Harpsichord musicians guest at next
St. Paul's Chamber Music Series
By Staff
special to The Star
Sept. 22, 2002
Guest musicians are Shawn Leopard and John Paul of Jackson.
Leopard and Paul began their collaboration in 1996 to explore and perform the repertoire of music written for two harpsichords played together.
They focus on the works of Johann Sebastian Bach and his sons and create their own transcriptions of French, Spanish and Italian music suited to their medium. They have toured extensively in the Southeastern United States and recorded to critical acclaim with Lyrichord Discs of New York City and Centaur Discs of Baton Rouge, La.
Leopard received a bachelor's degree in foreign languages from the University of Southern Mississippi and a master's in musicology from Indiana University, with special emphasis on early music performance.
Her teachers included Dana Ragsdale, Lois Leventhal and Elisabeth Wright, a former student of Gustav Leonhardt. Leopard is currently teaching and performing in Jackson, where she is associated with St. Andrew's Episcopal Cathedral as a professional soloist and consultant.
Her specialty in early music performance, as a continuo player and harpsichordist, has been admired in many concerts with various groups throughout Mississippi.
Paul grew up in the small town of Lyme Regis, England. Self-taught until the age of 18, when an audition earned him entrance to the Royal Academy of Music in London, he has continually studied and performed pianoforte, organ and harpsichord. His principal teachers were Alan Richardson, Harold Craxton, C. H. Trevor and Thurston Dart.
With performance diplomas from the Royal Academy of Music and an honors degree from the University of London, he moved to the United States in 1965 to take a job he still holds as organist-choirmaster of St. Andrew's Episcopal Cathedral in Jackson. In 1971, he received a doctorate from the University of Colorado.
