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Benjamin Woods
Professor Emeritus of Music
Francis Marion University

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Benjamin Woods, professor emeritus of music at Francis Marion University, has given numerous solo piano concerts across the country, including Coolidge Auditorium of the Library of Congress, and Carnegie Recital Hall in New York City where he made his début in 1985. As pianist, he has presented many faculty recitals at Francis Marion University, chamber music and solo concerts at numerous other colleges and universities, and performances at community concert series and festivals. He has performed as guest soloist with the Florence Symphony Orchestra, Florence SC, in concertos of Brahms, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Dohnanyi and Gershwin. He has performed the Beethoven Choral Fantasy with the Florence Masterworks Chorus and Orchestra. He has performed Beethoven concertos nos. 3, 4, and 5 with conductor John Paul and members of the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra, Jackson Mississippi. With the South Carolina Philharmonic, he has performed the Mozart Piano Concerto no. 23. He was selected one of twelve national finalists in the U.S. Information Agency's Artistic Ambassador Competition, and one of ten finalists in the Beethoven International Piano Competition.

Besides performing in the Woods Family Ensemble with his wife Sherry Woods, violist, and their children Christopher Woods, violinist, and Adrienne Woods, cellist, he has collaborated in recital with the Firenze String Quartet, and with artists Sue Butler Orr, soprano, Roland LeRoy Skinner, bassoonist, and, William Mills, pianist. He has also given concerts with Kathleen Vandekieft, Metropolitan Opera soprano finalist, Harold Jones, concert flutist, and Steve Maxym, principal bassoonist with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.

Benjamin Woods has conducted concerts of the Francis Marion College Chorus, the Florence Choral Society, and the Florence Masterworks Choir and Orchestra. Having served as Music Director/Conductor of the Florence Symphony Orchestra from 1996 to 2002, he recently retired from this post to devote all his energies to piano performance. Besides great symphonic literature, he has conducted the Florence Symphony in concertos and vocal works with artists such as Robert Jesselson and Kenneth Law, cellists, David Kim, violinist, Kathleen Vandekieft and Sue Orr, sopranos, Michael Best, tenor, Walter Hautzig, Raymond Dudley, Dana Dixon, and Michael Kim, pianists, and the Eroica Trio.

Presently a professor emeritus of music at Francis Marion University in Florence, SC, Benjamin Woods has recently received the distinction of being named one of Francis Marion University's Board of Trustees' Research Scholars. This designation recognizes his outstanding scholarly achievements in music performance, and the promise of continued scholarly activity in the future. He earned the BS degree in performance and education as a scholarship student from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas. As a Graduate Fellowship recipient, he received the Master of Music degree in performance from Midwestern University in Wichita Falls, Texas. He received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of South Carolina, studying with Raymond Dudley, Artist-in-Residence. His other teachers and coaches include such outstanding musicians as Melissa Bayard, Verlie Mitchell, Martha Craft, Hubert Kaszynski, Ivy Boland, and concert pianists Eugene List, Beveridge Webster and Walter Hautzig.

A typical solo piano recital program:  2 November 1997:

                    FRANCIS MARION UNIVERSITY

                     Department of Fine Arts

                            presents

                     Benjamin Woods, Pianist


French Suite in B Minor . . . . . . . . . .Johann Sebastian Bach
    Allemande
    Courante
    Sarabande
    Anglaise 
    Menuet I and II
    Gigue



Sonata in C Major, op. 53 "Waldstein" . . . Ludwig van Beethoven
    Allegro con brio
    Introduzione: Adagio molto
    Rondo: Allegretto moderato


Mephisto Waltz. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Franz Liszt

                       -- intermission --

Reflets dan l'eau . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Claude Debussy
L'isle joyeuse


Sonata in B-flat Minor, op. 36. . . . . . . .Sergei Rachmaninoff
    Allegro agitato
    Non allegro
    Allegro molto


First Tuesday Music Series                       4 November 1997
Kassab Recital Hall                       Hyman Fine Arts Center