Leslie Adams (composer)

[2] Born in Cleveland, Ohio on December 30, 1932,[2] Adams began to study music at an early age, having lessons with neighbor and violinist Dorothy Smith at four years old.

[2] He also pursued private studies with Leon Dallin, Herbert Elwell, Joseph R. Wood, Vittorio Giannini, Robert Starer and Eugene O'Brien.

[7] This music drama is very loosely based on Martin Delaney's novel Blake; or, The Huts of America, which is about the lives of African-American slaves on the eve of the civil war.

The opera was introduced at Oberlin College at a workshop setting and officially had its first hearing at the Bolden Theatre, Cleveland Playhouse.

The premiere was broadcast over PBS with Veronica Tyler and Kathleen Orr as sopranos, Jane Vernon as a mezzo-soprano, Paul Atkins as tenor, Herbert Perry as a baritone, Stephen Saxon at bass, and the William Appling singers with the Appling conductor.

[8] Between 1997 and 2007, Adams composed Twenty-Six Etudes for Solo Piano, which were recorded by Maria Thompson Corley (1-12) and Thomas Otten (13-26) and performed live at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

[9] The Works of H. Leslie Adams American Composers Alliance Available from (A Collection of Songs on the Texts of Joette McDonald) "On This Day" "Love Union (a.k.a.