouse, and the late Jerry Goldsmith, and Biola University (BM, Trumpet Performance). Dr. Denham managed the annual new music festival MusicX for four years, and currently teaches Theory and Composition at Biola University in La Mirada California. Denham’s music includes works of every genre and has been performed across the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia. He has won numerous competitions, including the Hvar International Composition Competition (Croatia), the CCM Philharmonia Composition Competition, the Gluck Brass Quintet Composition Competition, and was the 1998 recipient of the coveted Stanley Wilson Composer’s Award (UCLA). He has received annual awards from ASCAP since 2005. A member of ASCAP, CFAMC, and SCI, Denham's music is published by Falls House Press, GIA Publishing, Imagine Music Publishing, Pelican Music Publishing, and Tuba Euphonium Press.

David DeVasto, Ph.D.
Elmhurst College, USA
Email:
Website: http://www.devasto.net

Frank Felice, Ph.D, Vice President
Butler University
4205 Manning Rd.
Indianapolis, IN, USA 46228
Email:

About Frank Felice...

I am an eclectic composer who writes with a postmodern mischievousness: pieces can be comedic/ironic, simple/complex, or humble/reverent. My recent projects have taken a turn toward turn towards the sweeter side, exploring a consonant adiatonicism.

Statement of Faith

Much of what I've previously written as a spiritual statement still holds: I know that I love Jesus, and that the less I make of myself, the more the Holy Spirit is able to mold me into something God can use for his glory. As a composer I do not write a lot of strictly sacred music, but everything I write comes from a deep seated knowledge, conviction and acceptance that I have been bought, and this life of mine is no longer my own: it is Christ's.
Having said that however, I find that much of my recent music is Biblical in topic, or based in my own working-out-of-faith issues, both good and bad. I guess that I'm becoming more comfortable writing sacred music, which is perhaps a more honest reflection of the first sentence of this paragraph than when I originally wrote it! It's good to be working with the knowledge of Christ's hand as creator and the gifts of the spirit in everything, informed by my relationship with the triune God through Christ, consciously and unconsciously.
Even if I wished to do otherwise (and I do NOT!), I don't think I could write anything without Him being a part of the whole creative process. J.R.R. Tolkien describes these creative roles under God as Sub-Creation – I believe that to be an apt label. Hopefully all that I do will honor Christ, and then I might be found to be worthy of being called Sub-creator.

Grant Fonda
2501 62nd Ave. E.
Apartment 28-202
Fife, WA, USA 98424
Email:
Website: http://www.gfonda.com

About Grant Fonda...

Grant Fonda (b. 1985) attended the Master’s College in Santa Clarita, CA where he studied Music Composition with an emphasis in Film Scoring and Percussion. He has studied with Dr. Richard Pressley, Dr. Stephen Johnson, Mr. Jon Murray, and Dr. Kenneth Mays. Grant is an accomplished percussionist and published composer. He has had works commissioned and premiered by churches in three states, at the collegiate level, and has received honorable mention in National competitions. His “Of Shepherds, Angels and the Advent of a Miracle” won honorable mention at a local composition review in 2006, and following its success, “Out of Darkness, Light” was commissioned by the Master’s College and given nine [9] consecutive performances by the Choirs and Orchestra in their annual Come ChristmasSing concerts in 2007. He presently accompanies, writes and directs for various performers and ensembles, and is beginning graduate study in the Fall of 2010 at the University of Missouri. Grant is joyfully married to Carley, and presently lives in Fife, Washington.

David Fuentes, Professor of Composition and Theory
Calvin College
1321 Hope St. S.E.
Grand Rapids, MI, USA 49506
Email:
Website: http://www.calvin.edu/academic/music/faculty/dfuentes.stm

About David Fuentes...

David Fuentes is Professor of Composition and Theory at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan where he composes music for worship, television, the concert stage, theater, and dance. He is the author of Figuring Out Melody, a comprehensive, multimedia, user-friendly book that presents a way of thinking about melodic figures and metric placement that is helpful in inventing and processing musical ideas. The book is available as a .PDF file from his website.

Ricky Gessler, Composition Student
Nyack School of Music
170 S. Highland Ave., Box 12
Nyack, NY, USA 10960
Email:

About Ricky Gessler...

I am currently studying music in the classical tradition. My goal is to compliment and expand my writing abilities in the contemporary rock genre.

Warren Gooch, Secretary
Univ. of MO-Kirksville
3009 E. Illinois St.
Kirksville, MO, USA 63501

About Warren Gooch...

Warren Gooch began composing as soon as he was old enough to sit on a bench and reach the keys on his family’s piano. He earned a Bachelors Degree in Music Education from the College of St. Scholastica in 1975, a Masters Degree from the University of Minnesota-Duluth in 1982 and completed his doctorate in composition at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1988. Gooch’s music has been performed widely throughout North America and around the world. He is recipient of over thirty composition awards and paid commissions, and has approximately thirty published works to date. His music has received recognition from the National Federation of Music Clubs, American Choral Directors Association, International Trumpet Guild, Percussive Arts Society, Minnesota Orchestra, World Saxophone Congress and a number of other cultural organizations. Clockwork for orchestra has been professionally recorded by the Slovak Radio Orchestra. Currently, Gooch is Chair of the Theory-Composition area and co-directs the music graduate program at Truman State University (Missouri, USA). He resides in Missouri with his wife Colleen, son Jonathan, and a houseful of unusual cold-blooded pets.

John Goss
117 Louisiana Avenue
West Monroe, LA, USA 71291

About John Goss...

John W. Goss was born in Minden Louisiana in 1949. He received both his B. M. (1972) and M. M. (1975) in Theory/Composition from Northeast Louisiana University (now University of Louisiana at Monroe). His master’s thesis was Three Messianic Psalms for chorus and chamber orchestra. In 2005, he completed the D. M. A. in Flute: Performance and Pedagogy at the University of Southern Mississippi. Dr. Goss has taught public school instrumental music for 27 years and now serves his district as a woodwind specialist. He has also taught at several colleges. As a performer he has been heard throughout the Ark-La-Miss region, and is currently principal flutist with the South Arkansas Symphony and principal oboist with the Monroe Symphony Orchestra. After a long hiatus, Dr. Goss returned to composition several years ago, and has produced a number of works for solo instrument and piano, orchestra, chamber groups, and band. His music has been performed by bands, orchestras, choruses and individuals throughout the south. Recent projects awaiting performance are “Folkish Rondo” for string orchestra, an arrangement of “In the Hall of the Mountain King” for young band, ”The Crimson Strand” for concert band, and “Salome Dances” for symphonic winds. While he does not feel every title must be overtly “Christian,” he is convinced that all work should seek to glorify God.

