News Releases

Since 2003, Lander University's Department of Music has been featuring a young pianist each year as part of its Emerging Keyboard Artist Recital. Initiated by Drs. Anthony and Marianne Lenti, Lander professors emeritus of music, the recital has showcased performers such as Denis Plutalov of Russia, Thomas Chiron of France, Paul Gillies of the United States, Hsin'I Huang of Taiwan and Yoana Kyurkchieva of Bulgaria.

The Josephine B. Abney Cultural Center Auditorium will come to life at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 12, when Lander University's Wind Ensemble takes the stage for its first concert of the season. It will be the 10th such concert for principal trumpet player Gregg Hinton, a junior music education major from Laurens, who also plays with Lander's Brass Ensemble and pep band.

Lander assistant professor of music Robert Kelley was a featured speaker at a Piccolo Spoleto event covered by The New York Times.

A scholarship honoring jazz great Bix Beiderbecke has been established at Lander University.

Under Dr. Paul Criswell's direction Lander University choral students have performed throughout South Carolina and beyond, including Wesley Commons in Greenwood and the Biltmore House in North Carolina. He also helped music students charter a Lander chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, the national music fraternity, and he has shared the Lander stage with choral directors and students from high schools across the state, including Greenwood High School, Dorman High School and Strom Thurmond High School.

Lately when asked a simple question like " How are you," Lander University professor of music Dr. Paul Criswell responds, in his usual humor, with a countdown. For instance, a few weeks ago he might have responded "50 more days." But now that number is much smaller and each day his disposition grows more relaxed and serene. After all, he is retiring at the end of the semester. But Criswell is not moving on without one last chance to amuse and entertain with the power of song.

Lander University's Department of Music will present the first Ann Mason Hutto Memorial Recital on Thursday, March 25, at 8 p.m., in the Josephine B. Abney Cultural Center Auditorium. The recital will feature soprano Amanda Hurren Jones who received her music degree from Lander in 2001, and a master's in vocal performance from the University of Massachusetts in 2007.

On any given summer night in 1960s Simpsonville, S.C., the joyful sounds of music and the laughter of children as they danced across the kitchen floor could be heard seeping through the open windows and the screen door of the Standridge home. The 12-inch LPs on the turntable spun to life the unforgettable voices of Elvis Presley, Ray Charles and Brook Benton while the hot and humid atmosphere of the south faded into darkness.

Upstate artist Ric Standridge will mesmerize the audience with his artistic talents as he paints to live, gospel-themed music in Lander University's Josephine B. Abney Cultural Center Auditorium, March 20, at 6 p.m.

At just over a month into the spring 2010 term at Lander University, faculty and student performing artists are not wasting any time in preparation for the semester's upcoming music and theatre events. And with a student honors recital still visible in the rearview mirror, Lander's Department of Music is quickly rolling on to the next production by the Lander Wind Ensemble.

With 37 years of teaching behind him, Lander University professor of music Dr. Paul Criswell is retiring. "Through the years I've taught kindergarten through graduate school. I wouldn't give any of it back, but it's time to move on," he said. Criswell is not moving on without a little of the superb showmanship that has helped make the Lander choral program a beacon for the performing arts in the Greenwood area and beyond. Under Criswell's direction, Lander's University Singers and Old Main Singers filled the university's Josephine B. Abney Cultural Center stage with holiday songs during a concert on Dec. 8. Titled "Another Concert with Friends," the performance was the last Christmas concert Criswell will direct as a Lander professor. His final concert as director of Lander's choral program will be in the spring.

Since 2003, Lander University's Department of Music has been featuring a young pianist each year as part of its Emerging Keyboard Artist Recital. Initiated by Drs. Anthony and Marianne Lenti, Lander professors emeritus of music, the recital has showcased performers such as Denis Plutalov of Russia, Thomas Chiron of France, Paul Gillies of the United States and Hsin'I Huang of Taiwan.

The Lander University Wind Ensemble is gearing up for a new season of performances this fall and will open with promise as a new class of freshman musicians takes the stage. To kick off the semester, the ensemble will hold its first concert of the year Thursday, Oct. 8, at 8 p.m. in the Josephine B. Abney Cultural Center Auditorium.

Lander University recently honored its cocurricular standouts for the 2008-2009 academic year, presenting student life awards to the university's top students and student organizations. The awards were announced during Lander's annual Academic and Student Life Awards Banquet in Horne Arena.

The talent that fills Lander University's choirs and instrumental ensembles, comes from various types of performers. Most of these musicians are students, but others are Lander faculty and staff. Still others are community members. Of the students, some are music majors, but others are studying topics from across Lander's curriculum.

Senior Lander University music major Ryan Davis is comfortable at play, not only on a basketball court or a baseball diamond, but also in the auditorium amongst the other musicians that make up the university's music ensembles and choirs. This is precisely where he will be Thursday, April 9, at 8 p.m., on stage for Lander's final Wind Ensemble concert until fall. The concert, in Lander's Cultural Center Auditorium, is free and open to the public.

Nationally recognized educator and psychotherapist Dr. Fay Maria Mitchell Hart of Greenville has endowed a second scholarship for music majors at her alma mater, Lander University.

As a child he became interested in musical performance through a strong church music program. He started playing the trumpet in the fifth grade.

Durrell Jules, a Lander University music education major from Columbia, does not recall exactly when he was introduced to music, but he figures that his mother has been singing to him since his birth. He said his mother's talent was a direct influence in his decision to become a musician.

As another school year draws to a close at Lander University, so does the university's 2007-2008 Distinguished Speaker Series, sponsored by the College of Arts and Humanities.