Bill Cunliffe jazz piano; arranging; Fullerton Jazz Orchestra, Fullerton Big Band and combo director
Rodolfo Zuñiga* jazz studies, jazz percussion, and music techology; Fullerton Chamber Jazz Ensemble director
PIANO, ORGAN, PIANO PEDAGOGY
Bill Cunliffe jazz piano
Alison Edwards* piano, piano pedagogy, class piano
Dr. Robert Watson piano
MUSIC EDUCATION, TEACHER TRAINING, AND TEACHING CREDENTIAL
Dr. Christopher Peterson choral
Dr. Gregory X. Whitmore* instrumental
MUSIC IN GENERAL EDUCATION
Dr. John Koegel*
Dr. Katherine Reed
MUSIC HISTORY AND LITERATURE
Dr. Vivianne Asturizaga musicology
Dr. John Koegel* musicology
Dr. Katherine Reed musicology
STRINGS
Kimo Furumoto Director of Orchestra Studies and University Symphony Orchestra conductor
Bongshin Ko cello
Dr. Ernest Salem* violin
THEORY AND COMPOSITION
Dr. Hesam Abedini composition, theory
Dr. Pamela Madsen composition, theory
Dr. Ken Walicki* composition, theory
VOCAL, CHORAL, AND OPERA
Dr. Robert Istad* Director of Choral Studies and University Singers conductor
Dr. Kerry Jennings* Director of Opera
Dr. Christopher Peterson CSUF Concert Choir and Singing Titans conductor
Dr. Joni Y. Prado* voice, academic voice courses
Dr. Bri’Ann Wright general education
WOODWINDS, BRASS, AND PERCUSSION
Dr. Dustin Barr Director of Wind Band Studies, University Wind Symphony, University Band
Jean Ferrandis* flute
Sycil Mathai* trumpet
Ken McGrath* percussion
Dr. Gregory X. Whitmore
University Symphonic Winds conductor
Michael Yoshimi* clarinet
STAFF
Michael August Production Manager
Eric Dries Music Librarian
Gretchen Estes-Parker Office Coordinator
Will Lemley Audio Technician
Jeff Lewis Audio Engineer
Chris Searight Musical Instrument Services
Paul Shirts Administrative Assistant
Elizabeth Williams Business Manager
* Denotes area coordinator
Welcome to the spring 2026 events season at Cal State Fullerton’s College of the Arts. We have been hard at work in every classroom, practice room, and studio across campus preparing to share new sounds and bold creativity with all of you. We are thrilled you are here.
Our students and their success form the core of our purpose in the College of the Arts but unlike their counterparts in other colleges, their paths are not solely formed through classroom learning; they are revealed in the moments when talent meets opportunity. Like when a dancer attends an intensive, or when a musician travels abroad on tour, or an actor or artist is mentored – this is where promise is transformed into possibility. The Dean’s Fund for Excellence gives students access to meaningful experiences like these and many more, including masterclasses, research opportunities, materials, and professional conferences. You can help ensure creativity isn’t limited by circumstance. Consider a gift of any amount to the Dean’s Fund for Excellence today.
This spring semester is brimming with performances and exhibitions for all to enjoy –some that will make you laugh and others that will make you think. In the School of Music, Sibarg Ensemble, featuring our own Hessam Abedini, explores the musical intersections of Iranian music and jazz on February 20. In April, Benjamin Britten’s comic opera “Albert Herring” follows the shy, virtuous title character as he rebels against his prudish upbringing. Join us in the Little Theatre beginning March 5 for the musical “Once Upon a Mattress” – an uproarious sendup of Hans Christian Anderson’s fairytale, “The Princess and the Pea.” If you’re craving something completely different, Eugène Ionesco’s “Rhinoceros” opens March 19 to hold a mirror to the absurdity of mob mentality and the struggle to maintain individuality in the face of mass hysteria. And in late spring, our dancers and choreographers return to demonstrate their inimitable power and grace in “Spring Dance Theatre.”
Across the walkway from where you’re seated are the College of the Arts Galleries. You can still catch exhibitions from Soo Kim and Carol Caroompas until May, or stop by the galleries on Wednesdays for our bi-weekly Student Galleries opening receptions. They are always full of energy, and you might even find student artwork to purchase and take home!
Whether you’re returning to our venues or here for the first time, we are so excited to present another season to you. Thank you for joining us.
Sincerely,
Arnold Holland, EdD Dean, College of the Arts
SCAN THIS QR DONATE TODAY TO THE DEAN’S FUND FOR EXCELLENCE
PROGRAM
(Please hold applause until the conclusion of the last song)
I will be the gladdest thing ............................................................ Joel Balzun
Oh what comes over the Sea, op. 57, no. 1 .............
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875-1912)
Four Gesänge, op. 142 ........................................................
