Distinguished in both classical and sacred music, Stephen Nielson is widely regarded as one of the distinctive artists of our time. His concertizing has taken him to such cities as Hong Kong, Bogotá, Freiburg, Copenhagen, Berlin, London, Vienna, Brussels, Tokyo, Frankfurt, Prague, Salzburg, Jerusalem, and Chennai, India, to name a few. He has toured major artistic centers in Russia, the Baltics, Japan, and Switzerland, and is an Ambassador of Culture for the World Cultural Alliance. His North American solo and chamber music itinerary for more than a quarter century numbered concerts in the hundreds, from Los Angeles to Boston, Seattle to Naples, Detroit to Mexico City, Miami to Winnipeg and Toronto, and Chicago to Dallas. Hailing a performance in Germany, the Berlin Morgenpost said, “Highly sensitive, articulate artistry,” while Brussels’ Le Soir exclaimed, “Exciting and masterful playing.” His discography includes recordings of the classical repertoire, music for piano and cello, and hymn tunes in the classical style. His writing achievements appear in the catalogues of several American publishers. 

For more than four decades, Stephen Nielson was one-half of the acclaimed duo-piano team of Nielson & Young, whose breadth of repertoire and performance venues was virtually without comparison. He continues his ongoing solo activities and is embarking on exciting new musical partnerships in the United States and abroad. 

Long committed to the high calling of mentoring and nurture in the teaching profession, Stephen Nielson has served on collegiate faculties in Illinois and Texas and has for many years maintained an award-winning private studio of adult and pre-collegiate students. Underscoring the esteem in which he is held nationally as a renowned teacher, Mr. Nielson was inducted into the inaugural Steinway & Sons Teacher Hall of Fame in October 2019. 

Stephen Nielson and his wife Carolyne reside in Dallas and are the proud parents of daughters Christiana (writer/editor) and Caroline (mezzo soprano and vocalist, U.S. Army Band “Pershing’s Own”). 

Sangsoo Kim earned his B.M. in Piano Performance at Seoul National University in South Korea and his M.M. and Performance Diploma in Piano Performance from Indiana University under Emile Naoumoff, where he worked as an Associate Instructor. He is currently a Doctoral candidate at The University of North Texas with Dr. Pamela Mia Paul, where he has worked as a Teaching Fellow. He serves as a piano instructor at Dallas ISD and staff accompanist at the Lewisville Lake Symphony International Competition. He has been recognized as a 1st prize winner at the Petroff Piano Competition, Texoma Piano Competition, and winner of 13th Texas State International Piano Festival Concerto Competition. He has performed Prokofiev Concerto No. 3 with the Central Texas Philharmonic. 

Sidney Hopkins, violin

Brittany Kerstein, soprano

Susan Cahoon, alto

Danielle Harrington, soprano

Kiel King, baritone

Eric Rau is in his fourth year of undergraduate studies at the University of North Texas, pursuing a degree in cello performance as a student of Professor Nikola Ruzevic. Originally from the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, Eric started playing the cello at the age of five and previously studied under Dr. Elizabeth Morrow of the University of Texas at Arlington. He has participated

in summer programs, including the Interlochen Arts Camp and UNT’s Summer String Institute.

Eric has been featured as a soloist with the Fort Worth Youth Orchestra, the Fort Worth Civic Orchestra, and the Northeast Orchestra of Tarrant County after winning the organizations’ concerto competitions. In April of 2023, he placed second in his category at the Rudolf Matz International String Competition in Croatia. From 2021-2023, Eric served as co-principal in UNT’s Concert Orchestra, and since the fall of 2023, has served as assistant principal in UNT’s Symphony Orchestra. Eric is also an active member of the Kintsugi String Quartet of UNT, a section cellist in the Las Colinas Symphony Orchestra, and a former member of the award-winning Helicon Trio.

Sangsoo Kim earned his B.M. in Piano Performance at Seoul National University in South Korea and his M.M. and Performance Diploma in Piano Performance from Indiana University under Emile Naoumoff, where he worked as an Associate Instructor. He is currently a Doctoral candidate at The University of North Texas with Dr. Pamela Mia Paul, where he has worked as a Teaching Fellow. He serves as a piano instructor at Dallas ISD and staff accompanist at the Lewisville Lake Symphony International Competition. He has been recognized as a 1st prize winner at the Petroff Piano Competition, Texoma Piano Competition, and winner of 13th Texas State International Piano Festival Concerto Competition. He has performed Prokofiev Concerto No. 3 with the Central Texas Philharmonic. 