Dwight Gustafson
Bob Jones University - retired
111 Stadium View Drive
Greenville, SC, USA 29609

N. Lincoln Hanks
Pepperdine University
24556 Via De Casa
Malibu, CA, USA 90265
Email:
Website: http://seaver.pepperdine.edu/academics/faculty/default.htm?faculty=lincoln_hanks

AJ Harbison
121B Lisa Lane
Costa Mesa, CA, USA 92627
Email:
Website: http://www.ajharbison.com
http://www.thelisteningblog.com

About AJ Harbison...

AJ Harbison is a singer/songwriter and composer living with his lovely wife in Costa Mesa, California. He graduated in May 2007 from California State University, Fullerton, with a Bachelor of Music degree in Composition. In December 2009, he became a published composer when Kallisti Music Press in Philadelphia published his art song New Hope. Among his most recent concert works are New Hope (2008), for bass/baritone voice and piano; Wedding Suite (2009), for piano, composed for his own wedding ceremony; Light of the World (2009), a Christmas carol for choir and viola, written for the American Composers Forum's annual Welcome Christmas Carol Contest; and Casa de los Peregrinos (2010), his first professional commission. In December 2010 he released a CD of his original pop music entitled Songs From My Shelf, which he wrote, recorded and produced himself. AJ plans to attend graduate school for composition beginning in the fall of 2012.

Phillip Hayner
Piedmont College

Brandon Hendrix
The University of Texas at Austin
1 University Station E3100
Austin, TX, USA 78712-0435
Email:
Website: http://www.brandonhendrix.com

About Brandon Hendrix...

The music of American-born composer Brandon Hendrix includes works for orchestra, band, voice, and various chamber ensembles. He holds a Doctor of Music degree in Composition from The University of Texas at Austin where he studied with Donald Grantham and Yevgeniy Sharlat. He also holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance from Southeastern Oklahoma State University and a Master of Music degree in Composition from The University of Oklahoma, where his composition teachers included Christian Asplund, Jason Bahr, and Kenneth Fuchs. His music has been performed by notable performers and resident ensembles throughout the United States, including the Queens College Brass Ensemble, the Stone Fort Wind Quintet, Quintet Attacca, Central Brass Quintet, and The University of Oklahoma Symphony Orchestra. His music has also been featured at many prominent conferences and festivals of new music. In 2007, he was awarded a grant from the John Anson Kittredge Educational Fund in support of his nationwide travels. He is a member of the American Music Center; the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers; the Christian Fellowship of Art Music Composers; the College Music Society; the Society of Composers, Inc.; and the Society for Music Theory. His music is published by HoneyRock Publications, Imagine Music Publishing, and Peloria Press.

Ronald Hess
8172 Silo Rd.
Severn, MD, USA 21144
Email:

About Ronald Hess...

After receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Quantitative Business Analysis from Penn State, Ron began a full-time, 20-year career working to improve the operation of the United States Government. Outside of work, Ron pursued a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music Composition from the University of Maryland Baltimore County and a Master of Music Degree in Music Composition from the University of Maryland at College Park. Ron's primary composition and theory teachers include Mark Wilson, Thomas DeLio, and Stuart Saunders Smith. Ron and his wife, Becky, have four children (ages new born through nine). Family is all important! Ron and his family live in Severn, MD.

Mark Hijleh, President Emeritus
School of Music, Houghton College
9837 Meadow Lane
Houghton, NY, USA 14744
Email:
Website: http://www.markhijleh.com

About Mark Hijleh...

Mark Hijleh holds degrees in composition, conducting and world music from the Peabody Conservatory, the University of Sheffield (UK), Ithaca College and William Jewell College. His composition teachers included such noted artists as Karel Husa, Morris Moshe Cotel, Barney Childs, James Mobberly, and Thomas Benjamin. Dr. Hijleh has received composition awards from NATS, Kappa Gamma Psi, T.U.B.A., Loyola College of Maryland, and ASCAP. His works have been performed professionally by the Rochester and Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestras, at Washington's Kennedy Center, ResMusicAmerica in Baltimore, and Oxford University, and by major ensembles of colleges and conservatories across the US. Hijleh is author of The Music of Jesus: From Composition to Koinonia, and the forthcoming Towards a Global Music Theory: Practical Concepts and Methods for the Analysis of Music Across Cultures.
Mark Hijleh lives with his wife, soprano Kelley Hijleh, daughter Hannah, and son Noah in Houghton, New York, where he serves as Professor of Music and Associate Dean for Academic Administration at Houghton College.

Statement of Faith

Jesus Christ is Lord of the universe and of my life. He is the radiance of God's glory and the perfect representation of His being. God the Father, Son and Spirit is the deepest Lover of our souls. Jesus is the most creative person who has ever lived, and teaches us that all artistic acts should be acts of love.

Sondra Hijleh
203 Johnston Pkwy.
Raymore, MO, USA 64083

Barb Holm
5101 44th Ave. S.
Minneapolis, MN, USA 55417
Email:

Website: http://www.HolmLegacyPublishing.com

About Barb Holm...

Barbara Anne Koenen Holm has received a BA in mathematics from the University of Minnesota in 1975, and a MM in flute performance from The Boston Conservatory in 1990.

She became interested in composition later in life, beginning studies with Larry Bell while in Boston. Upon moving back to Minneapolis, she studied with Chris Granias, and she is currently studying with Carol Barnett. Her compositions and arrangements are self-published by Holm Legacy Publishing. They are available on-line (www.HolmLegacyPublishing.com), at Flute World, and a few stores in Minneapolis and Chicago.

