Department of Fine Arts
Concert Series Highlights 1999-2000 

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William Denton holds music performance degrees from Wichita State University and Arizona State University.  Upon completion he served for nine years in the U.S. Army, first as trumpet instructor at the Armed Forces School of Music, then as a member of the U.S. Continental Army Band.  His final three years of service were in the prestigious U.S. Army Field Band, the "Musical Ambassadors of the Army."  As principal cornetist with the Field Band he has given over four hundred performances in the U.S. and abroad.  He has played for many dignitaries including President Clinton and the Queen of England.

Mr. Denton has performed as featured soloist for the Chatauqua and Interlochen music festivals, and has held principal positions in the Virginia Beach Pops, the Williamsburg Symphonia, and the Macon Symphony Orchestra.  Currently, he is principal trumpet in the Augusta Opera Orchestra and Augusta Choral Society.  He is also a substitute trumpeter for the Atlanta Symphony, Charleston Symphony, and Savannah Symphony.  He is instructor of trumpet at Augusta State University and a frequent soloist with the Fort Gordon Signal Corps Band, the Augusta State University Band, and the Augusta State University Orchestra.

Selections from his "Vintage Cornet" recital at The Church of the Most Holy Trinity in Augusta Georgia were broadcast on the Peach State Public Radio program "Georgia Music Today."  He has just recorded a compact disc of cornet favorites with a chamber orchestra that will be ready for distribution later this September.

Among the delights of music there is a wonderful series of pieces for two harpsichords played together.  Johann Sebastian Bach and several of his talented sons composed the centrepieces of this repertoire which also includes works from 17th- and 18th-century France, England and Italy.  Add some creative new arrangements of popular and familiar tunes by Haydn, Boccerini, Albéniz and Scott Joplin and you have a concert by Shawn Leopard and John Paul which is as entertaining as it is classic.

This duo travels with two harpsichords from the studio of Anden Houben: one a copy of a 1691 French harpsichord strung in steel and brasses, and the other a "Lautenwerck" (lute-harpsichord) strung in gut.  Together they produce a sound both rich and clear, doing equal justice to a Baroque Allegro, a Joplin rag or a Tango by Albéniz.

Christopher Woods, at the age of eight years, gave his first public performance at the First Tuesday Chamber Series at Francis Marion College where he played the Bach Concerto for Two Violins with Sherry Woods.  Since then he has performed many concerts and recitals as soloist and ensemble musician.

After beginning his violin lessons with Sherry Woods and Thelma Hawkins, he studied at the North Carolina School of the Arts with Kevin Lawrence, as a scholarship student of Sergiu Swartz at the Harrid Conservatory in Florida, with Frits deJong at the University of South Carolina, in master classes with violinist-violist Pinkas Zuckerman, and with Patinka Kopec at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City where he recently graduated with a bachelor's degree in violin performance.

He has received scholarships and top honors in many music competitions, including the S. C. Federation and National Federation of Music Clubs' competitions, the South Carolina Governor's award, and the Concerto Competition at the University of South Carolina.  Also, he was selected winner of the first Young Artist Competition of the Greater Spartanburg Philharmonic Orchestra.

His most recent performance was as winner of the South Carolina Philharmonic Orchestra's Young Artist's Competition.  He collaborated with Maestro Nicholas Smith to perform Sarasate's Carmen Fantasy in October of 1999.

"Astounding uniformity and precision," "a performance that was almost magical" are the ways critics have described Barbara and Gerhardt Suhrstedt, one of America's few touring one-piano, four-hand teams.  The Suhrstedts presented their first piano duet concert in 1979.  Since their 1982 New York debut, they have performed in 40 states, in Canada, and in Russia.  Their May, 1998 concert at the Grand Palace in Peterhof (a summer palace of the Romanov Tsars) brought them a standing ovation.

Slava: The Glory of the Arts in Tsarist Russia continues the Suhrstedts' innovative and acclaimed tradition of multimedia presentation, incorporating the poetry and visual art with the music of Russia from approximately 1800 until the 1917 Russian Revolution -- a time when Russia gave the world some of her greatest artists.  Only with the end of the Cold War have many of these artworks begun to be appreciated outside of Russia.

The Suhrstedts will be performing in Florence County schools the week following the January 20 concert, including a three day musical residency at Royall Elementary.  It has been five years since they last performed here, and we welcome Barbara and Gerhardt back to Francis Marion University!

Harcourt Waller has performed in concert at Carnegie Hall in New York.  In addition, he has performed many concerts along the east coast, some of which have been broadcast on television and radio.

Mr. Waller was educated at the Peabody Conservatory of Music where he studied under Walter Hautzig and performed in master classes given by Leon Fleisher.  He has also studied with Eric Hope of the Royal Academy of Music in London.