Robert Schumann
Trost im Gesang (1810-1856)
Lehn' deine Wang'
Mädchen-Schwermut
Mein Wagen rollet langsam
There pass the careless people................................................
William Carnell (b. 1938)
Tel jour, telle nuit, FP 86 .........................................................
Francis Poulenc
Bonne journée (1899-1963)
Une ruine coquille vide
Le front comme un drapeau perdu
Une roulotte couverte en tuiles
A toutes brides
Une herbe pauvre
Je n'ai envie que de t'aimer
Figure de force brûlante et farouche
Nous avons fait la nuit
The Needs of the Many ............................................................
Dale Trumbore Exam (b. 1987)
On the Days When We Wept
Ten Alternatives to Diagnosis
(World Premiere)
Commissioned by the Barlow Endowment for Music Composition at Brigham Young University
What a Relief (from December Songs) Maury Yeston (b. 1945)
PROGRAM NOTE
Dear audience member,
Thank you for being here tonight. I’m grateful for the opportunity to share this hour of music and reflection with you. If parts of this conversation feel uncomfortable, that’s okay. Discomfort can be a sign that something important is being named.
In March of 2018, I presented a recital titled The Beautiful Black Dog. The title borrows from a metaphor often attributed to Samuel Johnson and later popularized by Winston Churchill, describing depression as “the black dog.” That recital marked one of my first performances after a prolonged hiatus during a significant depressive episode. Although I was formally diagnosed in 2012, I had been experiencing symptoms for much of my life. In learning to name my condition, I also became aware of the stigma surrounding it— and of the very real physical and emotional toll it can take. That earlier recital opened a dialogue between performer and audience that I will never forget. Tonight, we approach depression from a different angle.
This program explores what it feels like to recognize, perhaps for the first time, that something within you has a name. Realizing you have depression can be disorienting. For years, I was simply described as “sensitive”—a word that still feels true. But sensitivity was not the whole story. When I began to see patterns in my thoughts and emotions, I was finally able to recognize the presence of the “black dog.” Naming it allowed me to seek support. And in doing so, I discovered something equally powerful: while depression may see me, I am also seen—by friends, family, colleagues, students, and by you.
This program is also inspired by the second song cycle I commissioned, with music by Dale Trumbore and poetry by Brendan Constantine. Together, their work traces the arc of recognition, the courage required to seek help, and the quiet but significant consequences of choosing not to. I am deeply grateful for their artistry, creativity, and for their willingness to engage so honestly with this subject.
Thank you for being part of this conversation tonight. May the music invite reflection, connection, and continued dialogue—so that, together, we can stop the stigma surrounding mental illness.
Yours in song,
Joel
All English translations written by Joel Balzun.
TEXTS & TRANSLATIONS
I will be the gladdest thing
JOEL BALZUN
“Afternoon on a Hill” by Edna St. Vincent Millay
Under the sun!
I will touch a hundred flowers And not pick one.
I will look at cliffs and clouds With quiet eyes, Watch the wind bow down the grass, And the grass rise. And when lights begin to show Up from the town, I will mark which must be mine, And then start down!
Oh what comes over the Sea, op. 57, no. 1
SAMUEL COLERIDGE-TAYLOR
Poem by Christina Rossetti
Oh what comes over the sea, Shoals and quicksands past; And what comes home to me, Sailing slow, sailing fast?
A wind comes over the sea With a moan in its blast; But nothing comes home to me, Sailing slow, sailing fast. Let me be, let me be, For my lot is cast: Land or sea all's one to me, And sail it slow or fast.
Four Gesänge, op. 142
ROBERT SCHUMANN
Trost im Gesang
Poem by Justinus Kerner
Der Wandrer, dem verschwunden so Sonn’ als Mondenlicht, Der singt ein Lied in’s Dunkel, und härmt sich länger nicht. Er schreitet mutig weiter die menschenleere Bahn, viel lichte Sangesbilder, die ziehen ihm voran. Nacht ist’s auch mir geworden, die Freunde stehen fern, von meinem Himmel schwindet
der allerletzte Stern. Doch geh’ ich mutig weiter die menschenleere Bahn, noch ziehen Sangesbilder ja mir auch licht voran.
Consolation in Song
The wanderer, for whom has disappeared Sunlight and also moonlight, He sings a song into darkness, And grieves himself no longer. He bravely strides further Down the deserted path, Many clear song-pictures, pull him forward. It has become night for me, too, My friends are far away, From my heaven fades The very last star. But I bravely go further Down the deserted path, Still the song-pictures pull me forward so clearly.
Lehn deine Wang’ an meine Wang’ Poem by Heinrich Heine
Lehn deine Wang’ an meine Wang’; dann fließen die Tränen zusammen, und an mein Herz drück’ fest dien Herz, dann schlagen zusammen die Flammen. Und wenn in die große Flamme fließt der Strom von unsern Tränen und wenn dich mein Arm gewaltig umschließt, sterb’ ich vor Liebessehnen.