She continues to be an active participant in a wide variety of musical groups, having served as associate principal flute of the Metropolitan Wind Symphony of Boston, second flute of the St. Paul Civic Symphony, flutist in The Legacy Ensemble and many other chamber groups. She has also sung in many church choirs, most notably the chamber choir at Cherry Creek Presbyterian Church in Denver, Colorado.

Her philosophy of music is that a composition should offer a meaningful experience to both the performer and listener.

Statement of Faith

I believe that through Jesus Christ we can be born from above, and participate in God's purpose. It is my desire to serve God with all that I do.

Stephen Hoyle
15007 Bridgeport Dr.
Dumfries, VA, USA 22025-1088

Amanda Husberg, Director of Music
St. John the Evangelist Lutheran Church
230 Powers Street
Brooklyn, NY, USA 11211
Email:

About Amanda Husberg...

Director of Music at St. John’s Church for 47 years. Organ and Education major at Concordia Teachers College, Seward, Neb. Have been writing hymn tunes since 1993, will have approximately 190 tunes published by summer of 2012, in hymnals in Canada, China, Brazil, and the U.S. Have several choral pieces published as well as a 35-minute Resurrection Requiem (text by Richard Leach) which will be published by CPH in 2012. We use my liturgical setting of the mass at my Brooklyn church. I am a member of the Hymn Society of the US and Canada, and the American Composers Forum.

Statement of Faith

I’m a member of a Missouri Synod Lutheran Church; however, I am more open to sharing ideas and worship than some of the more conservative congregations in our Synod.

Warner Hutchison
NM State Univ.-Las Cruces (retired)
5415 Royal Drive
Albuquerque, NM, USA 87111
Email:
Website: http://lib.nmsu.edu/subject/music/musiwahu.html

About Warner Hutchison...

Warner Hutchison (PhD) has a catalogue of some 160 works including those with a dozen publishers spanning orchestral, band, choral, stage, chamber music and electro-acoustic genres. Commissions have led to premieres at Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall, prizes, and 38 ASCAP awards. His works have been performed beyond the U.S. in Canada, China, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands and Russia. As a hornist, he played in orchestras in Dallas; Denton and San Angelo, TX; Denver; Knoxville; Rochester, NY;; and Las Cruces, NM and was director of bands and brass at Houghton College, NY; Union University, Jackson, TN; and is emeritus professor of horn, music history and theory from New Mexico State University and lives in Albuquerque, NM.

Jeremy Irish
11 Albert Hill
Bishop Auckland, County Durham, England DL14 6EH
Email:
Website: http://jeremyirish.com

Austin Jaquith
100 E. Miller Dr. #70
Bloomington, IN, USA 47401
Email:

Lynn Job
U of N. TX
516 W. Oak St., #22
Denton, TX, USA 76201-9070
Website: http://www.music-usa.org/nacusa
http://www.buckthornstudios.com

About Lynn Job...

American female composer Lynn Job (pronounced with a long "o"), DMA, was born in 1959 on the great plains of South Dakota and owns Buckthorn Music Press (ASCAP/MPA), based in the North Texas metroplex. Most of her works are professional level, and programmatic or allegorical regarding Judeo-Christian subjects. She has been disciplining with the Lord since 8 years of age and hopes to arrive (invited!) at the wedding feast of the Lamb of God a bit more mature in the spirit than she first started out on that blessed journey. Her most exciting adventure was scroll hunting in Cave 37, Qumran, Israel (1989) with the first academic team to go back into the region since 1952. Over 85 music titles are found on the free NACUSA searchable database at http://www.music-usa.org/nacusa, and, at the American Music Center "Explore American Music" site (with MP3s). Find music samples, publisher news, e-store, audience notes and more first at Buckthorn Studios $#0150; http://www.buckthornstudios.com.

Bonnie Johansen-Werner
506 N. William St.
Joliet, IL, USA 60435
Website: http://www.johansenwernermusic.com

About Bonnie Johansen-Werner...

Bonnie Johansen-Werner is a freelance composer, performer, and teacher in Joliet, Illinois where she teaches in her private studio, at the University of St. Francis, and Joliet Junior College. She is composer-in-residence at Grace United Methodist Church in Naperville and principal organist at St. Luke Presbyterian Church in Downers Grove, Illinois. Ms. Johansen-Werner publishes with The United Methodist Publishing House, Alliance Publications, Augsburg Fortress, and Darcey Press. Bonnie’s compositions are primarily for choirs, vocal solo, and organ. Her most recent premier was "Tree of Anguish - Tree of Hope," cantata on the Seven Last Words of Christ. The work is reflective of the universality of Christ’s message, encompassing blues, choruses and chorales, Taize, Anglican chant, Impressionism and twelve-tone. Composed for choir and woodwind trio, string quartet, organ and African percussion, "Tree of Anguish-Tree of Hope" is a unique juxtaposition of Christ’s seven last words with music and poetry as response, including poetry by African AIDS orphan Purity Karimi and passages from the Lost Boys of the Sudan. The work also includes organ solos on each of the seven words. Ms. Johansen-Werner holds a B.M.U. in Music from Augustana College (Rock Island), an M.C.M. from Concordia University (River Forest), has served as full-time organist/choral director at First United Methodist Church in Moline, Illinois, and served as the McCosh Assistant Professor of Music at Upper Iowa University for 13 years. She has completed graduate theological studies at Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary, Methesco, and the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary. Bonnie is married to Duane Werner, is the parent of two adult children, and grandparent of Victoria, Matthew and William. Ms. Johansen-Werner’s music has been performed across the United States and in Eastern Europe.

Alyssa Kassler
Email:

About Alyssa Kassler...

Alyssa Kassler was born and raised in the Catskill Mountains of New York. She wrote her first serious composition at the age of 12, a programmatic piece about the Battle of Gettysburg. Since then, she has written numerous works for various ensembles and especially enjoys writing pieces for her friends. She recently won the Songs of Faith Fellowship, and is completing a commission for an orchestra piece to be premiered in the spring. Recent career highlights include – composing “Boots” for the Cleveland Orchestra Trio (featuring french horn Principal Richard King), “Arundinaria,” written for and premiered by Trudy Kane, former Principal flutist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and “R.M.S,” a string quartet written for players from the Cleveland Orchestra. Alyssa is currently studying Music Theory & Composition and Music Education at the University of Miami.

