Guest Artists
Fall Semester
Dr. Christopher Harris, native of Fort Worth, Texas, is a music educator, clinician, conductor, performer,
and choral composer. Currently, Harris is the Director of Choral Activities and Assistant
Professor of Music at Arkansas Tech University where he conducts the ATU Choral Artists,
University Singers, and University Men’s and Women’s Choruses and teaches courses
in Choral Methods, Choral Conducting, and Choral Arranging. He received his PhD in
Choral Music Education from Florida State University in Tallahassee, FL, his Master’s
in Choral Conducting from Ithaca College in Ithaca, NY, and his Bachelor’s in Music
Education from Texas Southern University in Houston, TX. Prior to entering graduate
school, Harris enjoyed several years of successful public school teaching in Houston,
Texas. His choirs received numerous sweepstakes awards at state UIL competition as
well as honors to perform with the Bay Area Chorus.
Harris is the founder of the Houston Master Singers and has served as the Assistant
Director for the Houston Ebony Opera Guild. He is active as an adjudicator and has
presented numerous sessions on choral rehearsal techniques at state and regional conventions.
He is a published composer with several accolades including winner of both the Eastern
and National Divisions of the 2013 National Association for Music Education Composition
Competition, and the Grand Prize Winner of the 2016 Ithaca College Choral Composition
Competition. His music has been performed internationally by mixed, men’s, and treble
choirs of varied ages and abilities.
Most recently Harris was honored through the selection of his music for performance
by the 2018 Texas All-State Mixed Choir, the 2018 Southwest American Choral Directors
Association Men’s Honor Choir, the 2018 Arkansas Intercollegiate Choir, and the 2019
Arkansas All-State Mixed Choir and New York All-State Mixed Choir. Dr. Harris has
presented numerous sessions at conferences and professional developments in Texas,
Arkansas, Hawaii,and Louisiana and conducted all-region ensembles in Arkansas and
New York.
As a performer Christopher has performed as guest baritone soloist for concerts with
the Texas Southern University Choir, the Houston Ebony Opera Guild, the Houston Symphony
Chorus, the 2013 Owego School District’s Production of Faure’s Requiem, with choirs
from Florida State University, and the Tallahassee Community Chorus. Harris was guest
soloist with the ATU Symphonic Wind Ensemble for their performance at the Southwestern
Division of the College Band Directors National Association Convention in Houston,
Texas in March 2018.
Choirs under Harris’ direction have received several performance honors this academic
year. The ATU Choral Artists will perform with Arkansas Baroque Music, Inc. in October
2019 and April 2020, at the National Collegiate Choral Organization Conference in
November 2019, at the Arkansas All-State Music Conference in February 2020, and at
Carnegie Hall in May 2020.
Spring Semester
Dr. Karsten Longhurst was named the Director of Choral Music and Assistant Director of Music Education
at Northwestern Oklahoma State University in 2015. He conducts the University Concert
Choir, Chorale, and Singers and teaches conducting, choral methods, music history,
and musicianship. The NWOSU Singers are the vocal ambassadors of the University and
frequently perform and tour throughout Oklahoma and the surrounding states. NWOSU
Chorale and Singers also recently toured Austria, Germany and Czech Republic and collaborated
with the Enid Symphony.
Dr. Longhurst remains active conducting honor choirs, clinics, adjudicating, and is a member of the American Choral
Directors Association (ACDA), Oklahoma Music Educators Association, National Association
for Music Educators, International Federation for Choral Music, and the National Association
of Teachers of Singing. He has conducted the Western and Eastern Central Oklahoma
Honor Choirs and this fall will conduct the Oklahoma East and Southeast District Choirs
and the Southwest Kansas District Honor Choir. He currently serves as the ACDA Oklahoma
Repertoire and Standards Chair for Men’s Choirs.
