Concert to showcase American women composers
The free concert, scheduled as a part of the university’s “Cultural Controversies” series, will be held in Coastal’s Waccamaw Higher Education Center at 160 Willbrook Blvd., west of U.S. 17 next to the Hampton Inn in Litchfield.
Coastal professors Amy Tully, flute, and Patti Edwards, soprano, will be joined by local pianist Deborah Stewart Bellamy for the concert, which will feature music from 1867 to the present.
The trio, who also appeared together during Coastal’s Celebration of Inquiry conference, will perform Amy Beach’s “The Thrush,” Nancy Nourse’s “Psalm 126,” Katherine Hoover’s “Seven Haiku,” Thea Musgrave’s “Primavera” and Andrea Clearfield’s “Love Song.”
In addition to performing, the musicians will also lead a discussion about the selections and about how music has developed since the 19th century. “We are going to discuss the creative process and style differences of the music,”
said Edwards, adding that audience participation will be encouraged. “We’ll also talk about musical techniques that developed in the 20th century and share interesting insights about preparing the music for the performance.”
Edwards, assistant professor of music at Coastal, is a native of Georgetown. She has appeared with the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, the Omaha Symphony, and the Brevard and Transylvania Symphonies. Edwards has performed roles with the Charleston Opera Company, Opera Theater St. Louis, Opera Unlimited, Opera Omaha, the Texas Gilbert and Sullivan Company and at the Brevard and Batiquitos Festivals. She taught at Bemidji State University in Minnesota, Charleston Southern University, the College of Charleston, Ouachita Baptist University in Arkansas, and was a doctoral teaching fellow at the University of North Texas.
Tully, a teaching associate at Coastal, holds a certificate of graduate study in music performance from the University of South Carolina. She earned a master’s degree in musicology from Northwestern University and a bachelor’s degree in flute performance from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Tully is a member of the Long Bay Symphony and has been a featured guest soloist at the First Presbyterian Church of Myrtle Beach and in the Lake City concert series.
Bellamy is the minister of music at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pawleys Island. For more information call the Waccamaw Higher Education Center at (843) 349-4030.