Lean your cheek on my cheek Lean your cheek on my cheek; Then flow our tears together, And on my heart press hard your heart, Then strike together their flames. And when, in the great flame flows The stream of our tears, And when my arm powerfully embraces you I shall die of love’s yearning.
Mädchen-Schwermut poem by Lily Bernhard
Kleine Tropfen, seid ihr Tränen an den Blumenkelchen da?
Oder wär’s des Herzens Sehnen, das die Blumen weinen sah?
Frühlingssäuseln, weh’st die Klagen in das zarte junge Grün?
Oder hör’ nur ich es fragen: wo sind deine Freuden hin?
Gottes Augen seid ihr nimmer, Sternlein in dem Himmelszelt!
Ach, es strahlt kein Trostesschimmer in die freudenlose Welt!
Maiden’s Melancholy
Little drops, are you tears
On the flower’s petals there?
Or was it the heart’s longing That saw the flowers crying?
Spring-whispers, do you drift laments Into the tender, young verdure?
Or is it just I who hears you ask: where are your pleasures?
Never will you be God’s eyes, Little star in the tent of Heaven! Alas, it strikes no comfort-shimmer in the joyless world!
Mein Wagen rollet langsam
Poem by Heinrich Heine
Mein Wagen rollet langsam durch lustiges Waldesgrün, durch blumige Täler, die zaub’risch im Sonnenglanze blühn.
Ich sitze und sinne und träume, und denk an die Liebste mein. Da huschen drei Schattengestalten kopfnickend zum Wagen herein, sie huschen und schneiden Gesichter, so spöttlisch und doch so scheu, und quirlen wie Nebel zusammen, und kichern und huschen vorbei.
My cart rolls slowly
My cart rolls slowly Through merry forest-greens, Through flowering valleys, magically blooming in the sunshine. I sit and think and dream, And think of my dearest love. Then scurry three shadow-figures, Heads nodding into the cart, They flit about and make faces, So mocking and yet so shy, And they whirl like mist together, And snicker, and scurry away.
There pass the careless people WILLIAM CARNELL
Poem by A. E. Housman
There pass the careless people That call their souls their own; Here by the road I loiter, How idle and alone.
Ah, past the plunge of plummet, In seas I cannot sound,
My heart and soul and senses,
World without end, are drowned.
His folly has not fellow
Beneath the blue of day
That gives to man or woman
His heart and soul away.
There flowers no balm to sain him
From east of earth to west
That’s lost for everlasting
The heart out of his breast.
Here by the labouring highway
With empty hands I stroll: Sea-deep, till doomsday morning, Lie lost my heart and soul.
Tel jour, telle nuit, FP 86 FRANCIS POULENC
Bonne journée
Poem by Paul Éluard
Bonne journée
j’ai revu qui je n’oublie pas
Qui je n’oublierai jamais
Et des femmes fugaces dont les yeux
Me faisaient une haie d’honneur
Elles s’enveloppèrent dans leurs sourires
Bonne journée
j’ai vu mes amis sans soucis
Les hommes ne pesaient pas lourd
Un qui passait
Son ombre changée en souris
Fuyait dans le ruisseau
J’ai vu le ciel très grand
Le beau regard des gens privés de tout
Plage distante où personne n’aborde
Bonne journée qui commença mélancolique
Noire sous les arbres verts
Mais qui soudain trempée d’aurore
M’entra dans le coeur par surprise.
TEXTS & TRANSLATIONS
Good day
Good day
I’ve seen again one who I don’t forget
Whom I will never forget
And the fleeting women whose eyes
Made me a hedge of honor
They wrapped themselves in their smiles
Good day
I’ve seen my friends without worries
The men didn’t weigh heavily
One who was passing his shadow changed to a mouse
Fleeing into the gutter
I’ve seen the sky so large
The beautiful gaze of people totally deprived
A remote shore approached by nobody
Good day which began melancholic
Dark under the green trees
But which suddenly drenched in dawn
Entered into my heart by surprise.
Une ruine coquille vide
“Je croyais le repos possible” by P. É.
Une ruine coquille vide
Pleure dans son tablier
Les enfants qui jouent autour d’elle
Font moins de bruit que des mouches
La ruine s’en va à tâtons
Chercher ses vaches dans un pré
J’ai vu le jour je vois cela
Sans en avoir honte
Il est minuit comme une flèche
Dans un coeur à la portée
Des folâtres lueurs nocturnes
Qui contredisent le sommeil.
A ruin an empty shell
A ruin an empty shell
Weeps into its apron
The children who play around it
Make less noise than flies
The ruin gropes its way out
To search for its cows in a meadow
I’ve seen the day I see that
Without having shame
It is midnight as an arrow
In a heart within reach
Of the frolicsome nocturnal gleams
Which contradict slumber.
