PRESS RELEASE
UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL ARKANSAS
COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS AND COMMUNICATION
Contact: Brent Shires, (501) 450-5768; bshires@uca.edu
January 16, 2014
JEFF AND NINA NELSEN TO BE ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE JAN. 21-23
By Cassidy Crawford
College of Fine Arts and Communication Media Office
CONWAY — Horn player Jeff Nelsen and soprano Nina Yoshida Nelsen will be on the University of Central Arkansas campus Jan. 21-23 as artists in residence.
Besides a public recital on Friday, Jan. 23, in the Snow Fine Arts Center Recital Hall, Jeff Nelsen, a music professor at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and a former member of Canadian Brass, the long-running, popular brass quintet, hopes to help people in reducing performance anxiety with his seminar, “Fearless Performance.” Three sessions are scheduled: Class 1 from 7:30-9:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 21; Class 2 on Thursday, Jan. 22, from 1:40-2:30 p.m.; and Class 3, from 2-3 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 23.
“The ‘Fearless Performance’ seminars do not have to be attended in sequence to be beneficial,” said Dr. Brent Shires, horn professor at UCA and the faculty sponsor for the residency. “Any one of them is useful by itself.”
The program for the Jan. 23 public concert will include vocal selections by Nina Yoshida Nelsen, including art pieces by Saint-Saens and Brahms. Jeff Nelsen will perform Bach and some blues. Together they will present duets, such as “Con te partiro” and a set of specially composed songs based on Brian Andreas’ “Story People” vignettes. UCA piano lecturer Terrie Shires will join the Nelsens on piano for this program.
All of the above events are scheduled for the Recital Hall and are free and open to the public.
Friday, Jan. 23 will feature a hands-on session for high school horn players and interested teachers. From 5-7 p.m., Brent Shires will hold the clinic “Making All-State on Horn.” Horn players are invited to bring their instruments and participate in this class where tips and techniques will be helpful for those aspiring to make the February Arkansas All-State ensembles in Hot Springs. Even those who aren’t qualifiers will still learn necessary techniques and approaches that can be applied to everyday horn playing as well as next year’s tryouts.
For more information about the Nelsen residency, contact Brent Shires at (501) 450-5768 or bshires@uca.edu.
The Artist in Residence program is funded by UCA’s arts fee and is administered by the College of Fine Arts and Communication. For more information about the program, call the Office of the Dean, College of Fine Arts and Communication, at (501) 450-3293 or e-mail jdmiller@uca.edu.
The UCA College of Fine Arts and Communication includes the Departments of Art, Communication, Mass Communication and Theatre, Music and Writing. The college’s primary mission is the preparation of the next generation of artists, educators and communicators. For more information about CFAC, visit www.uca.edu/cfac or call (501) 450-3293.
-30-
