February 16, 2011 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE               

Contact:  Joyce Grant

                   Arts Events Coordinator

                   Music Services

                   School of Music

                   University of Alabama

                   (205) 348-1477 

UA School of Music presents guest artist Michelle Murphy DeBruyn in concert

Tuscaloosa, AL – The University of Alabama College of Arts & Sciences School of Music presents a guest recital featuring Michelle Murphy DeBruyn, soprano on Sunday, February 27 at 2:00 p.m. in the Concert Hall of the Moody Music Building on the campus of The University of Alabama. The program will include “I Never Saw Another Butterfly” by Lori Laitman, “Goddess Songs” by Catherine Malone Meiburg, “Ariel: Five Poems of Sylvia Plath” by Ned Rorem, and “Six Songs of Sundry Sorts” by Ellwood Deer. She will be accompanied by Yien Wang, piano; Amy Griffiths, saxophone, and Lisa Oberlander, clarinet. The event is FREE and open to the public.  For more information visit: http://music.ua.edu/calendar-of-events/or call 348-7111. 

Michelle Murphy DeBruyn is a promising young artist teacher dedicated to the highest level of musical performance and the encouragement of young vocalists.  DeBruyn completed both a Masters of Music (2002) and Doctorate of Musical Arts (2005) in Vocal Performance and Literature from the Eastman School of Music.  She has studied voice with Beverly Hay and Robert McIver, vocal pedagogy with William McIver and has coached with Russell Miller, Benton Hess and Sylvie Beaudette.  Very active as a recitalist, Ms. DeBruyn has recently been heard in New York, Alabama, Georgia, Minnesota, Missouri and Indiana.  Although at home in all major styles, DeBruyn has been praised for her interpretation of 20th Century English art song.  In May of 2006, she toured Taiwan with a program devoted to modern women composers of English art song.   In May of 2008, a return to five cities in Taiwan, including the National Recital Hall in Taipei, consisted of Lieder of Robert and Clara Schumann.  Ms. DeBruyn was also a semi-finalist in the NATS Artist Award competition in 2006 and received a 2010 NATS Emerging Leaders Award.  Currently, Ms. DeBruyn teaches studio voice and vocal pedagogy at the Schwob School of Music, Columbus State University in Columbus, Georgia.

February 10, 2011

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:           

Joyce C. Grant

Arts Events Coordinator

Music Services

School of Music

University of Alabama

(205) 348-7110

UA School of Music hosts Piano Weekend with Competition and Recitals  

TUSCALOOSA, AL – The University of Alabama School of Music will host a University Pre-College Piano Solo Competition for Junior High and High School Students on Saturday, March 5. The Awards Ceremony will be held after completion of the auditions in the Concert Hall of the Moody Music Building at 4:00 p.m., and the ceremony will feature a recital of the piano works of George Gershwin performed by university piano majors immediately preceding the announcement. Winners will receive cash prizes and scholarships to attend Crimson Music Camp this summer. This event is free and open to the public. 

Please open one of the following links for a detailed Application and directions for submitting:

UA Piano Competition Application PDF

UA Piano Competition Application Word Document

Please return completed form with $25 check payable to The University of Alabama to:  Amanda Penick, The University of Alabama School of Music, Box 870366, Tuscaloosa, AL  35487-0366

For questions or additional information, please contact Amanda Penick at (205) 348-1464 or apenick@music.ua.edu

Students are also welcome to attend the next Celebrity Series concert featuring pianist Barbara Nissman on Friday, March 25 at 7:30 p.m. in the Concert Hall of the Moody Music Building. Described as a pianist of a bygone era, Barbara Nissman continues the grand bravura tradition of romantic pianism, making it relevant to our century. Her recordings of twentieth-century composers, Prokofiev, Ginastera and Bartók are considered definitive and her ongoing series for the Pierian label of the nineteenth-century composers Liszt, Chopin, Beethoven, Schumann, Brahms, and also Rachmaninoff, has garnered critical praise.  “One of the last pianists in the grand Romantic tradition of Liszt, Rachmaninoff, and Rubinstein,” Barbara Nissman connects the souls of the composers of the past to the lives of today’s listener. Tickets are $22 or $15 for general admission and student tickets are $7. Tickets can be purchased by calling the School of Music Box Office at 348-7111. They will also be available for sale starting one hour prior to the concert.

A master class taught by Nissman will be held on Saturday, March 26 at 10 a.m. in the Concert Hall. This event is free and open to the public.

For more information on the University of Alabama Piano Department please visit:  http://music.ua.edu/departments/keyboard/