Award-winning songwriter and author Michael Neale honed his craft at Evangel

Evangel grads Michael and Leah Neale celebrate his Dove Award for the 2012 Worship Song of the Year.

Most young musicians dream of being able to record their own songs, even if they are only enjoyed by family and friends. But being a national-award-winning recording artist takes life to a whole new level.

“When your art has impacted a lot of people, it’s a very uplifting experience,” says Dove Award winner Michael Neale, a 1994 graduate of Evangel University.

In 2012 Neale and co-writer Krissy Nordhoff won the Gospel Music Association’s Dove Award for Worship Song of the Year for their song “Your Great Name.”

Neale started writing songs at Evangel, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in music, with an emphasis in vocal performance and composition.

“Evangel is a fantastic environment to spread your wings,” Neale says. “I am grateful they allowed me to learn and solidify my calling.”

As a student, Neale joined Evangel’s highly acclaimed music ensemble, Frontline. The group toured the country performing in youth conferences, churches and other venues.

Upon graduation, he moved to Nashville with fellow Frontline member Devin Webb. They soon signed a recording contract with Liquid Disc Records, and one year later they debuted as Neale & Webb with their first CD, At the Cross. The pair traveled together for five years.

“Songwriters are storytellers,” says Neale. “I’m really excited to teach the next generation about creating art and culture.”

In September 2012, Thomas-Nelson published his first novel, The River, a CBA best-selling book about a man struggling with memories from the past and a future that will force him to face those same memories.

Neale divides his time among leading worship in churches, writing, recording and being a featured teacher at conferences around the country.

In between his travels, he serves on the team of worship leaders at Christ Fellowship Church in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, where he lives with his wife and their three children.

— By Kelsey Reinhard, a senior journalism major from Quincy, Illinois

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Director to screen award-winning film about nuns at Fairfield University

Fairfield University will host a free screening of the film "A Question of Habit," a lively look at contemporary depictions of nuns, followed by a Q&A with director Bren Ortega Murphy at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, April 8. The event, which is free and open to the public, will take place in the University's DiMenna-Nyselius Library multimedia room. Light refreshments will be provided.

The screening is sponsored by The Humanities Institute in the College of Arts and Sciences; the Program in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; Reel Women; and the departments of Religious Studies and Film, Television and Media Arts. It is part of Fairfield's slate of events marking Women's History Month.

"A Question of Habit" is a full-length documentary narrated by actress Susan Sarandon, who won an Oscar for her role as Sister Helen Prejean in "Dead Man Walking." The film, which was a Remi Winner at the 44th annual WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival and won an award of excellence from the Broadcast Education Association, examines depictions of Catholic nuns in contemporary U.S. popular culture. It contrasts these images with the lives of actual women religious, both historical and current. For instance, although most Roman Catholic women religious in the U.S. have not worn the full habits of their orders for more than 40 years, images of nuns and sisters in such habits can be found across pop culture.

Murphy, a professor of communication studies and women's studies/gender studies at Loyola University Chicago, and fellow filmmaker Mike Whalen interviewed more than 30 women religious, cultural critics, historians and artists for the film, including Prejean, Tom Fontana ("Oz," "Homicide") and Robert Orsi ("Madonna of 115th Street").

"Loved the film!" raved the Rev. James Martin, S.J., author of "The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything" and "Between Heaven and Mirth." "'A Question of Habit' is a provocative, funny, thoughtful, entertaining and inspiring new documentary that reveals the largely unheralded and often unknown contributions of sisters and nuns to our world. If your image of women religious is still 'The Flying Nun' or 'Sister Act,' be prepared for a surprise."

For more information on the screening and other Women's History Month events, visit www.fairfield.edu/wgs.