Le front comme un drapeau perdu
“Être” by P. É.
Le front comme un drapeau perdu
Je te traîne quand je suis seul
Dans des rues froides
Des chambres noires
En criant misère
Je ne veux pas les lâcher
Tes mains claires et compliquées
Nées dans le miroir clos des miennes
Tout le reste est parfait
Tout le reste est encore plus inutile
Que la vie
Creuse la terre sous ton ombre
Une nappe d’eau près des seins
Où se noyer
Comme une pierre.
The brow like a lost flag
The brow like a lost flag
I drag you when I am alone
In cold streets
Dark rooms
While crying in misery
I don’t want to let them go
Your hands so clear and complicated
Born in the enclosed mirror of my own
All the rest is perfect
All the rest is even more useless
Than life
Excavate the earth under your shadow
A sheet of water almost to the breasts
Where one drowns
Like a stone.
Une roulotte couverte en tuiles
Poem by P. É.
Une roulotte couverte en tuiles
Le cheval mort un enfant maître
Pensant le front bleu de haine
A deux seins s’abattant sur lui
Comme deux poings.
Ce mélodrame nous arrache
La raison du coeur.
A caravan covered in tiles
A caravan covered in tiles
The dead horse a child-master
Thinking his brow blue with hatred of two breasts falling upon him
Like two fists.
This melodrama tears away
Reason from our heart.
À toutes brides
Poem by P. É.
À toutes brides toi dont le fantôme
Piaffe la nuit sur un violon
Viens régner dans les bois
Les verges de l’ouragan
Cherchent leur chemin par chez toi
Tu n’es pas des celles
Dont on invente les désirs
Viens boire un baiser par ici
Cède au feu qui te désespère.
At full speed
At full speed you whose ghost
Prances at night on a violin
Come to reign in the woods
The batterings of the hurricane
Seek their way to your place
You aren’t one of those
Whose desires are invented
...
Come drink a kiss over here
Give in to the fire which makes you despair.
Une herbe pauvre
Poem by P. É.
Une herbe pauvre
Sauvage
Apparut dans la neige.
C’était la santé.
Ma bouche fut émerveillé
Du goût d’air pur qu’elle avait.
Elle était fanée.
A rotten herb
A rotten herb
Wild
Appeared in the snow.
It was health.
My mouth was amazed
From the taste of pure air that it had.
It was withered.
Je n’ai envie que de t’aimer
Poem by P. É.
Je n’ai envie que de t’aimer
Un orage emplit la vallée
Un poisson la rivière
Je t’ai faite à la taille de ma solitude.
Le monde entier pour se cacher
Des jours des nuits pour se comprendre
Pour ne plus rien voir dans tes yeux
Que ce que je pense de toi
Et d’un monde à ton image
Et des jours et des nuits réglés par tes paupières.
I only want to love you
I only want to love you
A storm fills the valley
A fish the river
I’ve made you to the size of my solitude
The whole world to hide in
Days and nights to understand each other
To see nothing more in your eyes
Than what I think of you
And a world in your image
And days and nights ruled by your eyelids.
Figure de force brûlante et farouche
Poem by P. É.
Figure de force brûlante et farouche
Cheveux noirs où l’or coule vers le sud
Aux nuits corrompues
Or englouti étoile impure
Dans un lit jamais partagé.
Aux veines des tempes
Comme aux bouts des seins
La vie se refuse.
Les yeux nul ne peut les crever
Boire leur éclat ni leurs larmes.
Le sang au-dessus d’eux triomphe pour lui seul.
Intraitable démesurée
Inutile
Cette santé bâtit une prison.
Figure of fierce and burning force
Figure of fierce and burning force
Hair black where gold flows to the south
On corrupted nights
Engulfed gold impure star
In a bed never shared
To the veins of the temples
As to the tips of the breasts
Life refuses itself
None can blind the eyes
Drink their brilliance nor their tears
The blood above them triumphs for itself alone
Intractable excessive
Useless
This health builds a prison.
Nous avons fait la nuit
Poem by P. É.
Nous avons fait la nuit je tiens ta main je veille
Je te soutiens de toutes mes forces
Je grave sur un roc l’étoile de tes forces.
Sillons profonds où la bonté de ton corps germera
Je me répète ta voix cachée ta voix publique
Je ris encore de l’orgueilleuse
Que tu traites comme une mendiante
Des fous que tu respectes des simples où tu te baignes.
Et dans ma tête qui se met doucement
d’accord avec la tienne avec la nuit
Je m’émerveille de l’inconnue que tu deviens
Une inconnue semblable à toi semblable à tout ce que j’aime
Qui est toujours nouveau.
We have turned out the light
We have turned out the light I hold your hand I watch I support you with all my strength I engrave on a rock the star of your strength.
