Cal State L.A., CSULA, John Biggs, Composer, Choral Concert, Music Department, William Belan

May 21, 2008

Watch Us Face the Music!

Cal State L.A. Choral Concert to celebrate
John Biggs� 75th Birthday May 31

Los Angeles, CA �Watch Us Face the Music! A Celebration of Composer John Biggs� 75th Birthday� will be presented by the Music Department at California State University, Los Angeles on Saturday, May 31, 8 p.m., at Cal State L.A.�s State Playhouse.

Led by director William Belan, the Cal State L.A. Choral Concert will feature choral music and chamber music composed by Biggs.   

Born in Los Angeles, California, on October 18, 1932, Biggs is an accomplished composer, winning numerous awards and honors�including a Rockefeller Grant, Fulbright Grant, Atwater-Kent Award, ASCAP �Serious Music Award� every year since 1974, and a number of �Meet the Composer� grants from diverse parts of the United States.

He founded the John Biggs Consort, which toured internationally under Columbia Artists Management, specializing in medieval, renaissance, and 20th century music. He has also served as composer-in-residence to six colleges in Kansas under a grant from the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. For more about Biggs, go to http://consortpress.com/Bio.Reviews.html.

Conducted by Belan, Joseph Schubert, Abel Ramirez and Donald Brinegar, the concert will feature the Cal State L.A. Concert Choir, University Choir and Wind Ensemble; Chamber Singers of Pasadena City College; John Biggs, composer and narrator; Mark Goodrich, tenor; Helen Goode-Castro, clarinet; Ramon Villanueva, French horn; Belinda Broughton, Jennifer Walton and Nicholas Walton, violin; Oliver Walton, cello; Scott Walton, tuba; and Bruce Broughton and Twyla Meyer, piano.

Tickets are $15 for general admission; $12 for CSULA faculty and staff, and $8 for students and seniors. For more on the Cal State L.A. Concert Choir, call (323) 343-4060.

What:             �Watch Us Face the Music! A Celebration of 
                   Composer John Biggs� 75th Birthday�

When:            Saturday, May 31, 8 p.m.

Where:          State Playhouse, on the Cal State L.A. campus. For directions or campus map, go to www.calstatela.edu. Public permit parking is available at Lot 5 or upper level of Parking Structure C.

Tickets:         General admission, $15; CSULA faculty/staff, $12;                    students/seniors, $8.

Info:               Call (323) 343-4060.

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Working for California since 1947: The 175-acre hilltop campus of California State University, Los Angeles is at the heart of a major metropolitan city, just five miles from Los Angeles� civic and cultural center. More than 20,000 students and 200,000 alumni�with a wide variety of interests, ages and backgrounds�reflect the city�s dynamic mix of populations. Six colleges offer nationally recognized science, arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education and humanities programs, among others, led by an award-winning faculty. Cal State L.A. is home to the critically-acclaimed Luckman Jazz Orchestra and to a unique university center for gifted students as young as 12. Programs that provide exciting enrichment opportunities to students and community include an NEH- and Rockefeller-supported humanities center; a NASA-funded center for space research; and a growing forensic science program, housed in the Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center. www.calstatela.edu