Previous degrees also include a Bachelor of Music in Education and of German from
Weber State University and a Master in Music in choral conducting from the University
of Utah. Longhurst received his Doctorate of Musical Arts in Choral Music with emphasis
in music education, vocal performance, arts leadership from the University of Southern
California. His dissertation focus was on the Dr. Rudolf Mauersberger, Conductor of
the Kreuzchor in Dresden, and an analysis of his Dresdner Requiem. His research interests include music
of twentieth century German composers, developing student leaders, student-centered
learning, and development and repertoire for TTBB and male choirs.
Dr. Longhurst also enjoys a career as a professional solo and ensemble tenor, having
performed with artists such as the Rolling Stones, Barry Manilow, Elton John, Christopher
Cross and ensembles such as T Minus 5 Vocal Band, Brevitas Choir, Inspiravi, Salt Lake Vocal Artists, Enid Symphony, USC Orchestra and Choirs, and others. He
resides with his family, Danielle and six children in Alva, Oklahoma.
Pianist Dr. Elvia Puccinelli is Associate Professor of Music and Coordinator of Collaborative Piano at the University
of North Texas College of Music, where she has served on the faculty since 2004 as
both vocal coach and professor of collaborative piano. A dedicated educator in the
field of collaborative arts and a specialist in vocal literature, she has been a clinician
or guest teacher at universities throughout the country such as Indiana University,
the University of Southern California, and Vanderbilt University. With collaborative
piano luminaries Margo Garrett and Donna Loewy, she has by invitation presented multiple
sessions on the pedagogy of collaborative piano at National Association of Teachers
of Singing (NATS) and National Opera Association national conventions. A published
author on topics of song literature and collaborative piano techniques, she is currently
on the editorial board of the NATS Journal of Singing. An advocate for contemporary American art song, Elvia has worked with composer Jake
Heggie on creating a comprehensive performer’s resource to his songs, and recently
recorded a cd of songs of Juliana Hall with soprano Molly Fillmore (in production).
Elvia is founder and Artistic Director of CollabFest at UNT, a professional conference
devoted exclusively to collaborative piano, the first event of its kind in the world.
Now entering its fifth year, this conference brings together collaborative pianists
from around the world and is committed to nurturing a collaborative culture in our
world by fostering the collaborative ideals of partnership, participation and presence.
She is spearheading the establishment of the International Keyboard Collaborative
Arts Society, a professional association for collaborative pianists, which will launch
in October 2020. For more information about the 2020 conference, with master clinician
Warren Jones, or for information about past events, please visit CollabFest Website. In response to the many challenges the current pandemic is posing for collaborators,
she instituted Collaborators in the Time of Corona, weekly free and interactive zoom
meetings for pianist-partners to discuss and share resources during this complicated
season. She is dedicated to serving the international collaborative piano community.
An alumna of San Francisco Opera's Merola Program and former faculty at the AIMS program
in Graz, Austria, Elvia spent over ten seasons coaching young professional singers
at the OperaWorks program in Los Angeles. Featured as guest pianist on multiple occasions
with the Fall Island Vocal Arts Seminar, she is currently on the faculty of Opera
Lucca.
Elvia has appeared in song and chamber music recitals at venues from Los Angeles to
New York City, and throughout Europe at such diverse performance events as the Los
Angeles Philharmonic's Chamber Concert Series, Placido Domingo's Operalia Competition,
the International Trumpet Guild Conference, the National Opera Association Competition,
and at NOA and NATS national conventions.
A published author on topics of song literature and collaborative piano techniques,.
Elvia has a special interest in language and in the intersection of language and music;
she also holds an undergraduate degree in French, and has served as language consultant
for Martha Gerhart’s series Italian Song Texts from the 17th through the 20th Centuries for Leyerle Press.
Elvia began her immersion in the wonderful world of music playing for voice lessons
given by her father, Primo, and assisting her mother, Marlene, in playing church services
and teaching lessons. The work they began in her continued at the University of Southern
California, where she completed MM and DMA in collaborative piano with Alan L. Smith.