Timothy Kiefer, M.M. Student
Butler University
7408 Meridian Hills Ct.
Apt. C
Indianapolis, IN, USA 46260
Email:
Website: http://www.wix.com/kieftp12/site1

Brandon Kreuze
Department of Music, Covenant College
14049 Scenic Highway
Lookout Mountain, GA, USA 30750
Website: http://www.myspace.com/brandonrkreuze

Timothy Kucij
2711 Westfield Place
Claremont, CA, USA 91711
Email:
Website: http://www.timkucij.com

About Timothy Kucij...

Tim M. Kucij is an engineer, minister and musician. He earned his BA in Music (specializing in piano and composition) from the California State Polytechnic University (Cal Poly) at Pomona in 1978. In addition, Tim studied through the Sherwood Music Conservatory of Chicago and under numerous distinguished organ, piano, conducting and composition teachers and artists in Los Angeles and Minneapolis. He also holds a MA degree in Biblical Studies. Tim has over 30 years experience in quality systems engineering and management. He is also active in the preaching, teaching and music ministries at his local church. Tim is a nationally recognized composer and pianist having composed scores of piano solos in various styles. He has concertized extensively and has released two CDs (A Place Somewhere and LifeSongs) of his music to date. His music (score books and recordings) is housed in many of the nation's libraries. Tim holds membership in The American Society for Quality, The American Composer's Forum, Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), Founders Ministries and The Creation Research Society. In 1989 he was named Distinguished Alumnus by Cal Poly Pomona. He is listed in Who's Who in America and Who's Who in the World.

Anthony LaMort

Michael Landers
14908 NE 28th St.
Vancouver, WA, USA 98682
Email:

Frank LaRocca
Cal State Hayward
3136 Birdsall Ave.
Oakland, CA, USA 94619
Email:
Website: http://www.franklarocca.com

About Frank LaRocca...

FRANK LA ROCCA (b. 1951, Newark, New Jersey) earned his B.A. in Music from Yale University, and the M.A. and Ph.D in composition from the University of California at Berkeley. Mr. LaRocca has been a leading figure in the San Francisco Bay Area new music scene as a founding member and Artistic Director of COMPOSERS, INC. as well as in his work as a composer and teacher. Since my 1998 choral work "Exaudi," all my music has been settings of sacred texts or has been focussed on the contemplation of God's grace and mercy. Like most composers, I have often thought about the significance (if any) of my work. Though all too often this question is still framed in terms of my own status as a composer in the world at large, I pray that I can more consistently keep the focus on Him from whom all creation and creativity flows.

Tony K. T. Leung
Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada
Website: http://www.composer.net
http://www.facebook.com/composer.net

James MacMillan, Honorary member
28 South Brae Dr., Jordan Hill
Glasgow, Scotland, UK G1311PZ

Deeann Mathews
1432 Hayes St.
San Francisco, CA, USA 94117-1426
Email:
Website: http://www.squidoo.com/himbook
http://www.soundclick.com/praisingpilgrimsmusic

About Deeann Mathews...

Deeann D. Mathews is an African American composer, arranger and pianist living in San Francisco, California. She is very active in arranging Spirituals for a variety of uses, and also in composing hymns, larger choral pieces, art songs, and gospel songs, many of which have been premiered at El Bethel Baptist Church of San Francisco, where Ms. Mathews worships and serves as assistant choir director. Ms. Mathews, 28, also is creative director of Praising Pilgrims Music, a music publishing company, and has enjoyed success in getting one of her Christmas carols on ERMMedia’s “Holidays of the New Era,” which sold out 20 days after its November 2006 release. In 2007 she was honored at The Ascending Voice, a symposium hosted at Pepperdine University with a focus on a cappella choral and communal music, for her hymn “God’s Excellence.” Ms. Mathews most recently lent her skills as pianist and arranger to “Praising My Lord In Song,” an excellent legacy album of hymns, gospel and Black Spirituals by two prominent singers in El Bethel Baptist Church. She also directed the CCSF Gospel Ensemble at Juneteenth festivities at City College of San Francisco. Ms. Mathews’ projects for 2009 include broadening work on helping local musicians with music business issues, particularly in the area of copyright.

Robert McConnell

Lansing McLoskey
14532 SW 142nd Court Cir S.
Miami, FL, USA 33186-7262
Email:
Website: http://www.lansingmcloskey.com

About Lansing McLoskey...

Described as "A major talent...and a deep thinker with a great ear" by the American Composers Orchestra and "an engaging, gifted composer writing smart, compelling and fascinating music with a bluesy edge and infectious punch" by Gramophone Magazine, Lansing McLoskey came to the world of composition via a somewhat unorthodox route. The proverbial "Three B's" for him were not Bach, Beethoven and Brahms, but rather The Beatles, Bauhaus and Black Flag. His first experiences in composition were not exercises in counterpoint, but rather as the guitarist and songwriter for punk rock bands in the San Francisco Bay Area in the early 1980's. It was actually through these years in the visceral world of punk that he first developed a love for classical music (but that's another story). A winding path through high-tech, serving a mission in Denmark, and owning a skateboard company eventually culminated in a Ph.D. from Harvard. Go figure. McLoskey's music has been performed across the U.S. and in twelve other countries on six continents, and has received nearly two dozen national and international awards. He has received numerous commissions, including from Meet The Composer, the Fromm Foundation, the N.E.A., the Pew Charitable Trust, King's Chapel (Boston), the Barlow Endowment, Mormon Artists Group, ASCAP, and many others, and has written for such renowned ensembles as The Hilliard Ensemble, Speculum Musicæ, New Millennium Ensemble, and Dinosaur Annex. He served on the Board of Advisors for the Barlow Endowment from 2004-2009, and is the Co-President of Composers in Red Sneakers, Inc. Faculty at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, his music is released on Albany, Wergo Schallplatten, Capstone, Tantara, and Beauport Classics.

