Composing and Performing Career:

New York, N. Y.

served as piano accompanist for various ballet and dance companies, received numerous performances of his compositions by a variety of artists, 1957-62;

Karamu House, Cleveland, Ohio

associate musical director, 1964-65;

Kaleidoscope Players, Ration, N. Mex.

musical director, 1967-68;

Bellagio, Italy

Fellow, Rockefeller Foundation, 1979;

Karamu House

composer-in-residence, 1979-80;

Saratoga Springs, NY

Composer-in-residence, Yaddo Artist Colony, 1980;

Cuyahoga Community College, Cleveland, Ohio

guest composer, 1980;

Cleveland Music School Settlement

composer-in-residence, 1981-82;

Cleveland, Ohio, Accord Associates, Inc.

founder and president, 1980-86, executive vice-president and composer-in-residence, 1986-92;

Cleveland, Ohio, Creative Arts, Inc.

president and artist-in-residence, 1997-;

University of Maryland, College Park

Guest composer, 2000;

Shasta College, Shasta, California

Guest composer, 2000.

Teaching Career:

Soehl Junior High School, Linden, N. J.

vocal music instructor, 1962-63;

Raton, N. Mex., secondary schools

vocal music supervisor and choir director,1966-67;

Florida A&M Univ., Tallahassee

assistant professor of music, 1968;

Kansas Univ. Lawrence

associate professor of music, director of the University choir, director of choral clinics, 1970-78.

Commissions:

Broken Arrow Elementary School, 1975

University of Kansas, 1976

Kansas Composers Forum of Kansas Music Teachers Association, 1977

Cuyahoga Community College 1979

Accord Associates, Inc., 1980, 1981

Ohio Chamber Orchestra, 1981-82

Paul Kaye Singers, Minneapolis, Minn., 1985

Borg-Warner Foundation, Center for Black Music Research, Chicago, Ill., 1989

Cleveland Chamber Symphony, 1991

The Cleveland Orchestra, 1994

Historic First Presbyterian Church of East Cleveland, Ohio, 1997

Lakewood Presbyterian Church, Lakewood, Ohio, 2000.

Memberships: Life memberships in Phi Kappa Phi, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Phi Delta Kappa, Pi Kappa Lambda, American Choral Directors Association; American Guild of Organists; Advisory Council, Music Arts Association (Cleveland Orchestra), 1982.

Honors/Awards:
Winner, composition competition, National Association of Negro Women, New York, 1963
National Education Defense Act Fellowship, 1969-70
National Award for Original Composition for Choral Arts, Inc. New York, 1974
National Endowment for the Arts award, 1979
featured composer, "Meet the Artist," Cleveland Public Schools, 1981-82, 1983-84, and 1991
scholar-in-residence, Rockefeller Foundation Study and Conference Center, Bellagio, Italy, 1979
fellowships at the Yaddo Artists Colony in Saratoga Springs, New York, 1980 and 1984
Cleveland Foundation Fellow, 1980
Jennings Foundation Fellow, 1981.

Performances include those by the:

Prague Radio Symphony

(under Julius Williams)

Iceland Symphony

(under Everett Lee)

Cleveland Orchestra

(under Jahja Ling, Gareth Morrell, Mathis Dulack and Alan Gilbert)

Buffalo Philharmonic

(under Julius Rudel and William-Eddins)

Indianapolis Symphony

(under William Henry Curry and Charles Darden)

Detroit Symphony

(under Leslie Dunner)

Savannah Symphony

(under Phillip Greenberg)

Springfield Symphony

(under John Ferrito)

Oakland-Pontiac Symphony

(under David Daniels)

Ohio Chamber Orchestra

(under Dwight Oltman)

Black Music Repertory Ensemble

(under Michael Morgan and Kay George Roberts).

Performances by Metropolitan Opera artists include:
Sopranos Martina Arroyo and Veronica Tyler, Mezzo Sopranos Hilda Harris, Barbara Conrad and Florence Quivar; Tenors Seth McCoy and Curtis Rayam; and Baritone Ben Holt.

