Piano

Deanna Wehrspann

Member Since February, 2010

Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Genre:

choral, Piano, vocal

Biography:

Composer, pianist, and singer Deanna (Levsen) Wehrspann is a professional musician based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. She has been named Composer-in-Residence at the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts in Nebraska City, NE, in August 2013. Her choral work, "May Your Voice be at Peace," is published by Augusburg Fortress, and another, "It Was Always You," was a winner in the 2013 Morningside College (IA) Composition Competition. She frequently sets texts of award-winning playwright and poet Ivan Fuller.

Recent Works:

Three songs from "Awake in Me" (Olga Berggolts text; Ivan Fuller, translator & playwright) Sop/piano (prem. 2013: Natalie Campbell, U. of South Dakota); "The Drama of Water and Love" (Ivan Fuller text) Sop/piano (prem. 2013: Maren Engel, Augustana Coll.); "If You Were Coming in the Fall" (Emily Dickinson text) Sop/piano (prem. 2013: Abby Trei, Augustana Coll.); "Hope is the Thing with Feathers" (Emily Dickinson text) Tenor/piano (prem. 2013: Ben Winkler, Augustana Coll.); "Empty Branches, Crystalline Grace" String orch (premiered 2012: Augustana College Orchestra); "Great is thy Faithfulness" arr. SATB/piano (prem. 2012: Our Savior's Lutheran Senior Choir); "The Tie Between Us" (Mary Logue text) Sop/piano (prem. 2012: Kristen Meidinger, Augustana Coll.); "In the Beginning Was the Word" SSA/str quartet (prem. 2011: Angelus, Augustana Coll.); "Moonless Darkness Stands Between" (G.M. Hopkins text) TTBB/piano (prem. 2011: Minnehaha Mandskor); "It Was Always You" (Catherine Wehrspann text) SATB/piano (prem. 2011: Lincoln HS Choir) 3rd place winner, 2013 Morningside Coll. Choral Competition; When Darkness Comes Home" (Ivan Fuller text) SATB/violin (2011); "Wonderings" (Mary Logue text) Sop/piano (prem. 2011: Susanne Harmon, U. of South Dakota); "Distractions" (Ivan Fuller text) Voice/piano (prem. 2010: Ivan Fuller, Augustana Coll.); "The Heart Speaks in Silence: Songs Without Words" Piano (prem. 2010: Deanna Wehrspann, Augustana Coll.); "May Your Voice Be At Peace" (Ivan Fuller/D. Wehrspann text) SATB (prem. 2010: Washington HS reunion choir) published 2013 by Augsburg Fortress; "Enough" (Christina Rossetti text) Tenor/piano (prem. 2010: Eric Wassenaar, Augustana Coll.); "Now Thank We All Our God" (C. Winkworth text) SATB (prem. 2010: Our Savior's Lutheran Senior Choir); Colors of Lorraine" (Ivan Fuller text; paintings by Lorraine Sack) Sop/piano (prem. 2009: Lisa Grevlos, Augustana Coll.); "Schumann-Ehrung" (Friedrich Ruckert text) Sop/piano (prem. 2009: Malerie Mertz, Augustana Coll); "Hearts River" (Lee Gregors text) Voice/piano (prem. 2009: Terra Goplen, Augustana Coll.).

Artist Statement:

I strive to create a beautiful or memorable melody, and find artistic satisfaction in taking a fine text and painting additional layers in and around it. I find joy in creating moments that might touch others emotionally.

South Dakota

Jerry Casey

Member Since April, 2007

Worthington, Ohio

Genre:

chamber, choral, orchestral, Piano, vocal

Biography:

JERRY CASEYJerry Casey, Worthington, Ohio, has composed works in all genres from solo voice to full orchestra. The Otterbein University (Westerville, Ohio) Concert Choir premiered three choral compositions in 2010: What Shall We Bring? at its Winter Concert, Yet I Will Rejoice (with orchestra) at its Spring Concert and Autumn at its Fall Concert. Autumn was a part of the concert program when the choir toured China in late 2010. These three works plus two others are a part of her new CD, Yet, I Will Rejoice, released in January, 2011

Recent Works:

What Shall We Bring? (SSAATTBB a cappella, Amos 6:6-8); Autumn (SSAATB a cappella, poetry of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow); Yet, I Will Rejoice (SSATB with chamber orchestra, Habakkuk 3:17-19); O Death, Rock Me Asleep (soprano and solo violin, poetry of Anne Boleyn); A Short Suite for Two Flutes.