Deep furrows where the goodness of your body will germinate I repeat to myself your hidden voice your public voice I laugh still at the proud woman
You treat like a beggar
At the fools who you respect the simple folk in whom you immerse yourself in And in my head that sweetly puts itself in accord with yours with the night I marvel at the unknown that you’ve become
A stranger resembling you resembling all that I love
Anyone who needs to see a doctor, please stand in this line. Anyone who needs to hear a doctor, please stand in this other line.
If you wish to feel a doctor without otherwise engaging, remain calm, the doctor is with you. If you dream of doctors, please wait outside until your name is almost called. If you dream you’re a bird, please wait inside until your call is named. If you believe the word Doctor
is a verb, run away, run away.
If you believe doctors live in white houses over white lawns in neighborhoods of sky, please form two lines:
one on this side of the fountain, one on this side of the fountain.
Anyone newly born or elderly, please keep to the middle of the group.
If you don’t know why you’re here, think no one sees you, that you can hide by falling into line, you have already been seen.
On the days when we wept— and they were many—we did it over the sound of a television or radio, or the many engines of the sky. It was rarely so quiet we could hear just our sadness, the smallness of it that is merely the sound of wind and water between the many pages of the lungs. Many afternoons we left the house still crying and drove to a café or the movies, or back to the hospital where we sat dumb under the many eyes of Paul Klee. There were many umbrellas, days when it refused to rain, cups of tea ignored. We washed them all in the sink, dry eyed. It’s been a while, we’re cried out. We collect pauses and have taken to reading actual books again. We go through them like yellow lights, like tunnels or reunions, we forget which; the older you are the more similes, the more pangs per hour. Indeed, this is how we break one hour into many, how healing wounds time
in return. And though we know There will always be crying to do, just as there’s always that song, always a leaf somewhere in the car, this may be the only sweetness left, to have a few griefs we cherish against the others, which are many.
2. Sleep on a queen-sized photograph of an orchestra
3. Read your resume to a dog
4. Descend stairs in place
5. Fill your pockets with seawater & walk into a quarry
6. Pay someone to gift-wrap the rest of your money
7. Have your mail forwarded to an orphanage
8. Learn to read Braille with your cheek
9. Applaud the progress of shadows.
10. Set your watch to the hour of your birth & remove the battery
Ветер перелётный
(“The Passing Breeze”), op. 34, no. 4
SERGEI RACHMANINOV Poem by Konstantin Balmont
Ветер перелётный обласкал меня И шепнул печально: «Ночь сильнее дня».aИ закат померкнул. Тучи почернели. Дрогнули, смутились пасмурные ели.
морем, где крутился вал, Ветер перелётный зыбью пробежал.
The passing breeze
The passing breeze caressed me
And whispered sorrowfully: “Night is stronger than day.”
And sunset dimmed. Clouds darkened. Shuddered, disturbed somber firs.
And over the dark sea, where the tide swirled, The passing breeze flowed in a ripple. Night reigned in world.
But meanwhile, far away, Beyond the sea a fiery eye lit up. Newly blossomed a flower in the heavens, With reborn light the east shone. The breeze changed and breathed to me in its eyes
And whispered with a smile: “Day is stronger than night!”
What a Relief
(from December Songs) MAURY YESTON
Lyrics by Maury Yeston
Nothing left but the shouting
Nothing left but the pain
Nothing left but the doubting Nothing raining but rain
I should be feeling despondent I should be lost in my grief
But all that I feel inside Is what a relief
My life’s not a short story
My life’s more than pretend
My life has it’s tomorrows
Stories come to an end
Fictional hearts can be broken
Real ones don’t heal all that well
Amazing to still be here And what a relief
No, I don’t regret the day that I first met you
No, there’ll never be a time when l’Il forget you
Oh, if only half the things I’ve lived and planned for Turned out for the best
This will take getting used to Something new on my mind
Somehow making a new start
Somehow hoping I’ll find
Those moments we can advance to Moments we have a chance to Turn a new leaf
Those moments are few And always too brief
But what a relief
And surely, you’re still you I’m still me, that’s for certain I’m still no good at letting go
So, please let’s not even say hello
Praised for his “voluminous sound” and “imposing, ringing baritone,” Canadian baritone and composer Joel Balzun is establishing himself as a dynamic force both on and off the stage. A recent award-winner in the Wagner Society of New York Singers Competition, he also won the Fulham Opera Robert Presley Memorial Verdi Prize. Highlights of the 2025-2026 season include house débuts with Amarillo Opera (Pagliacci), Pittsburgh Opera (Fellow Travelers), Wichita Grand Opera (Ein deutsches Requiem) as well as a world premiere by Dale Trumbore. He also returns to Opera Laguna for Messiah and San Luis Obispo Master Chorale for works of Beach, Dvorak, and Mozart. Recent performance highlights include his house début at Chautauqua Opera as Marcello (La bohème) and the title role in Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s Lincoln in the Bardo, which he also previewed for the Metropolitan Opera. Other recent performance highlights include notable debuts at Los Angeles Opera (Il barbiere di Siviglia) and Opera Las Vegas (Schaunard, La bohème).
