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Samuel
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About Sam
Picture a little boy of three being placed in front of a piano. There were two pianos that were regular fixtures in the house - there solely for social entertaiment purposes. No one in the family played until that day. As his grand mother sat in the foyer reading the afternoon paper, this 3-year-old started to play "America" with two fingers, and thus his career began.
He begun formal lessons at the age of five, but he says, "I don´t remember anyone teaching me to read formal notes."
This musical child would become Rutgers College´s first piano professor and would study with some of the greatest pianists.
Mason Gros Professor Samuel Dilworth-Leslie has spent the last 29 years teaching his students, creating lasting friendships and most importantly - learning.
"I feel it´s a time in my life where I can do things for my own art," he says, but adds that he is very sad that his teaching career is comming to an end.
The culmination will be this coming Saturday in his final concert at Rutgers to be held at the Nicholas Music Center on the Douglass Campus at 8 p.m. Dilworth Leslie is retiring in May.
Dilworth-Leslie´s former student Andrea Schwartz says that his students, upon hearing of his retirement, went to the department and more or less asked if he could still give lessons even though he was etiring. The students, she says, didn´t want him to leave. But as the old adage says: all good things must come to an end.
An example of the relationships Dilworth-Leslie has created and mantained with his students has been shown through the initiative of Schwartz to make the news of his final concert heard. A practicing lawyer, the former student became involved in the promotion when snafus occurred within the department in charge of publicizing the show. She says she "stepped in" so to speak.
Though he is leaving Rutgers with a heavy heart, Dilworth-Leslie has big plans for the future. He intends to concentrate on concerts within the U.S. and those abroad. His concert resume is already quite impresive. In 1993. Dilworth-Leslie performed in Madrid, Spain, To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of composer Federico Mompou. During the same year, he performed in Rome to honor the 100th anniversary of Banca D´Italia. But these are just two examples from a plethora of his impresive musical accomplishments.
Dilworth-Leslie recived his bachelor and his master of music degrees from the Manhattan School of Music and the master of arts degree from Columbia University. He has studied with the likes of Dora Zaslavsky and Nadia Boulanger. Boulanger has said about Dilworth-Leslie: "He is a wonderful musician and I hold him in great esteem". Aditionally, Dilworth-Leslie studied the complete piano music of Frech composer Gabriel Fauré with Boulanger.
Dilworth-Leslie´s education is as impressive as his concert experience.
His musical selections for his final Rutgers concert are reflective of his past experience. The musical menu includes: Gabriel Fauré´s Preludes, OP. 103, ten preludes written by Federico Mompou and the final piece "Reminiscences de Norma" selections from the opera by Vicenzo Bellini because it has always been a dream of his play this piece.
He says of the concert that "all these things have come through various great teachers."
Though it may be the end of an era in the music department, it´s the beginning of another in Dilworth-Leslie´s career.
February 26, 1998
He begun formal lessons at the age of five, but he says, "I don´t remember anyone teaching me to read formal notes."
This musical child would become Rutgers College´s first piano professor and would study with some of the greatest pianists.
Mason Gros Professor Samuel Dilworth-Leslie has spent the last 29 years teaching his students, creating lasting friendships and most importantly - learning.
"I feel it´s a time in my life where I can do things for my own art," he says, but adds that he is very sad that his teaching career is comming to an end.
The culmination will be this coming Saturday in his final concert at Rutgers to be held at the Nicholas Music Center on the Douglass Campus at 8 p.m. Dilworth Leslie is retiring in May.
Dilworth-Leslie´s former student Andrea Schwartz says that his students, upon hearing of his retirement, went to the department and more or less asked if he could still give lessons even though he was etiring. The students, she says, didn´t want him to leave. But as the old adage says: all good things must come to an end.
An example of the relationships Dilworth-Leslie has created and mantained with his students has been shown through the initiative of Schwartz to make the news of his final concert heard. A practicing lawyer, the former student became involved in the promotion when snafus occurred within the department in charge of publicizing the show. She says she "stepped in" so to speak.
Though he is leaving Rutgers with a heavy heart, Dilworth-Leslie has big plans for the future. He intends to concentrate on concerts within the U.S. and those abroad. His concert resume is already quite impresive. In 1993. Dilworth-Leslie performed in Madrid, Spain, To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of composer Federico Mompou. During the same year, he performed in Rome to honor the 100th anniversary of Banca D´Italia. But these are just two examples from a plethora of his impresive musical accomplishments.
Dilworth-Leslie recived his bachelor and his master of music degrees from the Manhattan School of Music and the master of arts degree from Columbia University. He has studied with the likes of Dora Zaslavsky and Nadia Boulanger. Boulanger has said about Dilworth-Leslie: "He is a wonderful musician and I hold him in great esteem". Aditionally, Dilworth-Leslie studied the complete piano music of Frech composer Gabriel Fauré with Boulanger.
Dilworth-Leslie´s education is as impressive as his concert experience.
His musical selections for his final Rutgers concert are reflective of his past experience. The musical menu includes: Gabriel Fauré´s Preludes, OP. 103, ten preludes written by Federico Mompou and the final piece "Reminiscences de Norma" selections from the opera by Vicenzo Bellini because it has always been a dream of his play this piece.
He says of the concert that "all these things have come through various great teachers."
Though it may be the end of an era in the music department, it´s the beginning of another in Dilworth-Leslie´s career.
February 26, 1998
