Contact: Maridith Geuder
Sheila Simpson and Calvin Permenter
As it has for 20 years, Mississippi State's 2004 Piano Showcase will mix talented students and performers for a week of musical mastery.
Sponsored June 6-11 by the university's music education department, the public/private event involves a series of European-style master classes for 20 high school pianists. Piano teachers from throughout the state and region also will attend and observe the internationally recognized instructors as they work with the students.
Public recitals are scheduled throughout the week, said showcase director Jackie Edwards-Henry.
"We'll feature guest performers, MSU faculty members and students during concerts on Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday," the MSU professor of piano added. "This is a wonderful opportunity to enjoy a wide range of talents and musical literature."
Faculty member Calvin Permenter of William Jewell College, along with New York teacher and performer Sheila Simpson, are this year's showcase clinicians.
"To help commemorate our 20th anniversary, we asked two Mississippi natives to be our clinicians," Edwards-Henry said. Permenter and Simpson formerly are of Meridian and Belzoni, respectively, she added.
The 2004 event also will honor retired department faculty member and showcase founder Harold Thompson. The Starkville resident will be recognized during intermission of the June 8 evening concert.
All held in the McComas Hall theater, the public performances include:
--June 6, 4 p.m. The Dorothy Chadwick Elliott Showcase Alumni Performances will feature showcase graduates Jason Roberts, Jessica Nelson and John Clayton, all of Tupelo; Cara McCool of New Orleans, La.; Michelle Johnston of Starkville; Carolina Whitfield-Smith of Jackson; Elissa Cope Anderson of Leland; and Mary Steele Arnold Moegle of Ruston, La.
The program is sponsored by Robert C. Elliott of New York as a memorial to his mother, an MSU graduate and piano major.
--June 8, 7:30 p.m. The Jean B. Taylor Memorial Guest Clinicians Concert with Permenter and Simpson. Permenter will present works by Debussy and Liszt, while Simpson will perform selections by Bach, Beethoven and Debussy.
Clayborne D. Taylor of Starkville is sponsoring the program as a memorial to his wife.
--June 10, 7:30 p.m. Individual MSU music faculty will be featured, including Michael Brown and Michael Huff, trumpet; Michael Patilla, guitar; Robert Damm, percussion; and Roseangela Sebba and Edwards-Henry, piano.
--June 11, 10:30 a.m. Student participants of the 2004 showcase will perform.
While the concluding student event is free to all, performances on the 6th and 8th are free to Mississippi State students with current university identification; and free to faculty as well on the 10th. General admission on those dates will be $10.
Simpson holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Alabama and a master's, with honors, from the Manhattan School of Music. She has performed in NYC's Merkin and Weill halls, the Lincoln Center and United Nations, as well as throughout the U.S. For four years as official pianist/composer for the U.S. Olympic Gymnastics Team, she was featured in live and televised venues in England, Germany, Canada, and Brazil.
Permenter holds the Robert H. McKee Chair of Music at his Liberty, Mo., college, where he has worked since 1980. He received a bachelor's degree in piano performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, a master's from Drake University, and a doctorate from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music. He has performed extensively in concerts and with orchestras in the U.S. as well as in France and England.
In addition to donors already cited, the 2004 showcase also is being supported by gifts from Melissa Holland and the Holland Endowment, in memory of former MSU English department head Robert Holland; District VI-B Federated Junior Festival; Mississippi Federation of Music Clubs; and Dr. and Mrs. Walt Newsom of Starkville.
For more showcase information, telephone Edwards-Henry at (662) 325-3070.