Fresno State Symphony Orchestra

Dr. Thomas Loewenheim, conductor

Come and Meet the New Conductor

An introduction and information session for anyone interested in participating in the orchestra music majors and non-majors, winds, strings and percussionists are all welcome

Wednesday, August 29, 2007, 5:00 P.M.

Room 127 - School of Music Building

(there will be no rehearsal on Monday, August 27)

$$$ Scholarships Available!!! $$$

For more information come to the meeting or contact:
Dr. Loewenheim at: 278-7547
Email: tloewenheim@csufresno.edu

Film Scoring: Past and Present

Hollywood film composer and orchestrator, Jeff Atmajian will discuss the styles and processes of film scoring from the 1940s to the present day and will focus on the role of the film composer.

Mr. Atmajian has orchestrated, arranged and composed music for over 140 films, 12 film scores of which have been nominated for the Oscar.

Jeff Atmajian was born and raised in Fresno, CA. He began classical piano lessons at the age of 8 with Esther Frankian. At 15, he took on additional study of traditional jazz piano with Robert Lloyd and then later added studies in progressive (modern) jazz piano with Rick Helzer (3 teachers simultaneously!). He later continued his classical studies with Alan Rea.

Jeff began writing music at the age of 14 as he gained an interest in popular music. In addition to studies in mathematics and computers Jeff pursued a music degree with emphasis in composition California State University of Fresno. It was at this point that his love for symphonic and chamber music began to flourish. During these years he played piano for vocal groups and ballet classes, local theatre productions and the University Jazz band. He was a choir member and pianist at Northwest church 1979 - 1984. It was here that he found many opportunities to play, write and arrange for their vibrant music programs including the children's groups, the volunteer orchestra and significant holiday productions.

After completing his bachelor's degree from Fresno State, Jeff was accepted into the first year of a special studies program at USC for film music. He moved to Los Angeles (Glendale) and supported himself by doing music copying, arranging, playing for dance classes and as pianist for two churches in Orange county.

In 1986 he met English orchestrator Christopher Palmer at a film scoring seesion in Los Angeles and from that contact came the start of what would be a dual life of living and working in L.A. and London.

Jeff has had the pleasure of workign on many projects through which he has met Elmer Bernstein, Andre Previn, Sir Neville marriner, Sir Christopher Plummer, Lord Richard Attenborough, Al Pacino, Rob Reiner Nora Ephron, Barbra Streisand andmany other noted names in the classical and film world. He has worked with all the London Orchestras on classical, popular and film recordings as well as film recordings with the excellent studio orchestras in Los Angeles and New York. After several years of steady work with marc Shaiman, James Newton Howard and Rachel Portman as their orchestrator. Recently he has also enjoyed a working relationship with Gabriel Yared which has brought him the opportunity to do more film score conducting.

Jeff has done projects for Sparrow records such as "The Majesty and Glory of the Ressurection", "The Redeemer" and "Blessed Assurance" all of which he orchestrated and conducted. In 2005 he composed the music for the large production "Creation" at the Crystal Cathedral. In 2006 he composed the score for the documentary "Screamers" about the Armenian genocide. To date it has won several awards and appeared in many prestigious festivals.

Jeff has worked on over 140 films as orchestrator and is pursuing more and more projects as composer and conductor.

More recently, Jeff has played piano and arranged strings for a track on the new album by "Jem" and also lectures at the Rotal College of Music in London and USC.

He divides his life between his homes in Venice Beach and London.

Visit: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0040873

by Jeff Atmajian
B.A. Music 1984
Composer, Arranger, Orchestrator and Conductor of Film Music

The Polish Joke

The Polish Joke by David Ives and Directed by Ed Emanuel
October 5-7 & 9-13, 2007

The Polish Joke is in the same theme as My Big Fat Greek Wedding. It celebrates cultural diversity in a marvelously peculiar way as a young man struggles to attain his individuality in a society that loves to pigeon hole everybody!

State of the State

Dan Walters, who has written more than 7,000 newspaper columns about California and its politics, will deliver a "state address" that paints a disturbing picture of what's ahead.

Walters says that "California is experiencing social and economic forces that are unprecedented in the history of humankind, making it the globe's most complex society and one that is testing whether the American system of self-governance is viable amid such complexity".

Dan Walters has been a journalist for more than 45 years, spending all but a few of those years working for California newspapers. At one point in his career, at age 22, he was the nation's youngest daily newspaper editor.

He joined the Sacramento Union's Capitol bureau in 1975, just as Jerry Brown began his governorship, and later became the Union's Capitol bureau chief. In 1981, Mr. Walter's began writing the state's only daily newspaper column devoted to California political, economic and social events and in 1984, he and the column moved to the Sacramento Bee. His column now appears in more than 50 California newspapers.

Mr. Walters has written about California and its politics for a number of other publications, including the Wall Street Journal and the Christian Science Monitor. In 1986, his book, The New California: Facing the 21st Century, was published in its first edition. The book has since undergone revisions and has become a widely used college textbook about socioeconomic and political trends in the state. He is also the founding editor of the "California Political Almanac," the co-author of a new book on lobbying entitled The Third House: Lobbyists, Money and Power in Sacramento, and is a frequent guest on national television news shows, commenting on California politics.

Visit: www.sacbee.com/walters/

by Dan Walters
Keynote Speaker
California Political Columnist

This is Not the Life I Ordered: Fifty Ways to Keep Your Head Above Water When Life Keeps Dragging You Down

Meeting monthly for over a decade, four women shared their lives with one another and encouraged one another. Collectively, they experienced the extreme joys and deep sorrows that life offers up. From mundane moments to the dramatic and surreal, the authors have a history of six marriages, ten children, four stepchildren, six dogs, two miscarriages, two cats, a failed adoption, widowhood, and foster parenthood. They have built companies, lost companies, sold companies. One of them was shot and left for dead on a tarmac in South America, and two lived through the deaths of spouses. Raising babies and teenagers together, they have known celebrity and success along with loneliness and self-doubt.

Jan Yanehiro has skydived with the Army's Golden Knights and ventured up a frozen waterfall...all in the name of getting a good story! Jan pioneered the magazine format on television as co-host of Evening Magazine, a nightly program in San Francisco from 1976-90. Currently, Jan is the host of Everyday Angels on Comcast Cable TV and the Executive Producer of Pacific Fusion TV. Her latest documentary, Resettlement to Redress, examines the resettlement of Japanese Americans after WWII and the apology from the U.S. government regarding internment. Married and mother of six, Jan has won multiple awards and the Eleanor Roosevelt Humanitarian Award. She holds seat on several boards including the Kristi Yamaguchi Always Dream Foundation and the Bank of Marin.


Michealene Cristini Risley is an entrepreneur who has created some of the largest deals in consumer products and entertainment industries. As an executive with twenty-plus years experience, Ms. Cristini Risley launched the first-ever branded maternity line in association with Adidas. As vice president of licensing and character development for Sega of America, she championed the Sega Girls' Task Force. She has also produced, directed and funded a short film called Flashcards, which won Best Cineematography at the California Independent Film Festival, Best Short film at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival, and the film screened at the Cannes Film Festival Shorts Du Jour program. American Public Television on PBS stations is currently distibuting the film.

Visit: www.thisisnotthelifeiordered.com

by Jan Yanehiro
B.A. Journalism 1970
Broadcast Journalist, Documentary Producer, and Author
Speaking with co-author Michealene Cristini Risley