Krisztina Megyeri
1034 Szomolnok utca 3b
Fszt. 1 c/o Hoisen Evin
Budapest, Hungary
Email:
Website: http://www.stgellertfestival.com/bio/KristinaMegyeri.html

About Krisztina Megyeri...

Krisztina Megyeri was born in 1974 in Budapest from Hungarian and Russian parents. She studied piano and composition at Béla Bartók Conservatory, instrumental and electroacoustic composition at Franz Liszt Music Academy under János Vajda and Zoltán Jeney, where she obtained a Master's degree in Composition (2004). She is preparing there a DLA (PhD equivalent) in Composition. She has received several prizes and scholarships, including the Djerassi Artist Program (2011) in the USA. Her music have been commissioned and performed by ensembles such as as the Théâtre du Châtelet, Centre Acanthes, Fondation Royaumont, Orchestre National de Lorraine, Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Hungarian Radio Choir, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Ensemble SIC, Componensemble, Ensemble Musiques Nouvelles, Ensemble Intermoduláció, Trio Clarino, Peter Eötvös. Her music has been recorded by the Hungarian Radio, the Finnish Radio and Radio France and also the label HUNGAROTON. Since 2009 she has been a lecturer of University of Pécs in Analysis and Harmony. Her activities include instrumental and electroacoustic composition, and collaboration with other fields of art.

Timothy Miller
TLM Music Publishing
52 Meadow Lake Drive
Mahwah, NJ, USA   07430
Email:

Website: http://www.timothymillermusic.com
              http://www.new.facebook.com/TimothyMillerMusic

About Timothy Miller...

Raised in Knoxville, Tennessee, Timothy Lee Miller earned a Bachelor of Science degree in instrumental music education from the University of Tennessee, where he studied composition with John Anthony Lennon. After a period of teaching high school band, he earned a Master of Music degree from the University of Miami where he studied media writing and production, a program focused on composition for the film and television industry. He wrote scores for several films while in Miami, and later after moving to Los Angeles. In 2009 he was selected to write a new score the 1904 Thomas Edison classic silent film “The Maniac Chase” for ERMMedia.

Miller’s music is said to be programmatic in nature, perhaps due to his background in film music. However, he prefers to think of it as “descriptive,” meaning that his music describes scenes or events in sound. He cites his main influences to be Prokofiev, Mahler, Resphigi, Copland and Stravinsky. He has a great interest in history and things of old and strives to depict events from history. His passion for creating new, fun and energetic concert music has led him to write such pieces as Kid's Play: A Fun Suite for Orchestra, Appalachian Summer: An Ode to Tsiyahi for orchestra and Triptych of the American Frontier for woodwind quintet. He has received several commissions, including those for The Birds and the Bees from the ReVOLution Woodwind Quintet and Concerto for Bassoon and Piano for a student senior recital. His Kid's Play: A Fun Suite for Orchestra was awarded a Distinguished Musician Special Mention at the 2009 IBLA Grand Prize Competition in Ragusa, Italy. Recently he completed settings of the poems of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Walt Whitman in The Day Is Done and Tears. The Composer’s Choir of Connecticut recorded these works in March 2011. ERMMedia has recorded two of Miller’s orchestral works. Kid’s Play: A Fun Suite for Orchestra was recorded by the Millennium Symphony Orchestra and released in September 2008 on the Made in the Americas CD volume one. Alone: Suite from the Original Film Score, recorded by the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra on the Masterworks of the New Era series.

Statement of Faith

Raised in a Christian home by a father who is a Baptist minister, I was never far from the Gospel. I was saved at the age of six years old at an old fashioned Southern tent revival.

Jan Mittelstaedt
4485 NW 187th Ave.
Portland, OR, USA 97229
Email:
Website: http://www.sintsink.com

Allen Molineux
Claflin University
543 Willing Lakes Court
Orangeburg, SC, USA 29118
Email:

Deborah Monroe
U of N. TX
2231 Timberwood
Carrollton, TX, USA 75006
Email:
Website: http://www.deborahjmonroe.com

About Deborah Monroe...

Deborah Monroe is a composer and church musician living in Dallas, Tx. She began her studies under Howard Whitaker at Wheaton College’s Conservatory of Music and later received her Master of Music in Composition from the University of North Texas where she studied with Cindy McTee, as well as Butch Rovan and Jon Nelson in the Center for Experimental Music and Intermedia (CEMI). She has received recognition and had works performed throughout the United States and in Europe by various organizations including the International Alliance for Women in Music, the North American Saxophone Alliance, the International Computer Music Association and the 60x60 project. Recently, Ms Monroe has focused on works for her own church choir and works for saxophone. Where Morning Dawns and Evening Fades for alto saxophone and CD was commissioned by Stacy Maugans in 2005 and later taken to the 14th World Saxophone Congress in 2006. The Breath of Life for alto saxophone and viola was commissioned by Ms. Maugans for the15th World Saxophone Congress.

Brian Nelson
1516 Eddingham Dr.
Lawrence, KS, USA 66046
Email:
Website: http://www.nelsonmusic.com
http://www.cdbaby.com/artist/BrianJNelson

About Brian Nelson...

American composer Brian J. Nelson was born in Madison, Wisconsin, and received his Bachelor of Composition degree from the University of Michigan in 1990. There he studied with William Bolcom, William Albright, and Nick Thorne. He completed a master’s degree in composition at the University of Wisconsin in May, 2000.
A committed Catholic, Brian is a prolific composer of sacred music as well as chamber and orchestral works. His growing catalogue of works includes his Elegiac Folk Song for French Horn and Piano—commissioned by hornist Alice Codiek (premiered by Ms. Codiek and Ellen Bottorff, piano); Ballade for Violin and Piano; Capriccio for Flute, Oboe and Piano; Responsorial Psalms for Advent and Christmas, a collection of responsories based on the Catholic lectionary, and more.
To date, Brian Nelson’s music is represented on two CDs: Responsorial Psalms for Advent and Christmas (http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/BrianJNelson, November, 2009), featuring a sampling from the collection just mentioned; and Vocalise – Instrumental & Vocal Music of Brian J. Nelson (http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/BrianJNelson1, 2010), which features a complete representation of Brian’s output from instrumental to chamber to choral to sacred music. Brian’s music is characterized by a strong melodic sense and an original tonality—his work is deeply engaging, and in each piece he clearly demonstrates his mastery of form, structure and powerful expression. He continues to compose both commissioned and non-commissioned works across a wide variety of genres and forms.