Ohio

Justin E. A. Busch

Member Since February, 2007

Saint Paul, Minnesota

Genre:

chamber, orchestral, Piano, songs

Biography:

Justin E.A. Busch (born St. Louis, Missouri, April 23, 1959) is a musicial traditionalist; his musical lineage connects with Slavic predecessors such as Anton Rubinstein, Bohuslav Martinu, Sergei Prokofiev, and Dmitri Shostakovich. He is only the second composer in history to write pieces in all of the major and minor keys including the enharmonic keys, although as the first was Johann Christian Heinrich Rinck (1770-1846), it may be taken that such a feat is not an automatic guarantee of fame.

Recent Works:

'Squamish Winter Skies', Rhapsody for Orchestra
Quartet for Flute, Alto Saxophone, Bassoon, and Piano
Quartet, C Major, Flute and Strings
Quintet, F Major, Flute, Clarinet, Alto Saxophone, Viola, Violoncello
Quintet for Clarinet and Strings
Phantasy Quartet, E Major, Piano and Strings
String Quartet #10 in g# minor
Quartet, B Major, Viola, Alto Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, and Trombone
String Quintet in E-Flat Major
Suite #2, in d minor, for solo Viola Pomposa
Meditation in D-Flat Major for Viola, Alto Saxophone, and Piano
Second Suite, F Major, Viola solo
String Quartet #9 in c minor
'Elegy for Robin Wood' for Vibraphone, Clarinet, and Piano
String Quartet #8 in d minor
Palimpsest' for orchestra
Sinfonietta #3 in e minor
String Quartet #7 in a# minor
'Reflections': Nocturne for Celesta and Small Orchestra
'Laiuse' (tone poem for orchestra)

Artist Statement:

Composition is a dialogue between the composer and the music. The duty of the composer is to create honestly, to hear what the piece requires and express it as fully as possible. I enjoy working with performers to learn ever more fully the possibilities both of their instruments and their personal technique, and writing music which takes both into account. Accordingly, I have written pieces which require virtuoso ensemble work, and I have written pieces which fall easily under the hands of amateurs. My style is generally tonal, melodic, and formally conservative, but I do not eschew free atonality and even serialism, should the music's expressive demands require them. Someone once asked Alessandro Scarlatti why he used a certain peculiar chord in one of his works; his answer, I think, has never been bettered as an explanation of why one writes as one does: "Because it sounds well."

Minnesota

Anita Gower

Member Since September, 2006

Canton, North Carolina

Genre:

Art Song, chamber music, Piano, Sacred/Inspirational

Biography:

Anita Gower is a graduate (BPS) of University Of Memphis (1976), with a clinical internship in music therapy at University of Tennessee Medical Center Mental Health Services, the Memphis School For Autism and The School For Learning Disabled Children. She is experienced in many facets of musical performance and received a number of recognitions in the southeastern USA. She continues keyboard work and performs vocally with civic groups and in solo concerts. .

Recent Works:

TANGO LAZE - for String Quartet, ... JERICHO -( the spiritual ) for Bass solo/chorus... CHRISTMAS TESTAMENT--poem by Carrie Lams-- SATB/keyboard (optional handbells/guitar). PIANO ANTHEMS Collection of Christian Hymns: Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross, I Will Sing of My Redeemer, Sunrise (Tomorrow), and still adding.

Artist Statement:

I am a music therapist. Music has been my tool for reaching the human spirit, for promoting self-awareness and good health. The piano has been my personal sounding board, my own mirror, as in PASSAGE,(Piano) five short movements that chronicle my own emotional journey over two decades. Similarly, in song I can express from my soul something that otherwise does not manifest. Also, whether playing, singing, or composing, one form doesn't negate the desire for the others. In groups and 1 to 1's, I may blend these three forms for building community, inviting goal-directed accomplishment, which brings individual understanding and confidence, and more.

North Carolina

Ann Holler

Member Since March, 2004

Bristol, Tennessee

Genre:

chamber music, choral, Piano

Biography:

Ann is a member of several professional music organizations as well as the Arts Alliance Mountain Empire Board of Directors. She has earned a B. A. in Mathematics from King College in Bristol, Tennessee, and a B. A. in Music (Piano Performance) from Virginia Intermont College in Bristol, Virginia, where she studied piano with Kenneth Huber. Her M. M. in Music Theory was awarded by the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Recent Works:

Hymn Tune HOLSTON, published by GIA Publications; "The Covenant," a canticle based on a text from Hebrews; as well as four Advent canticles.

Tennessee

Piano

Deanna Wehrspann

Jerry Casey

Justin E. A. Busch

Anita Gower

Ann Holler

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