Robert Churchill has served as the Director of Music/Organist of Good Shepherd since August 1976. He began his organ study while attending Huron College in Huron, South Dakota, and continued his undergraduate studies at Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minnesota. While a senior at Gustavus, Robert was chosen as a finalist in the National Organ Playing Competition held in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Graduate studies were done at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Robert received his Master of Sacred Music degree in 1977. While organist at Good Shepherd, Robert has held sales positions with KERA, Zale’s, World Travel Partners, and as an independent travel agent. He is a member of the Dallas Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.  

This August, he begins his 50th year as organist at Good Shepherd. 

Cellist Gayane Manasjan-Fullford is a versatile and prolific performer. She has performed as a soloist and chamber music artist throughout the United States including in such cities as New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Houston, Austin, Birmingham, San Juan-Puerto Rico, and at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. She has also performed throughout Japan and Iceland. Since 1981 she has performed extensively in Vermont where she co-founded the Killington Music Festival. An active teacher, Ms. Manasjan maintains a private studio and has given masterclasses at Rice University, the Sakuyo College of Music in Japan, and the Reykavik College of Music in Iceland. Born in Hollywood, California, Ms. Manasjan holds degrees from the Juilliard School and California Institute of the Arts. Her principal cello teachers include Channing Robbins, Ron Leonard, and Leonard Rose. She has also worked with members of the Juilliard, Hungarian, Cleveland, and Vegh String Quartets. A former member of the Ft. Worth Symphony, she was also principal cellist of the Dallas Chamber Orchestra from 1982 through 1995. Ms. Manasjan is a frequent performer with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and has joined them for their tours and recordings.  

In 2011, in collaboration with leading artists from throughout Texas, she created Art Music, an annual chamber music concert series in Dallas. 

Maria Schleuning - Violin

Laura Logan Brandenburg, DMA, served as Harp Instructor on the Texas Christian University School of Music faculty from 2001 to 2020. In addition, she maintained an active pre-college studio through the TCU Music Prep Department, teaching Suzuki harp students aged five through young adults. She currently coaches private students of all ages in her home studio. A highly regarded freelance harpist, Laura enjoys a wide variety of collaborative performance opportunities in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. She was a frequent sub with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra for over thirty years, and has most recently served as Principal Harp with the Lewisville Lake Symphony. She held the position of Principal Harp with the Richardson Symphony Orchestra from 1990 to 2010, as well as Principal Harp in the Oklahoma City Philharmonic from 1995 to 1997. She is the founder, director, and member of the Octavia Harp Ensemble, performing in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and beyond for more than twenty-five years. Laura delights in performing with Cindy Horstman and Kimberly DeRosa as The Dallas Jazz Harp Ensemble, presenting concerts and educational programs of original tunes and jazz standards arranged for harp trio. Other adventures on harp include collaborating with Jeff Walters as The Logan/Walters Harp Duo, performing all original transcriptions and arrangements for two harps. Partnering with flutist Don Bailey, their new recording entitled Hypnosis was released in 2022 on the Albany label. The CD features works from standard flute and harp repertoire as well as fresh new transcriptions, and has been hailed as “sparkling,” “charming,” and “entrancing.”   

Ms. Brandenburg will be joined by four harpists on this special Sunday. Each year, we celebrate Christmas in July with familiar carols in worship alongside a collection for school teachers at a neighborhood elementary school.

