University Symphony Orchestra

April 29, 2003 :: No. 218

As conductor Kimo Furumoto closes his second season with the University Orchestra at California State University, Fullerton, the program has seen exciting growth in both enrollment and in performances offered this year. The closing concert is a varied one saluting our American heritage in with Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait,” narrated by Cal State Fullerton President, Milton A. Gordon. In choosing Copland’s “Lincoln Portrait” and it’s narrator, Furumoto suggests, “I think it is fitting that President Gordon, as the leader of our University, deliver the eloquent words of Abraham Lincoln which speak of the highest ideals of society and arouse a sense of patriotism in the listener.” Also offering performances are this year’s winners of the Music Associates annual Performance Awards competition—soprano Suzanne Ma and pianist Soon Mee Kwon, and a special premiere of CSUF graduate composer, Kenneth L. Field’s, “Song of Ascent: A Spiritual Journey.”

Soprano Suzanne (Kyung Mi) Ma is a senior studying voice with Andrew Parks at Cal State Fullerton. A two-year recipient of a Lotte Johnston Scholarship, Ma has performed with the Women’s Chorus under the direction of Vance Wolverton has regularly with the Opera Theatre program directed by Janet Smith and Mark Salters. Graduating this May, Ma has received a graduate fellowship scholarship from the University of Michigan where she plans to continue her studies in vocal performance.

Pianist Soon Mee Kwon, 21, is a student of Eduardo Delgado at CSUF. The second recipient of the Alicia de Larrocha scholarship, she has met and performed for the prestigious pianist. She has been described as "a gifted interpreter of Mozart's music," by Palos Verdes News, and has won numerous awards including the Young Artist Guild Competition, the Southwestern Youth Music Festival, the Long Beach Mozart Festival, the Los Angeles Liszt Competition and the California Association of Professional Music Teachers' Bartok and Honors Audition. As a chamber performer she is a member of the KwonLam Trio, which has competed in the finals at the Coleman and the Fischoff competitions.

Graduate student Kenneth Field first studied composition in high school at Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan. He is currently completing his Master of Music degree at Cal State Fullerton after graduating from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a Ph.D. in linguistics in 1997. Recent works include Suite for Right Hand Piano (2000); Passacaglia (2000) for harpsichord, string quartet, and bass guitar; Meditation: Ex Nihilo (2001) for piano and string quartet; fifty seven one (2002) a choral piece for sixteen vocalists which incorporates extended vocal techniques and linguistics dedicated to the victims and survivors of 9-11; The Beatitudes (2002) for electronics; and Mass for Choir and Percussion Ensemble (2003) - part of which will be premiered May 19th at his Master’s Composition Recital. As a composer, he has been influenced Krzysztof Penderecki, Henryk Górecki, John Taverner, and Arvo Pärt. Of his compositions, Field says he “sees composition as a form of prayer—listening and then speaking the eternal Word in sound ikons or images.”

Furumoto, in addition to his teaching responsibilities at Cal State Fullerton, is also music director/conductor of the Huntington Symphony Orchestra in West Virginia. Previously, he held the director of orchestral activities and chair, string division at Ohio University, and music director of the Concert Orchestra position at the University of Cincinnati, College Conservatory of Music. After completing a one-year position as conducting assistant with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, he was invited to return as a guest assistant conductor. He has also served as associate conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra and the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra. He has appeared as guest conductor with orchestras both in the United States and Europe, and has worked with noted conductors such as Leonard Bernstein and Robert Shaw.

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