Festival features works of Leslie Bassett

Festival features works of Leslie Bassett

ANN ARBOR—Works by American composer Leslie Bassett, the University of Michigan’s Albert A. Stanley Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Music, will be performed in a two-day festival by Brave New Works. The performances on Oct. 6 and 7 will each begin at 8 p.m. in Britton Recital Hall at U-M’s School of Music. The concerts are free and open to the public.

Bassett will discuss his music before each concert.

The program for Oct. 6 includes “Illuminations for Flute & Piano,” “Love Songs,” “Music for Cello & Piano,” “Sounds Remembered,” and “Pierrot Songs.”

The Oct. 7 program will include “Temperaments” and “Fourth String Quartet.”

Bassett is a Pulitzer Prize winner and recipient of various other awards including a Fulbright and two Guggenheim Foundation Fellowships. While attending U-M he was a pupil of Ross Lee Finney, served in World War II as a trombonist, arranger, and composer for an army band. He has received commissions from a variety of institutions including the National Endowment for the Arts, the Philadelphia Orchestra and Detroit Symphony. Bassett joined U-M’s School of Music faculty in 1952, later becoming chair of the composition department.

Brave New Works is a group dedicated to presenting, promoting, and performing contemporary classical music with performances geared to a broad audience without compromising artistic integrity.

MusicNational Endowment for the ArtsNews and Information ServicesUniversity of Michigan