With performances spanning Carnegie Hall to the Kennedy Center, Balzun’s diverse repertoire includes the title roles in Don Giovanni, Gianni Schicchi, Dead Man Walking, and Don Quichotte at Camacho’s Wedding (Telemann), as well as Giorgio Germont (La traviata), the Four Villains (Les contes d’Hoffmann), Yeletskiy and Tomskiy (Pikovaya Dama), Albert (Werther), Belcore (L’elisir d’amore), Dr. Malatesta (Don Pasquale), and Valentin (Faust). Other notable roles include Riolobo (Florencia en el Amazonas), Golaud (Pelléas et Mélisande), Hunter (Rusalka), Sid (Albert Herring), John Brooke (Little Women), and Marquis de la Force (Dialogues of the Carmelites). A passionate interpreter of Richard Strauss, he has excelled as Mandryka (Arabella) and Jupiter (Die Liebe der Danae). In past seasons he has appeared with Calgary Concert Opera, Cincinnati Song Initiative, Claremont Symphony Orchestra, Opera Buffs Inc., Opera Santa Barbara, Pittsburgh Festival Opera, Prima Voce Emerging Artist Recital Series, Rio Hondo Symphony Orchestra and Social Distance Opera, in addition to giving recitals across North America. An avid chamber musician, he has enjoyed collaborations with instrumentalists from the Baltimore, Cincinnati, Los Angeles Chamber, Minnesota, San Bernardino and Vancouver orchestras, as well as faculty members of the nation’s finest conservatories.
On the concert stage, Balzun has appeared as soloist in Dvořák’s Te Deum, Fauré’s Requiem, Haydn’s The Creation, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor and Per questa bella mano, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Vaughan Williams’ Dona nobis pacem and Five Mystical Songs and Verdi’s Requiem, in addition to songs of Copland and Mahler. His acclaimed performance of Bach’s Johannes-Passion with the Rochester Bach Festival was broadcast multiple times across the U.S.
A decorated competitor, Balzun has earned prizes from the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition (Los Angeles District & Western Region), Pasadena Vocal Competition, Lyndon Woodside Oratorio-Solo Competition, Houston Saengerbund Vocal Competition, Orpheus National Vocal Competition, NATS Artist Awards, and more. He has also been a finalist in the Rochester International Voice Competition, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal Concours, Premiere Opera Foundation International Vocal Competition, and Vincerò World Singing Competition.
ABOUT THE GUEST ARTISTS
Pianist Kevin Garnica is an active musician based in Los Angeles. As a soloist and chamber musician, he has performed in Central and South America, Europe, and throughout the United States with members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, including Concertmaster Martin Chalifour, the Pacific Symphony, The Metropolitan Opera, Los Angeles Master Chorale, and Pacific Chorale. He is the pianist in the Romantica Piano Quartet, Casa Romantica Cultural Center and Gardens’ first chamber music ensemble in residence. He has previously been a staff pianist at Biola University and Cal Poly Pomona, and has premieredworks by a number of composers including Tom Cipullo and Kurt Erickson.
A decorated composer, Kevin was one of the youngest winners of the ASCAP Composition Competition when his piano piece, Sonata for Scriabin, was chosen from over five-hundred entries. He was also awarded the John Williams Grant for composition. His extended song, O Magnet-South, was a finalist in the NATS Art Song Composition Competition.
Kevin received his DMA from the University of Texas at Austin with a full assistantship under the tutelage of Anne Epperson, specializing in Collaborative Piano. He received his BMus in Piano Performance and MMus in Composition from CSUF. As an undergraduate, he was awarded top prize in his class, and his chamber cantata based on the story of Joan of Arc, Jehanne the Maiden, was awarded Outstanding Graduate Composition.
Dale Trumbore is a Los Angeles-based composer and writer whose music has been called “devastatingly beautiful” (The Washington Post) and praised for its “soaring melodies and beguiling harmonies deployed with finesse” (The New York Times). Trumbore's compositions have been performed widely in the U.S. and internationally by Atlanta Master Chorale, Central West Ballet, the Choral Scholars of University College Dublin, Conspirare and the Miró Quartet, Los Angeles Children's Chorus, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Modesto Symphony, National Youth Choir of Scotland, Pasadena Symphony, and Seraphic Fire.
A recipient of prizes and grants from American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), ASCAP, the Barlow Endowment, and Chamber Music America, Dale has also been awarded artist residencies at Copland House, the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, Tusen Takk, and Ucross. Her music is available through Boosey & Hawkes, G. Schirmer, and Graphite Marketplace.
