Centenary’s Hurley School of Music announces senior recital schedule
SHREVEPORT, LA — Centenary College’s Hurley School of Music will showcase several graduating senior music majors in a series of solo recitals this month. The recitals will highlight each artist’s individual musical specialty and serve as the culmination of their undergraduate training at the Hurley School. All recitals will be held in Anderson Auditorium at the Hurley School, and are free and open to the public.
The senior recital series begins on Saturday, April 15, at 7:30 p.m., with Corey Bowe’s program of classical violin and piano pieces as well as original compositions for violin, viola, cello, piano, and vocalists. The program includes Bowe’s original songs for soprano featuring Hurley faculty members Dr. Janani Sridhar, soprano, and Dr. Gay Grosz, piano, as well as selections from Handel, Franck, Scriabin, and Rachmaninoff. Bowe is a native of Richmond, Virginia, and will graduate from Centenary in May with a bachelor of arts in music with a concentration in composition and a minor in French. At Centenary, he has studied composition with Dr. James Eakin III; violin with Laura Crawford; and piano with Dr. Gay Grosz. Bowe is a two-time winner of the Centenary Youth Orchestra concerto competition and his original compositions have been performed by both the CYO and Centenary Camerata. After graduation, Corey will be attending a French immersion course at the Université Sainte-Anne in Nova Scotia before exploring options to pursue a master’s degree in music composition.
James Harris, a graduating senior from Dallas, Texas, will present his alto saxophone senior recital on Sunday, April 16, at 3:00 p.m. The recital opens with several short French recital pieces, some pleasing to the ear and some dissonant and atonal by nature. The recital continues with larger works by a variety of composers, including Erwin Schulhoff, Karal Jenkins, Astor Piazzolla, Gabriel Faure, and Paul Creston. Harris has designed the program to “expand the minds of the audience” about the capabilities of the saxophone. Harris started playing the alto saxophone in the 6th grade and graduated from Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas before deciding to pursue a degree in music at Centenary. He has continued his saxophone studies under George Hancock and also studied piano for three years with Dr. Gay Grosz, in addition to performing with the College’s percussion ensemble and the Centenary College Choir. Harris plans to pursue a career in social work with a concentration in music therapy.
Anna DiMaggio will present a recital primarily featuring her original compositions for clarinet, piano, strings, and voice on Friday, April 21, at 7:30 p.m. She will also perform works by Ralph Vaughn Williams, Gerald Finzi, Carl Strommen, and Martha Keen on clarinet and as a vocalist. DiMaggio was born and raised in South Louisiana. Her passion for music began while studying clarinet and experimenting with her own musical ideas as a young child. She spent many years learning from the rich musical culture and tradition in New Orleans before she began her formal studies. DiMaggio is a well-rounded composer, with an understanding of current music technology, historical styles, and experience writing for various instrumentation. Her works have been performed by various ensembles at Centenary and around the world. She plans to continue her education by pursuing a Masters of Music in Composition.
Jazziraé Robinson, a soprano from Dallas, Texas, will perform a recital of classical, musical theater, and jazz solo pieces on Thursday, April 27, at 7:30 p.m. Robinson began singing and performing at the age of seven and, like her fellow Centenary classmate James Harris, attended Dallas’s Booker T. Washington School for the Performing and Visual Arts, where she concentrated on opera and musicals through the school’s opera program and music department. At Centenary, Robinson has furthered her performance experience as a member of both the Centenary College Choir and Centenary Camerata. In 2019, she placed first in the lower-college level of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) competition. Since 2020, she has studied under the guidance of Centenary assistant professor of music Dr. Janani Sridhar, and feels that she has truly found herself as an artist. Her senior recital, titled Andromeda, has been organized to represent her spiritual journey toward becoming who she wants to be. After graduation, Robinson will pursue performing opportunities in both Shreveport and Dallas.
Carson Alvarez’s recital on Friday, April 28, at 7:30 p.m. will close the series of Hurley senior recitals for 2023. Alvarez, a native of Bossier City, Louisiana, and a graduate of Airline High School, is studying vocal performance at Centenary under the direction of Dr. Janani Sridhar. A baritone, his recent performances include Boris Yeltsin in Yeltsin in Texas, Ben in The Telephone, Peter in Hänsel and Gretel, a Black History Month concert with the Carrefour Collaborative Music Project, and a soloist role in The Leafmen and the Brave Good Bugs Suite with the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra. Alvarez’s recital will showcase pieces ranging from baroque to contemporary music, including selections from Robert Schumann's Liederkreis. Schumann, regarded as one of the best composers of the Romantic era, is one of Alvarez’s favorite composers and he is excited about sharing these selections in his final Hurley performance. Alvarez plans to continue his studies in graduate school following a gap year.