Performances by other artists include:
Violinist Paul Zukofsky; Pianists David Garvey and Israela Margalit; Hornist Joseph Eger; Organists James Abbington, Margaret Limkemann, Karel Paukert and Leonard Raver; Soprano Janet Alcorn; Tenors Paul Adkins, William Brown and Darryl Taylor; Baritone Donnie Ray Albert; Bass Mark Doss; the Robert Page Singers & Orchestra; and the William Appling Singers & Orchestra.

Adams Composer Residencies
(These are highlights of venues in which Adams appeared in person, conducting seminars, giving lectures, and coaching performers on his music. The residencies all culminated in one or two all-Adams concerts)

• Tufts University, Medford MA
• University of Baltimore, College Park, MD
• Millersville University, Lancaster, PA
• Detroit Musicians' Association (NANM), Detroit, MI

Major Citations include:

Anderson, Ruth.  "Leslie Adams, composer."  Contemporary American Composers: A Biographical Dictionary.  2nd ed.  Boston: G. K. Hall, 1982.

Bandfield, William.  "Leslie Adams, Composer."   In:  Landscapes in Color: Conversations with Black American Composers.  Cpt. 2. Landham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 1998.

Dawkins, Darlene.  "Leslie Adams, Composer--A Man and His Music."   Cleveland, Ohio: Clubdate.  Vol.8, No.2, Fall, 1987, p. 48-52.

Fain, Kenneth.  "Artists and Their Art: Composer Leslie Adams."   Washington, D.C.: Cultural Post/National Endowment for the Arts, May-June, 1979.

Finn, Robert.  "Romantic American Drama Stirs Work on Opera."   Cleveland, Ohio:  Cleveland Plain Dealer, January, 1983.

Gray, John.  "Leslie Adams, composer."  Blacks in Classical Music--A Bibliographical Guide to Composers, Performers and Ensembles.  Westport, Conn.:  The Music Reference Collection, No. 15, Greenwood Press, Inc., 1988.

Revised New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.  London & New York:  Macmillan, 2000

Green-Crocheron, Karen.  "Meet Composer Leslie Adams."   Cleveland, Ohio: Galore Magazine,  May, 1982.

Holly, Ellistine Perkins, comp.  Bibliographies of Black Composers and Songwriters: A Supplementary Textbook.  Dubuque: Wm. C. Brown Publishers, 1990, p. 56-7.

Horne, Aaron.  Woodwind Music of Black Composers.  New York:   Greenwood Press, 1990, p.9.

International Dictionary of Black Composers.  Fitzroy Dearbon Publishers, Chicago IL, 1999.

International Who's Who in Music and Musicians' Directory.  12th ed., 1990-91.

Roach, Hildred.  "Composer Leslie Adams."  Black American Music: Past and Present.  Vol. II. Malabar, Fl.:  Robert E. Kreiger Publishing Co., 1985. p.72-3.

Turner, Diana.  "Leslie Adams, Composer." Artspace.  Vol.6, No.6, Sept./Oct. Columbus, Oh.:  Ohio Arts Council, 1983.

White, Evelyn D.  Choral Music by Afro-American Composers.  Metuchen, N.J.:  Scarecrow Press, 1981, p. 131.

Who's Who in America, 2000.

Who's Who in American Music: Classical.  2nd ed. [Jacques Cattell, ed.] New York.

Who's Who in Entertainment, 1st ed., Wilmette, Il.:  Macmillan Directory Division, 1989-90.

Williams, Yvonne.  "The Making of the Opera, Blake., by Leslie Adams: An Interview."  Detroit Monographs in Musicology/Studies in Music.   Josephine Wright and Samuel A. Floyd, eds., Warren, Mich.:  Harmonie Park Press, 1991.

Leslie Adams Music Archives:  Special Collections/Rare Books Division, Cleveland Public Library, Cleveland, Ohio, opened 1997.  Over 55 boxes, containing scores, manuscripts, cassettes, compact discs, LP's videocassettes, correspondence, diaries, scrapbooks, photographs, organizational papers, and personal artifacts documenting the life and work of the composer.  [Library of Congress Call No.ML/40010./A225/A3/1932.]   Smaller collection at Center for Black Music Research, Columbia College Chicago; opened 1996.

Compositions

Contact details and further information

For further details, see  H Leslie Adams