Pianist and composer Michael Young to premiere two works at Sept. 13 concert

NATCHITOCHES – Pianist and composer Michael Young will premiere two works in a concert at Northwestern State University on Tuesday, September 13 at 7:30 p.m. in Magale Recital Hall. Admission is free and open to the public. A livestream will be available at capa.nsula.edu/livestream. Young will present the same program on Tuesday, September 20 at 6:30 p.m. at the Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts Recital Hall.

Young will premiere “Promenade” and “Nocturne No. 4.” He will also play his composition of “Preludes and Fugues Nos. 1-6.”

Young’s compositions have been performed in Korea, Taiwan, and throughout the United States, including at several of the College Music Society’s regional conferences and its 2011 international conference, the 2010 Society of Composers Inc. National Conference, the 2010–2018 Southeastern Composers League Forums, and the 2008 Ball State University Festival of New Music.  As the 2016 pedagogical composer for the Kentucky Music Teachers Association, he composed and performed “Six Inventions” for solo piano at the KMTA state conference.  His “Capriccio” for clarinet, bassoon, and piano was performed at the 2014 international conference and Mid-America Festival of the International Clarinet Association and recorded by Trifecta! on the CD Cumulus Accumulation.  His modernized arrangement of Saint-Saens “Carnival of the Animals” for saxophone quartet, piano, and percussion was performed at the 2012 North American Saxophone Alliance and the 2011 World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles Conference in Taiwan. This arrangement of “Carnival of the Animals” was released on the Centaur Label in August 2021.

Young is the past president of the Southeastern Composers League.  He is a collaborative pianist for music majors at Northwestern State and the choir accompanist for the Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts.  He earned his Bachelor of Music degree in piano performance at Northwestern University and his Master of Music in piano at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.