I
have always been interested in research and in building programs around
unifying concepts, whether they be inspired by poetry, historical events, or
the music of a single composer. My
doctoral research focused on the art songs of post-romantic composer Max Reger.
A project with a singer, English scholar, and artist in Nebraska resulted in a series of multi-media, narrated performances called Words, Tones, and Colors, which explored similarities in the work of composer Aaron Copland, poet Emily Dickinson, and painter Georgia O’Keefe. This was followed by another series of multi-media recitals, Invitation to a Journey, in which hundreds of black and white photographs by artist Molly Romero were integrated into the music of Duparc, Debussy, and Fauré in a slide-show of constantly shifting images and text behind live performance of songs and piano pieces.
Several of my solo piano recitals have been devoted to music of contemporary composers, particularly that of living Americans. I have presented conference papers and performances of works by university colleagues across the country, including my friends Tayloe Harding (University of South Carolina) and Randall Snyder (University of Nebraska), Louisiana-born Kate Waring, and African American composer John Price (formerly of Fisk University).
At a University of Arkansas centennial conference on William Grant Still, the “dean of African American composers,” I presented a paper on aria style in his operas and from there went on to publish a three-volume collection of arias, duets, and scenes from his eight operas. Finally, the University of Arkansas Press published I Dream a World, a book in which I trace the composition and performance history of these operas, which Still regarded as his most important works.
A project with a singer, English scholar, and artist in Nebraska resulted in a series of multi-media, narrated performances called Words, Tones, and Colors, which explored similarities in the work of composer Aaron Copland, poet Emily Dickinson, and painter Georgia O’Keefe. This was followed by another series of multi-media recitals, Invitation to a Journey, in which hundreds of black and white photographs by artist Molly Romero were integrated into the music of Duparc, Debussy, and Fauré in a slide-show of constantly shifting images and text behind live performance of songs and piano pieces.
Several of my solo piano recitals have been devoted to music of contemporary composers, particularly that of living Americans. I have presented conference papers and performances of works by university colleagues across the country, including my friends Tayloe Harding (University of South Carolina) and Randall Snyder (University of Nebraska), Louisiana-born Kate Waring, and African American composer John Price (formerly of Fisk University).
At a University of Arkansas centennial conference on William Grant Still, the “dean of African American composers,” I presented a paper on aria style in his operas and from there went on to publish a three-volume collection of arias, duets, and scenes from his eight operas. Finally, the University of Arkansas Press published I Dream a World, a book in which I trace the composition and performance history of these operas, which Still regarded as his most important works.