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[COPY OF] Turner to present guest artist recital at Delta State

By February 23, 2010General

  

 

 

The Department of Music at Delta State University will present Leon P. Turner, bass-baritone, in a guest artist vocal recital on Monday, March 1, at 7:30 p.m. in the Recital Hall of the Bologna Performing Arts Center (BPAC).

 

Voice is one of the wonderful instruments that we enjoy listening to that has many varieties in the tone color, range, weight, and quality. Some voice types are less heard than others. One of those is bass.

 

The program will include a variety of selections composed by Burleigh, Gounod, Handel, Ibert, Hall Johnson, Lerner, Rorem, and Robert Schumann. The collaborative pianist will be Dr. Kumiko Shimizu, assistant professor of music at Delta State University. 

 

Turner teaches at Prairie View A&M University. He is active as a performer with various opera companies in the U.S. and makes guest artist appearances at surrounding and nationwide universities.

 

Internationally, he has spent time in Rome, Italy performing the role of Sarastro in Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” and concertizing with the Rome Festival Orchestra. His operatic and oratorio experiences include such roles as, Mephistopheles in Gounod’s “Faust,” Shaunard in Puccini’s “La Bohème,” Zuniga in Bizet’s “Carmen,” Jake in Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess,” among others.

 

He has performed in master classes conducted by noted singers such as Leontyne Price and Blanche Thebam. He was cast in the movie “Leap of Faith” by Paramount Pictures as a gospel singer.

 

In 1996, he was chosen as a finalist in the Metropolitan Opera Regional Auditions in New Orleans, Louisiana, and winner of the National Opera Association Vocal Competition in Washington, DC. 

 

Turner will give a master class for the voice students on Sunday, Feb. 28, at 5 p.m.in the Recital Hall of the BPAC. Both recital and master class are funded by the Year of the Arts and Dulce Funds.

 

The recital is free and open to the public. For more information, please contact the Department of Music at (662) 846-4615.