Now living in Savannah, Harcourt plays for two prominent dinner clubs as well as playing in Hilton Head.  He is organist for the First Presbyterian Church, and has a full schedule of concerts.  He has recently made a recording which is on sale in both compact disk and cassette formats.  A limited number of these recordings will be on sale at the concert.

                 PROGRAM
Romance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sibelius
Sonata no. 21 in C major, op. 53 (WaldsteinBeethoven
    Allegro con brio
    Introduzione: Adagio molto
    Rondo: Allegretto moderato, Prestissiomo
Etude in A Flat Major, op. 25, no. 1 (Harp) . Chopin
Fantasy Impromptu, op. 66 . . . . . . . . . . Chopin
Liebeslied (Widmung). . . . . . . . . Schumann-Liszt
Ballade no. 2 in B minor, op. 23. . . . . . . .Liszt

Educated at the Juilliard School, the University of Louisville, and the University of South Carolina, Dr. Stephen Taylor serves as an Assistant Professor of Piano Pedagogy at the University of South Carolina School of Music, where in addition to teaching studio piano, he serves as Coordinator of Graduate Piano Pedagogy Studies.  He also has served as an instructor of piano, piano literature, piano ensemble and music theory at the South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts Academy at Converse College since its inception in 1990.

As a clinician, he has been a presenter/lecturer in both state and national conferences, including the South Carolina Music Teachers Association, the South Carolina Music Educators Association, the National
Conference on Piano Pedagogy and the Music Teachers National Association. He also is frequently called upon for the adjudication of auditions and competitions.

As a performer, he has presented solo recitals, been featured as a concerto soloist, and has collaborated in chamber recitals in eight Southeastern states, as well as in New York City. Active in the South Carolina Music Teachers Association, he is currently serving a term as its President (1998-2000).

                           PROGRAM

Sechs Bagatellen, Opus 126 . . . . . . . . . Ludwig van Beethoven
 Andante con moto                                     (1770-1827)
 Allegro
 Andante
 Presto
 Quasi allegretto
 Presto; Andante amabile e con moto

Sonata in G Minor, Opus 22 . . . . . . . . . . . .Robert Schumann
 So rasch wie möglich                                 (1810-1856)
 Andantino
 Scherzo:  Sehr rasch und markiert
 Rondo:  Presto

                   † i n t e r m i s s i o n †

Piano Sonata No. 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Norman Dello Joio
 I Tema con variationi                                  (b. 1913)
 II Presto e leggiero
 III Adagio
 IV Allegro vivo e ritmico

Capriccio in B Minor, Opus 2, No. 4 . . . . .  Ernst von Dohnányi
                                                      (1877-1960)

Francis Marion University will present a slightly different First Tuesday program this coming Tuesday evening, April 4 when it features music from Broadway Musicals and movies.  Sue Orr, Sharon Wyche, and Glen Gourley will sing solos, duets, and trios chosen from a wide variety of shows and eras.  From the music of Cole Porter to music from the movie “Babe,” the audience is sure to discover new favorites in the informal presentation of the singers’ choices for this event.  “Let’s Do It,” “I Will Never Leave You,” “One Kiss,” “Getting Married Today,” “What I Did For Love,” That’ll Do,” “What Makes Me Love Him,” “Take Me To The World,” “Satan’s L’il Lamb,” “How Could I Ever Know,” “I Remember It Well,” and “Losing My Mind” are among the evening’s delightful offerings.

Sue Orr is an Assistant Professor of Music at Francis Marion and the Director of the Choral Program.  A graduate of Samford University and Florida State University with degrees in vocal performance, Sue has been singing in the Florence area since 1969.  Most recently she appeared as soloist with the Florence Symphony Orchestra in Mozart’s “Exsultate Jubilate.”

Sharon Wyche is a music teacher at Royall Elementary School and is a graduate of Furman University where she sang with the Furman Singers.  Sharon has appeared in various Little Theatre productions, most recently “Honky Tonk Angels.”  Sharon is also a member of the bluegrass band, “Borrowed Time” in which she sings and plays string bass.

Glen Gourley is an Associate Professor of Theatre at Francis Marion and holds an M.F.A. from the University of Mississippi and a B.F.A. from the University of Montevallo.  In addition to his work with The Francis Marion University Theatre, Glen recently directed a very successful run of “Annie Get Your Gun” in Lake City and can be seen performing with civic theatre and ballet companies.  He has been active with summer stock for the past 22 years, most recently as production Stage Manager with the outdoor drama "Unto These Hills" in Cherokee NC.

Tuesday evening’s performance begins at 8 o’clock in the Adele Kassab Recital Hall in the Fine Arts Center and is open to the public.  There is no admission charge.