Dale is passionate about setting to music poems, prose, and found text by living writers. She is the author of Composing a Living: a Music Creator's Guide to Money, Relationships and Business (Oxford University Press, 2025; co-written with Dr. Brandon Elliott) and Staying Composed: Overcoming Anxiety and Self-Doubt Within a Creative Life. She has also written extensively about working through creative blocks and establishing a career in music in essays for Cantate Magazine, the Center for New Music, and NewMusicBox. daletrumbore.com.
Poet Brendan Constantine was born in Los Angeles, the second child of actors Michael Constantine and Julianna McCarthy. An ardent supporter of Southern California’s poetry communities and one of its most recognized poets, he has served as a teacher of poetry in local schools and colleges since 1995.
Brendan’s first collection, “Letters to Guns,” was released in February 2009 from Red Hen Press to wide acclaim. This was followed in 2011 by “Birthday Girl With Possum,” under the performance based publisher Write Bloody, and established him as a poet equally at home on the page and the stage. His work can be found in many standards, including Poetry, The Nation, Tin House, Best American Poetry, Poem-a-Day, Virginia Quarterly, Rattle, Prairie Schooner, Field, Chautauqua, and Poetry Daily. His most recent collections are “Dementia, My Darling” (2016) from Red Hen Press and “Bouncy Bounce” (2018), a chapbook from Blue Horse Press.
Brendan has received support from the Getty Museum, James Irvine Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. A popular performer, he has presented his work to audiences throughout the U.S. and Europe, also appearing on NPR’s All Things Considered, TED ED, numerous podcasts, and YouTube. He currently teaches creative writing at the Windward School and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
In addition, Brendan brings poetry workshops to veterans, hospitals, foster care centers, and shelters for the homeless. He is also very proud of his work with the Alzheimer’s Poetry Project. Since 2017, he has been developing workshops for writers living with Aphasia and Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI).
Brendan’s sister, Thea Constantine, is a novelist and teacher in Portland, Oregon.
$500,000 +
Mrs. Junko Klaus
$100,000-$499,999
Johnny Carson Foundation
$50,000-$99,999
CSU Northridge Foundation
Leo Freedman Foundation
Ms. Susan Hallman in Memory of Ernie Sweet ‘77
Mr. Matthew Scarpino & Ms. Karyn Hayter
Mr. Steve & Mrs. Robin Kalota
Dr. Sallie Mitchell*
Dr. Tedrow & Mrs. Susan Perkins
Mrs. Louise Shamblen
$25,000 - $49,999
Mr. Darryl Curran
Mrs. Lee C. Begovich
Mrs. Marilyn Carlson
Ms. Mary A. and Mr. Phil Lyons
Mr. Bob & Mrs. Terri Niccum
Mr. Ernest & Mrs. Donna Schroeder
Dr. Ed & Mrs. Sue Sullivan
$10,000-$24,999
Dr. Joseph & Dr. Voiza Arnold
Mr. John Aimé & Ms. Robin de la Llata Aimé
Dr. Marc Dickey
Mrs. Evelyn Francuz
Mr. Edward & Mrs. MaryLouise Hlavac
Ms. Kathleen Hougesen
Ms. Kathy Mangum
Mr. James & Mrs. Eleanore Monroe
Mrs. Norma Morris
Mr. John Brennan & Ms. Lucina Moses
$5,000-$9,999
Mr. Nick & Mrs. Dottie Batinich
Continuing Life LLC
Ms. Harriet Cornyn
Mr. William S. Cornyn
Dedicated 2 Learning
Mr. Richard & Mrs. Susan Dolnick
Ebell Club of Fullerton
Friends of Jazz, Inc.
Dr. Margaret Gordon
DONOR APPLAUSE
Mr. Norm & Mrs. Sandy Johnson
Ms. Teri Kennady
Mrs. Jill Kurti Norman
Morningside of Fullerton
Mrs. Bettina Murphy
Mr. David Navarro
Dwight Richard Odle Foundation
Dr. Stephen Rochford, DMA
Southern California Arts Council
Swinerton Builders
Mr. Framroze & Mrs. Julie Virjee
$1,000-$4,999
Mr. John A. Alexander & Mr. Jason Francisco
Mrs. Judy Atwell
Mrs. Lois Austin
Mr. Tod Beckett-Frank
Ms. Karen Bell
Mr. John &
Ms. Shanon M. Fitzpatrick
Dr. Keith & Mrs. Renae Boyum
Mr. Allan & Mrs. Janet Bridgford
Mrs. Marion Brockett
Mr. James & Mrs. Diane Case
Mr. Stephen Collier & Ms. Joann Driggers
Mr. William H. Cunliffe, Jr.
