Leslie Adams (composer)
H. Leslie Adams (born December 20, 1932) is an American composer and music educator. He has won awards for his compositions from the National Association of Negro Women (1963) and the Christian Arts Annual National Competition for Choral Music (1979). He has also been commissioned to write works for the Center for Black Music Research, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the Ohio Chamber Orchestra. His opera, Blake[1][2][3] (composed 1986), was the focus of a significant portion of Y.C. Williams's New Perspectives on Music (ed. J. Wright with S.A. Floyd Jr, published Warren, MI, 1992, pages 172–209).
Biography
Born Harrison Leslie Adams in Cleveland, Ohio, Adams earned a Bachelor of Music Education from Oberlin College in 1955, a Master of Music from California State University, Long Beach in 1967, and a Ph.D in Music Composition from Ohio State University in 1973. He also pursued private studies with Leon Dallin, Marcel Dick, Herbert Elwell, Vittorio Giannini, Edward Mattila, and Robert Starer. He also received fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation (1979) and Yaddo (1980, 1984).
As a teacher, Adams has served on the music faculties of F.A.M.U. Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (1968–1969) and the University of Kansas (1969–1978).