FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (10/06)
Contact: Dr. Ross E. Smith, Hurley School of Music, 318-869-5235, or
Lynn Stewart, Centenary News Service, 318-869-5120

Celebrated Concert Pianist Returns to Shreveport for Nov. 5 Solo Concert Hosted by Centenary College's Hurley School of Music

	Celebrated pianist Dr. Alexandre Dossin

SHREVEPORT, LA — Dr. Alexandre Dossin is returning for a second time to Shreveport to perform a solo piano concert hosted by the Hurley School of Music in the Anderson Auditorium on the Centenary College campus. The concert is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 5 at 3 p.m. Admission is free.

The concert program is called “Liszt and Italy” and will feature several of the best Italian-inspired masterworks by Hungarian born composer Franz Liszt (1811-1886,) including the ever-popular Apres une Lecture de Dante- Fantasia quasi Sonata, and several Verdi opera paraphrases for solo piano such as Aida and Rigoletto. Those who crave seeing virtuoso fingers flying over the 88 keys of a nine-foot Steinway, won't want to miss this concert.

Considered by an international critic as a “wonderful pianist,” “master of contrasts,” “master of expressiveness,” and “stunning pianist with a symbiotic relationship with the instrument,” Alexandre Dossin recently received the First Prize and the Special Prize at the second Martha Argerich International Piano Competition in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Martha Argerich, presiding the jury, wrote: “Alexandre Dossin is an accomplished musician and a wonderful pianist. I had the opportunity to hear him play solo, chamber music and concertos. His performances are magnificent, with very pure musical insight and an extreme sensitivity, together with real virtuosity and a very personal way of unfolding interesting ideas. The feeling that there is always more coming makes his performances a very strong experience.”

Being invited to participate in the Martha Argerich Festival immediately after the competition, Alexandre Dossin divided the stage with the great pianist in several occasions, including a special performance with the Buenos Aires Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Charles Dutoit. During a performance in Mendoza, Argentina, Argerich invited Dossin to perform the Toccata by Prokofiev as an encore after she performed Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto no. 3 and an encore.

Dossin is a graduate of the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, where he studied from 1991-1997, with Professor Sergei Dorensky. In 2001 he completed the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Texas at Austin, having studied with William Race and Gregory Allen. Among his numerous awards, Dossin received the Silver Medal and Second Honorable Mention in the Maria Callas Grand Prix (Athens, Greece, 1996), Third Prize and Special Prize in the Mozart International Piano Competition (Salzburg, Austria, 1995).

In September 1997 Dossin was the youngest person ever to receive the prestigious State Award “Ambassador of Rio Grande do Sul” in Brazil, and in 1998 he was the only student in the University of Texas at Austin School of Music (among 700 students) to receive the Graduate Pre-Emptive Fellowship.

Dossin, who is listed in Who's Who in America, was on the faculty of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette from 2001-02, and from 2002-06 at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. He is currently on the faculty at the University of Oregon School of Music and lives in Eugene, Ore., with his wife Maria, their daughter Sophia and their son Victor.

- 30 -