Composers
H. Leslie Adams
1932 - 2024About
Leslie Adams (1932-2024) is considered one of today’s leading composers in African American Art song. He has written many songs for voice and piano and is equally at ease writing for orchestra, chamber ensemble, organ, piano, and chorus. Adams received his primary education from Cleveland, Ohio public schools training with Mina Eichenbaum, Dorothy Smith, Howard Tucker. He went to Oberlin College Conservatory of Music to study composition with Herbert Elwell and Joseph Wood; voice with Robert Fountain; and piano with Emil Danenberg for his Bachelors. Adams completed his Masters in 1967 at California State University under the tutelage of Leon Dallin and Robert Tyndall and earned his Ph. D at Ohio State University with Marshall Barnes. In addition to these degrees, Leslie Adam pursued post-graduate studies with Edward Mattila and Eugene O’Brien while also studying privately with Robert Starer, Vittorio Giannini, and Marcel Dick. He has taken on the role of piano accompanist for various ballet and dance companies (including studios of Ballet Russe, Robert Joeffrey and June Taylor); received numerous performances of his compositions by a variety of artists (including a composer debut at Judson Hall); and has held positions at Florida A&M University and University of Kansas as assistant professor of music. Leslie Adam’s talent has earned him multitudes of awards, the highest among them being the National Award for Original Composition for Choral Art and the National Endowment for the Arts Award. Currently, he acts as artisit-in-residence and President of Creative Arts, Inc., artist-in residence at Seifullah, and music director of Grace Presbyterian Church in Ohio.
Related Information
http://www.hleslieadams.com/biography.html
Works by H. Leslie Adams
Title | Collection | Voice Type | Range | Poet |
---|---|---|---|---|
Advocation | Medium High | C4 - Ab5 | Suzanne Hassler | |
Alone | Medium High | C#5 - A5 | Nikos Valance | |
Amazing Grace | Collected Songs | Medium High | C#4 - G5 | Leslie Adams |
Anniversary Song | Songs on Texts of J. McDonald | Medium | Db4 - F5 | Joette McDonald |
Blake's Monologue ("I Come to This Place) | Selected Arias & Duets from Blake | Tenor | F3 - B4 | Libretto Daniel E. Mayers |
Branch by Branch | Five Millay Songs | Medium | Low | Bb3 - F5 | D4 - E5 | Edna St. Vincent Millay |
Cantus | Medium | C4 - E5 | Joette McDonald | |
Christ at a Wedding (Love Union) | Medium High | Db4 - Ab5 | Joette McDonald | |
Christmas Lullaby | Collected Songs | Medium High | D4 - Gb5 | Leslie Adams |
Contentment | Medium High | E4 - Ab5 | Joette McDonald | |
Creole Girl | Nightsongs | Low | Medium | High | Db4 - A5 |Bb3 - F#5 |Gb3 - D5 | L. Morgan Collins |
Daybirth | Songs on Texts of J. McDonald | Medium | Db4 - Ab5 | Joette McDonald |
Drums of Tragedy | Nightsongs | High | Medium | Low | Eb4 - Bbb5 | C4 - Gb5 | Bb3 - F5 | Langston Hughes |
Flying | Songs on Texts of J. McDonald | Medium High | D4 - Ab5 | Joette McDonald |
For you there is no song | Five Millay Songs | Low | High | C4 - G5 |D4 - A5 | Edna St. Vincent Millay |
From a Hotel Room | Songs on Texts of J. McDonald | High | Low | F#4 - Bb5 | (Optional Db6)|B3 - D#5 | Joette McDonald |
Gone again from summer... | Five Millay Songs | Low | Medium | E4 - F#5 |Bb3 - E5 | Edna St. Vincent Millay |
He/She Gave Me A Rose | Three Dunbar Songs | Medium | D4 - A5 | Paul Laurence Dunbar |
Homesick Blues | The Wider View | High | F4 - G#5 | Langston Hughes |
In the Midnight of my Soul | Low | Ab3 - Eb5 | Joette McDonald | |
Isabella's Aria | Selected Arias & Duets from Blake | Soprano | Eb4 - G5 | Libretto Daniel E. Mayers |
Li'l Gal | The Wider View | High | D4 - Ab5 | (Optional C6) | Paul Laurence Dunbar |