Cellist Gayane Manasjan-Fullford is a versatile and prolific performer. She has performed as a soloist and chamber music artist throughout the United States, including in such cities as New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Houston, Austin, Birmingham, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. She has also performed throughout Japan and Iceland. Since 1981, she has performed extensively in Vermont, where she co-founded the Killington Music Festival. An active teacher, Ms. Manasjan maintains a private studio and has given masterclasses at Rice University, the Sakuyo College of Music in Japan, and the Reykjavik College of Music in Iceland. Born in Hollywood, California, Ms. Manasjan holds degrees from the Juilliard School and California Institute of the Arts. Her principal cello teachers include Channing Robbins, Ron Leonard, and Leonard Rose. She has also worked with members of the Juilliard, Hungarian, Cleveland, and Vegh String Quartets. A former member of the Ft Worth Symphony, she was also principal cellist of the Dallas Chamber Orchestra from 1982 through 1995. Ms. Manasjan is a frequent performer with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and has joined them for their tours and recordings.  
   
In 2011, in collaboration with leading artists from throughout Texas, she created Art Music, an annual chamber music concert series in Dallas. 

A 20-year resident of New York City, Don Bailey returned to Dallas in 2013, where his career began with Voices of Change and the Dallas Bach Orchestra and Dallas Chamber Orchestra. He has enjoyed a diverse career as a performer, professor, festival planner, and board member for several arts organizations, including the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra and his own Voyage Unlimited, Inc., which publishes and presents music for flute and strings. 

Don was a solo flutist for Cunard Cruise Lines and has toured extensively with pianists Dianne Frazer, official pianist of the National Flute Association, and Donald Sulzen of the Munich Piano Trio, with whom he has recorded. He has appeared at festivals in Aspen, Colorado; Nice, France; Spoleto, Italy; Belfast, Northern Ireland, among others, as well as at numerous National Flute Association conventions. He has recorded for Summit, Genuin, Albany, and Parnassus labels, among others. His newest release, Hypnosis, features Good Shepherd’s own harpist, Laura Logan Brandenburg. 

Don completed his graduate studies at the University of North Texas and continued advanced training at the Aspen Music Festival and the Académie d'été in Nice, France. His teachers include the distinguished flutists Julius Baker, Harold Bennett, Michel Debost, Charles Delaney, Geoffrey Gilbert, Alain Marion, Judith Mendenhall, George Morey, Marcel Moyse, and Albert Tipton. Don plays a handmade 14K gold Brannen-Cooper flute. (https://donbailey.net) 

Donald Sulzen is one of the few pianists to achieve international recognition in two realms of classical music. He is not only a sought-after collaborator with some of the world’s most celebrated singers—including Anna Caterina Antonacci, Laura Aikin, Julie Kaufmann, Thomas E. Bauer, Thomas Cooley, and James Taylor—but also the pianist of the renowned Munich Piano Trio. His extensive concert career has taken him to many of the most prestigious recital halls across Europe, the United States, South America, China, and Japan. Numerous radio and television broadcasts, along with more than forty CD productions, attest to the high artistic level of his work. 

He has served as a guest professor of music at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and as head of the Song Department at the University of Music and Theatre in Munich. Donald Sulzen’s passion for uniting the musicians of his trio with his vocal partners is reflected in distinctive CD recordings featuring works by Joseph Haydn, Alberto Ginastera, Ned Rorem, and Astor Piazzolla. Together with flutist Don Bailey, he recorded Tribute, a CD dedicated to 20th-century flute repertoire. A wide selection of his recordings can be heard on his website: www.donaldsulzen.com. 

A native of Garland, TX, Claire Miller received a BME in Choral music (piano principal) from Ouachita Baptist University in 2005. She moved to Faith Academy in the Philippines, where she accompanied for 10 years. She has played for large and small choral ensembles from elementary to high school and accompanied for choir festivals and a tour to South Korea. She has experience accompanying for Solo and Ensemble, UIL, and various church services. She has recently played keys for Sweeney Todd, Mary Poppins, and Chicago. Claire resides in Mansfield with her husband and four children. 

Robert Churchill has served as the Director of Music/Organist of Good Shepherd since August 1976. He began his organ study while attending Huron College in Huron, South Dakota, and continued his undergraduate studies at Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, Minnesota. While a senior at Gustavus, Robert was chosen as a finalist in the National Organ Playing Competition held in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Graduate studies were done at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Robert received his Master of Sacred Music degree in 1977. While organist at Good Shepherd, Robert has held sales positions with KERA, Zale’s, World Travel Partners, and as an independent travel agent. He is a member of the Dallas Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.  

This August, he begins his 50th year as organist at Good Shepherd.