Contact: Maridith Geuder
(Top) Aaron Parks, (center) Andrew Cooperstock and (bottom) Lynn Rice-See
A jazz prodigy who has recorded three compact discs and performed on National Public Radio while still a teenager is headlining Mississippi State's annual Mississippi Piano Showcase.
Eighteen-year-old Aaron Parks, Cole Porter Fellow of the American Pianists Association, will perform June 2 at a recital that launches a week of university faculty and guest artist concerts, student and teacher workshops, and student performances.
Sponsored through the 7th by MSU's music education department, the extravaganza also features pianist Andrew Cooperstock of Colorado and Lynn Rice-See of Tennessee.
The Opening Gala Concert by Parks and two Manhattan School of Music colleagues begins at 4 p.m. in the McComas Hall theater. Tickets are $15.
A Seattle, Wash., native, Parks showed an early interest in mathematics and computer science. Skipping high school, he entered the University of Washington at 14 as a National Merit Scholar. He now is a junior in jazz studies at the Manhattan School.
During his young career, Parks has won national and international musical acclaim as a Clifford Brown/Stan Getz Fellow, Yamaha Young Performing Artist, Betty Carter Jazz Ahead recipient, and Down Beat Magazine's selection as outstanding college jazz soloist, among others.
In 2001, his participation in the APA's Fifth American Jazz Piano Competition earned the first-ever designation as a Cole Porter Fellow. In addition to $10,000, the award included production of a compact disc and career assistance.
Parks' MSU appearance is part of the Klipsch Tour of the Cole Porter Fellow.
The other public showcase events include:
--A June 4 concert by Cooperstock and Rice-See, also in the McComas theater. Tickets are $10 for the 7:30 p.m. recital that includes selections from Maurice Ravel, Isaac Albéniz, Alberto Ginastera, Frédéric Chopin, and Aleksandr Scriabin.
Cooperstock, a University of Colorado at Boulder faculty member, is a graduate of the Juilliard School and the Cincinnati and Peabody conservatories. Also a faculty member at North Carolina's Brevard Music Center, he has appeared on National Public Radio's "Performance Today," as well as on Minnesota Public Radio and the Australian and British broadcasting networks.
Since her 1982 Carnegie Recital Hall debut, Lynn Rice-See has appeared widely as recitalist, concerto soloist and chamber musician. Professor of piano at East Tennessee State University, she is a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory, Juilliard School and the University of Southern California.
--A June 6 concert by MSU faculty pianists Roseangela Sebba and Jackie Edwards-Henry, percussionist Robert Damm, trombonist Richard Human, guitarist Michael Patilla, and featured soprano Rebecca Koenigberg. Tickets are $10 for the 7:30 p.m. performance, also in the McComas theater.
--A June 7 recital in Bettersworth Auditorium of Giles Hall by students participating in the showcase. The 10 a.m. performance is free to the public.
For more information about the 2002 MSU showcase, telephone (662) 325-3070.