Centenary's Hurley School of Music Opens Concert Season Aug. 23 with Piano Recital by Leslie Downs
 

SHREVEPORT, LA -- Centenary College’s Hurley School of Music will open its 2002-03 concert season on Friday, Aug. 23 at 8 p.m. with a piano recital by alumnus Leslie Downs.  The program will be in the newly remodeled Recital Hall in the Hurley Music Building. Admission is free and open to the public.

Downs, a 1984 Bachelor of Music graduate of Centenary, holds a Master of Music degree from Yale University. He studied piano with Nena Plant Wideman, with Constance Knox Carroll at Centenary and with Donald Currier at Yale.  He has pursued further study in New York with Katherine Teves, Elizabeth Parker and Teresa Dybvig.

Downs has performed in solo, Lieder and chamber recitals across the country.  A versatile artist, he has also served as musical director for regional musical theater productions.  He currently serves as principal accompanist for the Big Apple Performing Arts Chorus, teaches piano for the Afterschool Programs at Public School 41 in Manhattan and the Berkeley Carroll School in Brooklyn and freelances as a vocal coach.

Beethoven’s 32 Variations on an Original Theme in c minor, WoO 80 will open the program.  Other selections will be Griffes’ Fantasy Pieces and Turina’s Danzas Fantásticas. The second half of the program will be all Liszt, containing Transcendental Etude no. 11, Frühlingsnacht and Polonaise no. 2.

For further information, contact the Hurley School of Music at 318-869-5235.

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