D Barry Schmitt Trust
Ms. Jeannie Denholm
Mr. Gordon & Mrs. Lorra Dickinson
Mr. Kenneth & Mrs. Stacey Duran
Mr. Greg & Mrs. Shawna Ellis
Ms. Judi Elterman
Dr. Anne Fingal
Fullerton Families & Friends Foundation
The Jane Deming Fund
Mrs. Marsha Gallavan
Mrs. Terie Garrabrant
Dr. Leon & Mrs. Annette Gilbert
Mrs. Janet M. Green
Mr. James Henriques
Mr. David &
Mrs. Margret Hoonsbeen
Mr. Mike Ibanez
Mr. Darren & Mrs. Tatyana Jones
Ms. Michelle H. Jordan
Ms. Gladys Kares
Ronald L. Katz Family Foundation
Mr. Raymond & Mrs. Masako Kawase
Mr. Jeffrey & Mrs. Gayle Kenan
Dr. Kristin Kleinjans & Mr. Anthony Dukes
Mrs. Shirley Laroff
Mr. Lynn & Mrs. Susan Lasswell
Mrs. Marilyn Little
Mr. Juan Lopez
Mr. Paul Coluzzi & Mr. John Martelli
Dr. George& Mrs. Karen Mast
Mrs. Thelma Mellott
Mr. Michael & Mrs. Mary Miguel
Mr. Carl Mrs. Patricia Miller
Stifel Nicolaus
Mr. Ujinobu & Mrs. Yoshino Niwa
Mr. Colin Connor & Ms. Debra Noble
Dr. Arie & Mrs. Deanna Passchier
Mr. Jarrold Petraborg
Mr. John Phelps & Mrs. Kerry Laver-Phelps
Mr. Jim Plamondon
Mr. E. B. & Mrs. Linda Powell
Mr. Robert Rennie & Mrs. Nancy Rennie
Ms. Christine Rhoades
Ms. Mary Rupp
Mr. Thaddeus & Mrs. Eleanor Sandford
Mrs. Rita Sardou
Mr. D. Schmitt
Mrs. Martha Shaver
Mrs. Ingrid R. Shutkin
Ms. Barbara Kerth & Ms. Lorena Sikorski
Ms. Janet Smith
South Coast Repertory
Ms. Ann Sparks
Mr. Robert & Mrs. Roberta Sperry
Mr. Douglas Stewart
Mr. Tom & Mrs. Carolyn Toby
Liqi Tong
Viet Tide
Ms. Verne Wagner
Dr. Sean & Dr. Tina L. Walker
Dr. Robert & Mrs. Teri Watson
Dr. Wayne & Dr. Ruth Zemke
special care has been given to the prepartion of this donor list. Questions or concerns, please contact: Dominic Mumolo | 657-278-7695 Gifts received from July 1, 2023 to December 31, 2024 |
ONTIVEROS SOCIETY
The Ontiveros Society includes individuals who have provided a gift for Cal State Fullerton through their estate plan. We extend our deep appreciation to the following Ontiveros Society members, whose gifts will benefit the students and mission of the College of the Arts.
ANONYMOUS
JOHN ALEXANDER
LEE & DR. NICHOLAS A.* BEGOVICH
MARC R. DICKEY
JOANN DRIGGERS
BETTY EVERETT
CAROL J. GEISBAUER & JOHN* GEISBAUER
SOPHIA & CHARLES GRAY
MARYLOUISE & ED* HLAVAC
GRETCHEN KANNE
DR. BURTON L. KARSON
ANNE L. KRUZIC*
LOREEN & JOHN LOFTUS
ALAN A. MANNASON*
WILLIAM J. MCGARVEY*
VERONICA MICHALOWSKI
DR. SALLIE MITCHELL*
ELEANORE P. & JAMES L. MONROE
LYNN & ROBERT MYERS
BOB & TERRI NICCUM
DWIGHT RICHARD ODLE*
SHERRY & DR. GORDON PAINE
DR. JUNE POLLAK & MR. GEORGE POLLAK*
DR. STEPHEN M. ROCHFORD
STAN MARK RYAN ‘75
MARY K. & WILLIAM SAMPSON
LORENA SIKORSKI
DOUGLAS G. STEWART
ANDREA J. & JEFFREY E. SWARD
RICHARD J. TAYLOR
VERNE WAGNER
RICHARD WULFF
DR. JAMES D. & DOTTIE YOUNG*
We Proudly Recognize Our VOLUNTEER
SUPPORT GROUPS
ART ALLIANCE promotes excellence and enjoyment in the visual arts, and their fundraising efforts contribute to student scholarship, gallery exhibitions, opening receptions and sculpture acquisition on campus.
Website arts.fullerton.edu/aa
MUSIC ASSOCIATES maintains a tradition of active involvement and community support and raises scholarship funds for School of Music students through annual fundraising events and membership dues.
