The Delta State University Department of Music will host its fourth annual Art of the Piano Event February 15-16 at the Bologna Performing Arts Center (BPAC).
On Friday, February 15 at 7:30 p.m., guest artist and clinician Dr. Michael Caldwell will perform a piano recital featuring works by Bach-Busoni, Haydn, Mozart, Rachmaninov, and Schubert in the Recital Hall of the BPAC.
On Saturday, February 16 from 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., pianists of all ages from Mississippi and Tennessee will come together for a day of recitals, master classes, and workshops centered on making music through the medium of the piano. Delta State piano faculty Karen Fosheim, Kumiko Shimizu, and Jung-Won Shin will also serve as faculty for the event.
Dr. Michael Caldwell is a concert pianist, respected music educator, arts administrator and arts advocate who currently serves as Professor of Music and Director of the Performing and Visual Arts Division in the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences at Nova Southeastern University. A gifted musician, the critics have praised his warm musicality, professional integrity and formidable technique. He has established an international reputation as a “vibrant pianist who radiates the enthusiasm he feels about his art and life through thoughtful, focused, warm and exciting performances”.
In 1990, Caldwell was named “Pianist of the Year” by the Pianist Foundation of America. He is best known for his appearances in concert on four continents as a United States Artistic Ambassador to countries in South America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, under the auspices of the US Information Agency, in a position created by President Ronald Reagan. In 1995, he was a William Grant Still National Symposium Fellow, a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts American Music Recording Project and National Committee Chair for Diversity for the College Music Society through 1997. In 2004, Caldwell made his 21st century debut in South Florida with a multi-media update of the piano recital, “Music of Magic, Mystery and Romance” in Ralph R. Bailey Concert Hall, where he returned in 2007 to appear as piano soloist with The Broward Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto.
A master teacher as well as performer, Caldwell has served on the Faculties of Institutions of Higher Learning in Florida, Virginia, Pennsylvania and North Carolina. He received his Bachelor’s and Master’s of Music degrees from the University of Miami in Florida, and his Doctor of Musical Arts degree and highest graduate honors from the University of Arizona at Tucson. His esteemed teachers include Hildred Roach, Guido Agosti, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Ivan Davis, Fernando Laires, Ozan Marsh, Stewart Gordon and Bela Nagy.
Caldwell’s civic experience has included symphony orchestra, cultural theatre, music academy and library board memberships in New Mexico, North Carolina and Tennessee. Caldwell’s extra-musical adventures include working as a CBS-TV news reporter and creating and hosting cultural radio and television programs in Virginia, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. He currently serves as a board member of Business for the Arts, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
The Art of the Piano is sponsored in part through generous donations from the Dulce and Bryce Griffis Funds. The event is free and open to the public.
For registration information and schedule details, please call 662-846-4615 or visit https://www.deltastate.edu/pages/4914.asp.
