ABOUT THE ARTISTS

IRIS LEVINE, CONDUCTOR
Dr. Iris S. Levine is the Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona. Dr. Levine previously served as Dean of the College of Letters, Arts, and Social Sciences, Interim Dean of the College of Education and Integrative Studies, Music Department Chair and Professor of Music. She earned her Doctorate in Choral Music from the University of Southern California under the tutelage of Rodney Eichenberger, and she holds a master’s degree in Choral Conducting from Temple University. She is a member of the American Choral Directors Association, the International Federation of Choral Music, and Chorus America.

At Cal Poly Pomona, Dr. Levine prides herself in having led one of the largest and most diverse colleges in the institution. The college is comprised of 11 academic departments serving 6,000 students who choose to major in one of 22-degree programs. A champion for innovation, Dr. Levine has served on the steering committee for the institution’s regional accreditation, has served on numerous university committees in support of strategic and academic planning, and co-chaired a committee in support of the lifecycle of the professoriate. Dr. Levine is regarded as a leader who cares deeply about faculty and students.

Dr. Levine’s research and creative interests are in the area of women’s choruses. She is founder and artistic director of VOX Femina Los Angeles, Los Angeles’s premiere women’s chorus who have performed over 300 concerts throughout the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Dr. Levine is highly recognized for innovative concert programming and her extensive knowledge and breadth of women’s choral literature makes her sought-after as a guest conductor, adjudicator, and clinician.

JOCELYN HAGEN, COMPOSER-IN-RESIDENCE
Jocelyn Hagen composes music that has been described as “simply magical” (Fanfare Magazine) and “dramatic and deeply moving” (Star Tribune, Minneapolis/St. Paul). She is a pioneer in the field of composition, pushing the expectations of musicians and audiences with large-scale multimedia works, electro-acoustic music, dance, opera, and publishing. Her first forays into composition were via songwriting, still very evident in her work. The majority of her compositions are for the voice: solo, chamber and choral. Her melodic music is rhythmically driven and texturally complex, rich in color and deeply heartfelt.

In 2019 and 2020, choirs and orchestras across the country are premiering her multimedia symphony The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci that includes video projections created by a team of visual artists, highlighting da Vinci’s spectacular drawings, inventions, and texts. Hagen describes her process of composing for choir, orchestra and film simultaneously in a Tedx Talk given at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, now available on YouTube. Her dance opera collaboration with choreographer Penelope Freeh,Test Pilot, received the 2017 American Prize in the musical theater/opera division as well as a Sage Award for “Outstanding Design.” The panel declared the work “a tour de force of originality.”  Links to Jocelyn's music can be found at https://www.jocelynhagen.com.

LORI MARIE RIOS, CONDUCTOR
Lori Marie Rios is a highly accomplished conductor, soloist, educator and voice teacher. She currently serves as Associate Professor of Music at College of the Canyons, Valencia where she is the music director of the Chamber Singers and Voices of the Canyons Community Chorus. She also teaches voice and administrates the applied music program. Prior to her appointment at COC, she directed the choral program at La Canada High School. Ensembles under her direction have sung all over the United States. Her choirs have appeared at the American Choral Directors Association Regional Convention in Las Vegas in 2004 and in 2007 were selected to appear at the ACDA National Convention in Miami. The choirs at La Canada also performed at the California Music Educators Conference. Lori Marie also is an adjunct professor at Pasadena City College where she conducts the Concert Choir. She is also on faculty at California State University, Los Angeles Summer Graduate Program where she teaches voice and graduate level conducting. Lori Marie is on the choral-vocal faculty of the Idyllwild Arts Summer Program where she serves as Assistant Director.

Ms. Rios has presented workshops for the American Choral Directors Association and this past year presented three workshops for the Nevada Music Educators Association. She is in much demand as a clinician and adjudicator. She has conducted district and state wide honor choirs. She also sits on the Los Angeles Bach Festival Board of Directors. She made her Walt Disney Concert Hall debut in 2006 as the soprano soloist in Mozarts Requiem.

MATTHEW LYON HAZZARD, COMPOSER-IN-RESIDENCE
Matthew Lyon Hazzard is an award-winning Filipino-American composer, conductor, singer, and educator. Praised for his “exquisite text-setting” and for creating “stunning landscapes of sound,” Hazzard’s music has garnered numerous accolades. He was named the winner of the 2021 CCDA George Heussenstamm Choral Composition Competition, the 2017 ACDA Raymond W. Brock Student Composition Competition, a prize winner of the International Choral Composition Competition Japan 2016, and the inaugural winner of True Concord’s Stephen Paulus Emerging Composers Competition. His music is performed by collegiate and professional ensembles around the world, including the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, the Metropolitan Chorus of Tokyo, the Portland State Chamber Choir, the Vancouver Chamber Choir, the Bob Cole Chamber Choir, and others.

Hazzard earned his D.M.A. in Choral Conducting from the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston, his M.M. in Choral Conducting from the Bob Cole Conservatory at California State University Long Beach, and his M.A.T. and B.M. in Music Composition from East Carolina University. He has directed high school, collegiate, community, and church choirs, and has conducted many esteemed ensembles in concert, including the Houston Chamber Choir, the Bob Cole Chamber Choir, the USC Thorton Concert Choir, and the University of Houston Concert Chorale. He currently teaches choir and continues to write for voices at his home in Long Beach, California.

PROGRAM 

In Her Image

NATIONAL TREBLE CHORUS
IRIS LEVINE, Guest Conductor
One With The Wind — David O. and Larissa FastHorse
The Girl With The Numbers — Marie Claire Saindon
I Want to Die While You Love Me — Rosephanye Powell
Searching For Dark Matter — Jocelyn Hagen (WORLD PREMIERE)
Canto E Liberta’ — Miriam Suzette Ortiz & Diana Saez
Measure Me, Sky — Elaine Hagenberg


NATIONAL CONCERT CHORUS
LORI MARIE RIOS, Guest Conductor
To Sit and Dream — Rosephanye Powell
Alleluia — Jake Runestad
O Admirable Commercium — Jacob Handl
Arirang — arr. Hyo-Won Woo
Garden of Memory — Matthew Lyon Hazzard (WORLD PREMIERE)
All My Trials — arr. Gwyneth Walker

SPOTLIGHT PERFORMANCE BY:
VOX Femina Los Angeles
Iris Levine, Conductor

Saturday June 8th, 2024 at 8:30pm 
CARNEGIE HALL