Contact: Maridith Geuder
A week of public concerts next month by guest and faculty artists at Mississippi State will highlight the 19th year of the Mississippi Piano Showcase.
Sponsored by the university's music education department, the June 1-6 event will again provide intense European-style master class instruction for talented high school pianists from around the South, as well as workshops for piano teachers and a series of public recitals.
Featured performers include Louis Nagel, a longtime University of Michigan faculty member and Steinway artist, and James Lesniak, a former MSU lecturer now studying at Indiana University. MSU piano faculty members and Showcase students also will be spotlighted.
Jane Magrath, professor of piano and chair of the keyboard department at the University of Oklahoma, will serve with Nagel as a showcase clinician. The author of more than 30 repertoire collections and a reference book, she has spent the past two decades performing and giving presentations in 40 states and eight foreign countries.
"The Showcase offers an opportunity to experience world-class artists, as well as to see the outstanding talents of the next generation of performers," said showcase director Jackie Edwards-Henry.
"Students participating will gain valuable, intensive training from some of the top professionals in the field," the MSU associate professor added.
Admission for each of the guest and faculty artist concerts is $10; the closing student recital is free. The week's performances, all in McComas Hall theater, include:
--Sunday, June 1, 4 p.m. opening concert by Nagel. A Michigan faculty member since 1969, he has performed throughout the United States, as well as in Europe, the Middle East, Australia, and the Far East. He holds three degrees from the Juilliard School in New York, the nation's premier performing arts educational institute.
--Tuesday, June 3, 7:30 p.m. Jean B. Taylor Memorial Guest Artist Concert by Lesniak, named in honor of the longtime Starkville piano educator who died earlier this year. A Wisconsin native, he is completing a master's degree in piano performance at IU-Bloomington. During the 2000-02 school years at MSU, Lesniak provided accompaniment for large and small departmental performances.
--Thursday, June 5, 7:30 p.m. concert featuring MSU departmental faculty and students. Faculty performers include Michael Brown on trumpet; Wendy Payton, piano; Rosangela Sebba, piano; Robert Damm, percussion; Lana Johns, flute; and Jackie Edwards-Henry, piano.
--Friday, June 6, 10:30 a.m. solo presentations by piano showcase participants.
For more information about the events, telephone the music education department at (662) 325-3070 or visit http://www.msstate.edu/dept/musiced/.