Greg Nelson, Honorary member

Shawn Okpebholo, DMA, Assistant Professor
Wheaton College Conservatory of Music
501 College Ave
Wheaton, IL, USA 60187
Email:

Website: http://www.shawnokpebholo.com

About Shawn Okpebholo...

The music of Shawn E. Okpebholo has been performed all across the United States of America, and in Canada, Africa, Europe, and Asia. Distinguished venues and festivals include: The Kennedy Center and the National Cathedral (Washington, D.C.), Monte Music Festival (Goa, India); CBDNA National Conference (Seattle, WA), MusicX Contemporary Music Festival (Cincinnati, OH); PRIZM Ensemble Concert Series (Memphis, TN); and the state music festivals of Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and Texas. As a frequently invited guest lecturer and composer, Dr. Okpebholo has appeared at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro New Music Festival, the University of Benin (Benin City, Nigeria), Biola University Conservatory of Music (Los Angeles, CA), Boise State University (Boise, ID), among others.

Dr. Okpebholo has received numerous commissions from noted soloists, universities, and organizations, including: the International Tuba and Euphonium Association, the United States Air Force Band of Mid America, the Ohio Music Education Association and the Jackson Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Okpebholo received his B.A. in composition and music history from Asbury College and his M.M. and D.M.A. in composition and theory from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music—with additional study in film scoring at New York University. His primary teachers were James Curnow, Joel Hoffman, Ronald Holz, and Michael Fiday. He was a recipient of the Union University Pew Research Grant and a select participant at the National Bandmaster's Association Young Composers Mentor Project. Awards include: first prizes in the Accent06 International Composition Competition, KMEA All-Collegiate Composition Contest, and Peniston Honors in Composition and has been an annual recipient of the ASCAPlus awards since 2004. He was also one of eighteen featured composers in Volume IV of the book series, Composers on Composing for Band, edited by Mark Camphouse.

In 2010, Dr. Okpebholo joined the faculty of Wheaton College Conservatory of Music as Assistant Professor of Theory and Composition. He previously taught at Union University, Northern Kentucky University, and the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music. He currently lives in Wheaton, IL, with his beautiful wife Dorthy (violist) and beautiful daughter Eva.

Jonathan Orwig
Email:

Jason Palamara
5435 Haverford Rd.
Indianapolis, IN, USA 46220
Email:
Website: http://www.jasonpalamara.com

About Jason Palamara...

Jason Palamara was born and raised in rural Howell, NJ; razed in Chicago, IL; and born again in Indianapolis, IN. From early on he was called to compose and perform on the violin and guitar. He has been a student and friend of Michael Schelle and Frank Felice. Currently he is finishing his B.S. at Butler University and plans to move on to his M.S. in the near future. His compositions have been performed by Jordan College of Fine Arts Composer's Orchestra, the Belzer Middle School Orchestra, and the Indianapolis Musician's Widows Ladies Auxiliary Marching Band and Turnover Service. Recently, Jason came to Christ through the ministry of Bill Hybels at Willow Creek and through John Koppitch at Fairview Presbyterian but mostly through the Divine Hand of God Himself. Jason's chief musical influences are Guillaume de Machaut and Elvis Costello. His interests are varied but mainly revolve around Music, Music History, History, Astrophysics, Politics, Religion, and comic books. He endorses and uses Finale and Digidesign software almost exclusively. Jason lives in Broadripple Village, Indianapolis with his wife, Lorbi and their beagle, Spunky.

Greg Pascuzzi
1225 River Bay Rd.
Annapolis, MD, USA 21401
Email:

Ernesto Pellegrini
603 N. Alden Rd.
Muncie, IN, USA 47304

Patrick Peringer
63 Foxgate Circle West
Bowling Green, OH, USA 43402
Email:

About Patrick Peringer...

I am in the first year of a DMA at U of North Texas. My degree is in composition with an emphasis in computer music.

Daniel Pinkston
Simpson College
2211 College View Drive
Redding, CA, USA 96003

Richard Pressley
6829 Ranchitos Drive
Acton, CA, USA 93510
Email:
Website: http://www.rpressley.com

About Richard Pressley...

Richard Pressley attended the University of Indianapolis and then Butler University for his Bachelor's degree, St. John's College, Cambridge, for the Cambridge B. A., and the University of Minnesota for his Ph. D. He has also attended the Karlsruhe Musikhochschule (Germany) and the 2002 Darmstadt Summer Course for New Music. His composition teachers include Wolfgang Rihm, Sandeep Bhagwati, Judith Zaimont, Dominick Argento, Alex Lubet, Daniel Chua, and Michael Schelle. His theory and music teachers include Michael Cherlin, David Damschroder, Alexander Goehr, Robin Holloway, Hugh Wood, and Kathryn Bailey. He has also had private sessions and master classes with many of today's leading composers. He has written numerous works for a variety of ensembles ranging from solo performer to large orchestra, a significant number of which have either been requested new works or contest-winning pieces. In addition to performances of his works in the U.S. and Europe, he has had works selected and performed in the Columbia (University) Music Scholarship Conference, the Minnesota Orchestra Perfect Pitch Readings, and the University of Minnesota Orchestra Call for Scores, as well as a number of works selected in competition for the Ted Mann Readings or Orchestra Readings at the University of Minnesota. He has also had requested new works performed by the Health Sciences Orchestra and the Chamber Orchestra of Cambridge (England). He currently teaches Music Theory and Composition at The Master's College in Santa Clarita, California, where he lives with his wife, Johanna.

Denise Rippentrop
Beautiful Star Publishing
8270 North Hayden Road #2047
Scottsdale, AZ, USA 85258
Email:
Website: http://www.beautifulstar.com

Donald Sanborn III, Composer/Lyricist/Arranger/Trumpeter
Email:
Website: http://www.myspace.com/donaldhsanborniii

About Donald Sanborn III...

