The Department of Fine Arts at Mississippi Valley State University will present pianist Lawrence Goldman in a faculty recital on Wednesday, April 11. The performance will be given at 7:30 p.m. in the H. G. Carpenter Auditorium. Featured on the program will be works by Bach-Busoni, Schubert, Liszt, Picker, and Ravel. The event is open to the public and free of charge.
A native of Santa Rosa, Calif., Lawrence Goldman has been a faculty member at Mississippi Valley State University for thirty-two years, where he is Professor of Music and Keyboard Area Coordinator.
During that time, he has become well known for his many appearances both as a solo recitalist and collaborating artist. He has participated in over three hundred concert performances on the MVSU campus and elsewhere in Mississippi, in addition to performances throughout the Southeast and in other regions of the United States.
Goldman began piano studies at the age of eight and presented his first solo recital at the age of ten. He began winning regional competitions within the next few years, including his first appearance as soloist with orchestra. Later, he attended the University of California, Santa
Barbara, and pursued graduate studies at the University of Michigan, where his principal teacher was the noted Hungarian-American pianist György Sándor. He received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Southern California, where his distinctions included
winning the concerto competition and the Department Award in Keyboard Studies.
Goldman has appeared as a solo recitalist, chamber musician, and as soloist with orchestras in numerous areas of the United States. His performances in the South have included recitals in Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama, and Louisiana, in addition to his Mississippi performances. He is much in demand as an adjudicator for festivals and competitions, and he is the founder and director of the MVSU Piano Festival, an annual spring event that brings in young musicians from throughout the state and region.
He has performed for the state conventions of the Mississippi Music Teachers Association and the Mississippi Federation of Music Clubs, and he has also performed for the Southern Chapter conference of the College Music Society. In addition, his performances have been a regular feature on the Mississippi Public Broadcasting radio network. Goldman was a 2006 recipient of the HEADWAE award, recognition of academic excellence presented annually by the Mississippi State Legislature. In 2009, he was honored as the first recipient of MVSU’s James Herbert White Preeminence Award in the Arts. He is listed in both the Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in American Education.