Media Contact: Meredith Guinness, (203) 254-4000, ext. 2950, mguinness@fairfield.edu

Posted on March 14, 2013

Vol. 45, No. 217

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The Young Artists Series presents Kate Liu, award-winning pianist

3 p.m., Sunday, January 27, 2013
Lawrence A. Wien Experimental Theatre
Quick Center for the Arts
Free Admission

Award-winning pianist Kate Liu performs at 3 p.m., on Sunday, January 27, 2013, in Fairfield University's Lawrence A. Wien Experimental Theatre, located in the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts. The concert is part of the Quick Center's Young Artists Series and is presented in association with The Stecher and Horowitz Foundation. Admission is free and open to the public.

Kate Liu was born in Singapore in 1994 and began playing the piano when she was four years old. She moved to the United States with her family when she was eight years of age. She won the Illinois Junior Music Teachers National Association Competition in 2007 and 2008 and both the Junior and Senior Divisions of the Chicago Steinway Competition in 2006 and 2007 respectively, and performed on the Young Steinway Concert Series in 2007. In 2008, Ms. Liu won Second Prize in the International Institute for Young Musicians Competition, and received honors in the regionals of the Junior MTNA Competition.

In 2010, at the age of 16, she won First Prize at the Fifth New York International Piano Competition, a biennial event presented under the auspices of The Stecher and Horowitz Foundation. She was also the Prize Winner for Best Performance of the Required Contemporary Work by Avner Dorman. Ms. Liu was a scholarship recipient and student of the Music Institute of Chicago's Academy program for gifted pre-college musicians, where she studied privately with artist faculty member Alan Chow and Emilio Del Rosario

She was also featured on WTTW Chicago's "Tonight" show. Following an audition held by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Kate was chosen to perform with the internationally renowned pianist Lang Lang and also to participate in his master class. She played Schubert's Fantasy in F minor, one-piano, four hands with Lang Lang in two concerts at the Symphony Center in Chicago in November, 2008. That year, she also performed a live recital on WFMT radio's Introductions Program.

In March of 2009, she traveled with the Music Institute of Chicago to the east coast where she performed at Weill Hall, at Carnegie Hall in New York City, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. In October of 2009, she won the Junior Division of the Louisiana International Piano Competition. In July, 2010 she performed Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 3 with the Cleveland Orchestra as a finalist of the Thomas and Evon Cooper International Competition, receiving Third Prize.

Kate Liu has performed with the Skokie Symphony Orchestra in Illinois, and in New York at Temple Emanu-El, the Ossining Public Library, The Park Avenue Christian Church and the Bohemian Club. Ms. Liu is the recipient of a scholarship from the Chopin Foundation of the United States and has also been featured on NPR's "From the Top." During the 2011 season, Kate Liu's recital at the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. "confirmed a burgeoning talent and a musical poise well beyond her years. She is already a pianist worth leaving home to hear" according to The Washington Post.

Kate Liu entered Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia in the fall of 2012 to begin her undergraduate studies with Robert McDonald.

The Stecher and Horowitz Foundation, through its flagship program, The New York International Piano Competition, is committed to furthering the education, recognition and fostering of a new generation of talented young musicians, directly serving pianists ages 16-21. The Foundation helps aspirants achieve their personal and professional goals through mentoring, career guidance, artistic development, and performance opportunities throughout the year.

For Quick Center Box Office information, call (203) 254-4010, or toll-free 1-877-ARTS-396 (1-877-278-7396). Visit online at www.quickcenter.com.

The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts is located on the campus of Fairfield University at 1073 North Benson Road in Fairfield, Connecticut. Entrance to the Quick Center is through the Barlow Road gate at 200 Barlow Road. Free, secure parking is available. Access for people with disabilities is available throughout the Quick Center for audience members and performers. Hearing amplification devices are available upon request at the Box Office. Fairfield University is located off exit 22 of Interstate-95. For further information and directions, call (203) 254-4010 or 1-877-278-7396, or visit www.quickcenter.com.

Media Contact: Mike Horyczun, (203) 254-4000 ext. 2647, mhoryczun@fairfield.edu

Posted on January 09, 2013

Vol. 45, No. 148

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