Donald H. Sanborn III is at work on a musical and a Christmas piece. Recent premieres include an Easter duet for trumpet and organ, “Peter’s Salvation;” a brass quintet, “Fanfare for Caitlin’s Castle” (inspired by the composer’s goddaughter, the piece also exists as a duet for trumpet and organ); and an SAB anthem, “Of the Holy Trinity.” His solo organ and choral works have been performed by members of the American Guild of Organists in worship and concert settings. Mr. Sanborn’s favorite of his compositions is “Jubilate Fanfare,” a duet for trumpet and organ. Written with his wife, Jennifer Leach Sanborn, the piece was premiered at their wedding.

Andrew Sauerwein, President
Assoc. Professor (Composition/Theory), Belhaven University
1500 Peachtree St.
Jackson, MS, USA 39202
Email:

Walter Saul, Executive Committee Member
Fresno Pacific University
4926 E. Townsend Ave.
Fresno, CA, USA 93727-5007
Email:
Website: http://www.waltersaul.com/

Greg Scheer, Board Member
4364 Downing St. SE
Grand Rapids, MI, USA 49546
Email:
Website: http://www.gregscheer.com
http://musicblog.gregscheer.com

About Greg Scheer...

Greg Scheer has composed over 500 pieces, songs and arrangements. His music is published by Augsburg Fortress, GIA, Abingdon Press, Worship Today and Faith Alive. He has won commissions from the Iowa Choral Directors Association, Iowa Composers Forum, Linn-Mar High School String Orchestra, Chagall String Quartet and Northwestern College. His electronic piece, "Crossfade," was included on the CD ...from everlasting to everlasting... His string quartet "6" was featured on WQED in Pittsburgh and was also a winning composition in the 2000 Southeastern Composers' Symposium. Most recently, his hymn "People of the Lord" won the Calvin09 hymn contest and was subsequently sung and published internationally.

Scheer is a member of Broadcast Music Incorporated, the Christian Fellowship of Art Music Composers, LicenSing, and Christian Copyright Licensing International. In 1993 he received an MA in composition and theory from the University of Pittsburgh. Since then he has served at Bellefield Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, Wildwood Presbyterian Church in Tallahassee, and Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa. At present he, his wife Amy, and their sons Simon and Theo live in Grand Rapids, Michigan where Greg is Minister of Worship at Church of the Servant and Music Associate at the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship.

Statement of Faith

I grew up in an independent Pentecostal church in Rhode Island. It was there that I was introduced to the Christian faith and grounded in the Word. My college years were a time of questioning, in which I church hopped and eventually stopped attending church altogether. I spent my junior year in Salzburg, Austria, and it was there that the Lord started to rebuild my faith from the ground up. In grad school (University of Pittsburgh) I attended Bellefield Presbyterian Church, where godly members helped me begin to make connections between my Christian faith and the rest of my life. It was also there that I became involved in music ministry, which eventually became my profession. In my church work, my composing and my personal life I try to be faithful to Jesus Christ.

Phil Shackleton, Director of Music Theory/Composition
Azusa Pacific University
School of Music
901 E. Alosta
Azusa, CA, USA 91702-7000
Email:
Website: http://www.musicalgod.org
http://www.harmonicminer.com

Dawn Sonntag, DMA
Assistant Professor of Music, Hiram College
P.O. Box 397
Hiram, OH, USA 44234
Email:

About Dawn Sonntag...

Praised as “a composer/performer of rare depth and versatility,” (Schaumburg-Lippe Landeszeitung, June, 2009), Dawn Sonntag is a composer of vocal, choral, chamber, dance, and theater music. Her choral works have been performed across the US and in Germany, France, and Norway by numerous college, community, and church choirs. A finalist in the American Composers’ Forum Faith Partners competition, Sonntag has received numerous commissions, including the 2008 Leif Eriksson International Festival in Minneapolis; and Luther Seminary’s 25th annual Reformation Festival, for which Sonntag’s choral-orchestral setting of Gracia Grindal’s translation of Paul Gerhardt’s “Befiehl du deine Wege” was premiered by the Augsburg College Choir. Sonntag contributed music to the documentary films “Action Arts,” a community collaborative arts documentary, and “Voice to Vision,” a film featuring immigrant genocide victims, both of which were aired on PBS. In November, 2010, she will premiere her settings of Christina Rossetti’s poetry for voice, oboe, cello, and piano, at the OMTA convention as MTNA-Ohio’s Composer of the Year. Sonntag is also an active vocalist, pianist, and conductor, and has received numerous performance awards, including the Inge Pitler prize for both voice performance and lied accompanying in Heidelberg Germany. As winner of the Kenwood Symphony Masters Aria and Concerto competition, Sonntag performed Grieg orchestral songs and was awarded a FLAS fellowship to Norway to study advanced Norwegian in order to further her interest in Norwegian vocal music, which she developed as director of music at the Norwegian Memorial Lutheran Church from 2005 – 2008. Dr. Sonntag holds graduate degrees in music from the University of Minnesota, the Ohio State University, Antioch University’s McGregor School of the Arts in Tübingen, Germany, and the Hochschule für Kirchenmusik, Heidelberg. Currently she is Assistant Professor of Music at Hiram College, where she teaches music theory and composition, general and interdisciplinary music courses, applied voice, and conducts the choirs.

Adam Sovkoplas
University of Kentucky
2500 Alumni Drive #13104
Lexington, KY, USA 40517
Email:
Website: http://www.societyofcomposers.org/user/adamsovkoplas.html

About Adam Sovkoplas...

Adam Sovkoplas was born in Brownsville, Texas, on January 16, 1982. He holds a BA in Music from the University of Texas at Brownsville where he studied composition with pianist/composer Richard Urbis and a MM in Composition from Sam Houston State University where he studied with pianist/composer Dr. Trent Hanna. Sovkoplas has won an Alpha Chi Alfred H. Nolle Scholarship (2003) for An American Elegy, the Christian Fellowship of Art Music Composers scholarship (2005), the 2nd Annual SHSU Phi Mu Alpha/Fisher Tull Composition Contest (2005) for Quartet No. 1: Berg, and the CMS South Central Chapter Outstanding Student Composer Award (2006) for Time. Train Racer was programmed on the 60x60 (2005/Midwest Minutes) concert series and has received performances in Illinois, Missouri, and Minnesota. Sovkoplas is currently working on his DMA at the University of Kentucky in Lexington under the instruction of Mr. Joe Baber. In 2007, Sovkoplas founded the Central Kentucky Chapter of the Society of Composers, Inc.

