Award-winning pianist Laura Melton, a music faculty member at Bowling Green State University, will present a guest artist recital at West Virginia University’s Creative Arts Center, Sunday (Jan. 16).

The program begins at 3 p.m. in the Bloch Learning and Performance Hall (200A) and is free and open to the public. The program will include works by Franz Joseph Haydn, Franz Liszt, Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy and Nikolai Kapustin.

In addition, Melton will present a master class at 5 p.m., in the same location. The master class is also free and open to the public.

Laura Melton is associate professor and coordinator of Keyboard Studies at Bowling Green State University, has been a prizewinner in several major international competitions including the Mendelssohn Competition in Berlin, the New York Recital Division of the Joanna Hodges Competition, and the National Symphony Orchestra’s Young Artist Competition. She has been featured on S�dwestfunk Radio (Germany), Kol Israel, Radio Nacional de Espa�a and National Public Radio’s “Performance Today,” in celebration of the birthday of composers John Corigliano and Samuel Adler. Melton received rave reviews for her CD of solo piano and chamber works of Samuel Adler, released on Naxos in December 2008. She recently recorded solo piano works of Sebastian Currier for a fall 2010 release on Naxos. As a result of winning a Ditson Fund grant for recording, she will record the violin and piano works of Currier for a CD on Albany Records in late 2010 with violinist, Yehonatan Berick.

Melton is an avid chamber musician and performs across the United States as a member of the Phoenix Piano Quartet. She has appeared in several summer festivals including Ravinia, Aspen, and Sarasota, as well as European festivals in Holland, Switzerland, Germany and Greece. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Maryland, a master’s degree from the University of Southern California, and a doctorate from Rice University. As a student of Robert Levin, she spent three years in Germany as a Fulbright Scholar, earning the Solistendiplom while studying at the Staatliche Hochschule f�r Musik in Freiburg. A graduate of the Interlochen Arts Academy, Melton is currently a summer faculty member at the Interlochen Arts Camp. Prior to her appointment at Bowling Green in 1999, Melton was on the faculty of the Idyllwild Arts Academy in California.

For more information about the recital, contact the WVU College of Creative Arts at (304) 293-4359.

-WVU-

CONTACT: Charlene Lattea, College of Creative Arts
304-293-4359, Charlene.Lattea@mail.wvu.edu

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