Love Come and Gone | The Wider View | High | E4 - F#5 | (Optional A5) | Georgia Douglas Johnson |
Love Duet (I Hear Your Voice) | Selected Arias & Duets from Blake | Tenor & Soprano | Tenor: Db3 - Bb4 | Soprano: Eb4 - B6 | Libretto Daniel E. Mayers |
Love Memory | Collected Songs | High | Eb4 - Ab5 | Paul Laurence Dunbar |
Love Rejoices | The Wider View | High | Db4 - A5 | James Dillet Freeman |
Love Request | Songs on Texts of J. McDonald | Medium | Db4 - Eb5 | (Optional Ab5) | Joette McDonald |
Love Response | Collected Songs | High | G4 - G5 | (Optional B5) | Paul Laurence Dunbar |
Lullaby Eternal | Songs on Texts of J. McDonald | Medium | Db4 - Ab5 | Joette McDonald |
Midas, Poor Midas | Songs on Texts of J. McDonald | High | Eb4 - D6 | Joette McDonald |
Miranda's Prayer | Selected Arias & Duets from Blake | Soprano | E4 - Cb6 | Libretto Daniel E. Mayers |
Miranda's Recitative & Lullaby | Selected Arias & Duets from Blake | Soprano | Eb3 - A5 | Libretto Daniel E. Mayers |
My Man (alternate to Li'l Gal) | The Wider View | High | D4 - Ab5 | (Optional C6) | Paul Laurence Dunbar |
My new-found Friends | Selected Arias & Duets from Blake | Tenor | D3 - C5 | Libretto Daniel E. Mayers |
Night people | Medium | Joette McDonald | ||
Night Song | Nightsongs | High | Medium | Low | G3 - D5 | Bb3 - F5 | D4 - A5 | Clarissa Scott Delany |
Prayer | Nightsongs | High|Medium |Low | Bb3 - Db4|Eb4 - Gb5|C4 - Eb5 | Langston Hughes |
Recitative and Duet O Miranda | Selected Arias & Duets from Blake | Soprano & Baritone | Soprano: E4 - A5 | Baritone: C#3 - E4 | Libretto Daniel E. Mayers |
Return from Town | Five Millay Songs | Medium | A3 - D#5 | Edna St. Vincent Millay |
Sence you Went Away | Nightsongs | High | Low | E4 - Gb5 | C4 - D5 | James Weldon Johnson |
Song of Thanks | Songs on Texts of J. McDonald | Medium | Ab3 - E5 | Joette McDonald |
Song of the Innkeeper's Children | Songs on Texts of J. McDonald | Medium | E5 - F5 | Joette McDonald |
Song to Baby Jesus | Songs on Texts of J. McDonald | Medium High | B3 - Ab5 | Joette McDonald |
The Heart of a Woman | Nightsongs | High |Medium|Low | E4 - Ab5 | C4-F5 |A3-D5 | Georgia Douglas Johnson |
The Meadowlark | Three Dunbar Songs | Medium | D4 - Ab5 | Paul Laurence Dunbar |
The Valse | Three Dunbar Songs | Medium | C4 - G5 | Paul Laurence Dunbar |
The Wider View | The Wider View | High | F4 - Ab5 | (Optional C6) | R. H. Grenville |
To the Road | The Wider View | High | D4 - A5 | Paul Laurence Dunbar |
Wave and the Shore | Medium High | D#4 - Ab5 | Joette McDonald | |
What Love Brings | Collected Songs | Medium High | Db4 - Ab5 | Georgeanne Mitchell |
Title | Published | Size | Solo with Ensemble | Duration Range | Level | Orchestration |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Citiscape (Piano Concerto) | Yes | Full Orchestra | Piano | 20+ | Professional | solo piano-2 2[1.2/Eh] 22-22 2[1.2/Btbn]-timp-2perc-str |
Dunbar Songs | Yes | Full Orchestra | Soprano | Tenor | 20+ | Professional | 1[pic] 111-2000-timp-perc-hp-str-High Voice |
Five Millay Songs | Yes | Full Orchestra | Medium voice | 10-20 | Professional | 1111-2000-Hp-str |
Hymn To Freedom | Yes | Full Orchestra | Soprano, Tenor, and Baritone | 10-20 | Professional | fl/cl/bcl/asx, tpt, tbn,tba-perc, pf-str Solo Soprano, Tenor and Baritone voice |
Love Expressions | Yes | Full Orchestra | 10-20 | Professional | 1111-1110-2perc-hp-pf-str | |
Nightsongs | Yes | Full Orchestra | Mezzo | 10-20 | Professional | 1111-2000-timp-perc-hp-str Solo Mezzo-soprano voice |
Ode to Life | Yes | Full Orchestra | 10-20 | Professional | 2222-4320-bstbn-tmp-3 perc-str | |
Symphony No.1 | Yes | Full Orchestra | 20+ | Professional | 2[1.2/pic] 2[1.2/Eh] 2[1.2/Bcl]2-4221-tmp-3perc-str | |
The Righteous Man | Yes | Chamber Orchestra | 20+ | Professional | 0000-2000-tmp-perc-hp-str SATB Chorus |