Andrew William Steinbeck
Email:

About Andrew William Steinbeck...

Andrew William Steinbeck was born in 1991, and grew up in Canton, Missouri with a great interest in music. Though his most basic compositions began early in childhood, he began composing music on a regular basis in junior high, and was the pianist at his church from 2003 to 2009. Steinbeck played flute, piano, trombone, and tuba with his high school music program. His piece, "2009" was featured at his high school graduation ceremony. Steinbeck is a student of music composition and education as an undergraduate at Truman State University, where he serves God through the Baptist Student Union and a music students' prayer ministry. Steinbeck recently received his first paid commission, for a piece entitled "Praise and Alleluia!" for the 2010 Easter services of Trinity Episcopal Church in Kirksville. It is his primary goal with music to praise and glorify God, noted on all of his music with the initials TGG, To the Glory of God.

Hugh Sung, Honorary member
Director of Instrumental Accompaniment
Curtis Institute
1726 Locust St.
Philadelphia, PA, USA 19103

Todd Syswerda
744 Harsax Dr.
Upland, IN, USA 46989
Email:

George Tsontakis, Honorary member
Sarah Lawrence College, Aspen, etc.
260 Black Road
Shokan, NY, USA 12481

Willliam Vollinger, Executive Committee Member
Composer, Composition Teacher
Nyack College
21 Ruckman Rd.
Woodcliff Lake, NJ, USA 07677
Email:
Website: http://www.williamvollinger.com/

About Willliam Vollinger...

The music of William Vollinger has been performed by the Gregg Smith Singers and NY Vocal Arts Ensemble., whose performance of “Three Songs About the Resurrection” won first prize at the Geneva International Competition. “Violinist in the Mall” won the 2005 Friends and Enemies of New Music competition. His music has been performed and broadcast worldwide, published by Abingdon, API, Heritage, Kjos, Lawson-Gould, and Laurendale. Five works have been editor’s choices in the J.W. Pepper Catalogue. The New Orleans ensemble Musaica commissioned and premiered “Duck Girl” in January 2010. Navona Recordings will be releasing two new works for narrator in 2011.

Statement of Faith

I was raised in a Lutheran church of which I am still a member, I had a lot of problems growing up. (It’s good to grow up!) While God was working both before and after 1974, in that year both my wife and I prayed to receive Jesus at a Kathryn Kuhlman miracle service, and something clearly changed in our hearts. My mind is still being renewed. For me the central teaching of the Bible is to move out of self and into Christ. I thank God for CFAMC. Composing is a calling, but only God gives me an identity.

Benjamin Williams, DMA, Assistant Professor
Mississippi College
1221 Cliffdale Dr.
Clinton, MS, USA 39056
Email:

Website: http://williamscomposer.com/

About Benjamin Williams...

Benjamin Williams is a composer in central Mississippi and an Assistant Professor of Music Theory and Composition at Mississippi College. He is married to violinist Emily Williams.

Donald Wilson, Executive Committee Member
Bowling Green State University (retired)
550 West Wooster St.
Bowling Green, OH, USA 43402-2708
Email:
Website: http://www.dmwilson.com
http://christiancomposer.com

About Donald Wilson...

A native of Chicago, Donald M. Wilson studied composition with Karel Husa and Robert Palmer at Cornell University and with Gunther Schuller at the Berkshire Music Center (Tanglewood). In 1965 Wilson became the first music director of the educational FM station in Philadelphia now known as WHYY-FM. Now a professor emeritus at Bowling Green State University, Wilson joined the BGSU music faculty in 1967, taught music theory, analysis and composition for 31 years and chaired the Music Composition/History Department for two four-year terms (1973-77; 1994-98). From 1983 to 1995 Wilson produced over 80 one-hour programs in the annual "New Music Festival" radio series for national distribution. Since 1967 Wilson has been a member of the American Composers Alliance and since 1995 a member of the Christian Fellowship of Art Music Composers. In 1998 he was elected to the latter organization's Board of Directors.

Steven Winteregg, Dean, School of Humanities
Cedarville University
6998 Monte Carlo Way
Dayton, OH, USA 45424
Email:

Website: http://people.cedarville.edu/employee/winteregg

Marc Wooldridge, Treasurer, Membership Coordinator
Professor of Music, Indiana Wesleyan University
Department of Music
4201 S. Washington St.
Marion, IN, USA 46953-4974
Email:

About Marc Wooldridge...

Dr. Marc Wooldridge serves as Director of Percussion Activities at Indiana Wesleyan University in addition to teaching courses in music theory and composition. He has performed and presented for a variety of notable organizations such as the Lincoln Center Institute, the Percussive Arts Society, and the Charles Ives Center for New Music. He was a founding member of the Maelstrom Percussion Ensemble, a group whose artistic excellence was recognized through a prestigious three-year Residency Grant from Chamber Music America. His solo touring recital, Journeys: Multimedia Percussion, combines live percussion with recorded electronic sounds, visual art and film. This innovative program has been presented at colleges, high schools, and PAS Day of Percussion events throughout the US.
As a composer, Dr. Wooldridge has written thirteen works for percussion including Diamond Hill, a marimba duo published by Honey Rock. In 2003, he began a commissioning project that has enabled him to premiere eight solo percussion works and two marimba concerti. Wooldridge was selected for inclusion on the touring rosters of the Mid-American Arts Alliance and the Iowa Arts Council and has served as Percussionist and Assistant Timpanist with the Sioux City Symphony Orchestra. He also served for five years as President of the Iowa Chapter of the Percussive Arts Society during which time he hosted two statewide percussion festivals. Wooldridge also serves as a member of the Christian Fellowship of Art Music Composers and is active as a board member with the Iowa Composers Forum.

Sunny Zank
Ohio Northern University
Ada, OH, USA 45810

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