Ryan Lewis and Kristin Grant to perform faculty recital Jan. 28 at Ouachita
January 21, 2013 - Ryleigh Salmon
Ouachita Baptist University’s Division of Music will host a flute and percussion recital
featuring faculty members Dr. Ryan C. Lewis and Kristin Grant. The Jan. 28 recital
will be held in Mabee Fine Arts Center’s McBeth Recital Hall at 7:30 p.m.; it is free
of charge and open to the public.
“Kristin Grant and I did a flute-percussion duo piece a few years ago and enjoyed
the experience and music so much that we decided to program an entire concert of flute
and percussion music,” said Lewis, assistant professor of music.
The concert will include movements from Cindy McTee’s “Stepping Out” and Tōru Takemitsu’s
“Toward the Sea” as well as Georg Philipp Telemenn’s “Sonata No. 1” and Philip Parker’s
“Beneath the Canopy.” These works will feature flute, alto flute, bass flute and piccolo
with marimba, vibraphone, multiple percussion and drums from around the world.
The Telemann piece “is a terrific example of duo music from the European Baroque period
… and Takemitsu’s work focuses on mankind’s constant pull to and fascination with
the sea and water,” Lewis said. “Parker’s ‘Beneath the Canopy’ guides us through a
jungle or rainforest, complete with the sounds of rain and rivers, birds flirting
in the branches and a python moving in for the kill.”
At Ouachita, Lewis teaches music history courses, applied percussion and percussion
techniques and directs the steel drum ensemble, percussion ensemble and the marching
band drum line. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in percussion performance
from the University of South Carolina, a Master of Music degree in percussion performance
from Florida State University and a Bachelor of Instrumental Music Education degree
from Furman University.
Lewis previously served on the music faculties of Claflin University, the University
of South Carolina and Florida State University, where he directed the steel drum ensemble.
He is a member of the international Percussive Arts Society, the College Music Society
and is an artist-educator for Innovative Percussion sticks and mallets.
Lewis performs frequently as a timpanist-percussionist and has performed under the
direction of maestros Keith Lockhart, Leonard Slatkin and David Zinman and with the
symphonic and opera orchestras of the Aspen Music Festival, the Rome Festival of Italy,
the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, the South Carolina Philharmonic Orchestra and many
other professional orchestras. As a soloist, Lewis has presented performances at the
Percussive Arts Society International Convention and College Music Society National
Convention.
Also an assistant professor of music at Ouachita, Kristin Grant teaches music theory,
applied flute lessons and directs the Ouachita Flute Choir. She received her Master
of Music degree in flute performance from the University of North Texas and a Bachelor
of Music degree in flute performance from the University of Arizona. Before coming
to Ouachita, she taught flute and music theory at East Central University in Ada,
Okla., where she served as a member of the music faculty.
Grant is a member of the Pine Bluff Symphony Orchestra, the National Flute Society,
the Arkansas School Band and Orchestra Association, Mid-South Flute Society, Texas
Flute Society and the College Music Society. She often performs as a soloist and chamber
musician, and as a featured artist for “Classical Arkansas,” her performances have
aired on radio station KUAR 91.5.
For more information, contact OBU’s School of Fine Arts at (870) 245-5129.
By Ryleigh Salmon
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