The Catawba College Music Department presents a free concert open to the public with Pianist Jesse Davis at 7 p.m. Saturday, February 5 at Keppel Auditorium in the Robertson College-Community Center.
A native of North Carolina, Jesse Davis has performed with orchestras and given numerous solo recitals in the United States and Europe. He is the winner of the 2001 Vienna International Pianists Academy "Rosario Marciano Sonderpreis," the 1998 GMTA Competition, the 1995 NCSA "A. J. Fletcher Competition," the 1995 Raleigh Symphony Young Artist Competition, and the 1995 N.C. MTNA Yamaha Competition.
He was awarded a Semifinalist Prize at the 2004 New Orleans International Piano Competition and holds prizes from the 1998 French Piano Institute and the 1991 Winston-Salem Symphony Young Artist Competition as well. Currently, he studies privately with Fabio Bidini and recently completed the International Certificate for Piano Artists 2003-2004 through the Ecole Normale de Musique "Alfred Cortot" in Paris, the Foundation Bell'arte in Brussels and the University of Florida, College of Fine Arts. Through this program Davis received personal training from Jerome Lowenthal, Boaz Sharon and Nelson Delle-Vigne, as well as masterclasses from Philippe Entremont and Lazar Berman.
Davis received his Master of Music degree from Baylor University in 2001 as a student of Krassimira Jordan and his Bachelor of Music from the North Carolina School of the Arts in 1999 as a student of Clifton Matthews where he was a full scholarship recipient. Upon admission to Baylor, Davis was awarded a full graduate assistantship in accompanying.
Davis has performed at numerous venues including the Salle Cortot at the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris “Alfred Cortot”, the 2005 Steinway Festival at the University of Florida in the University Auditorium, the 2003 TCU/Cliburn Institute, the Bibliotheque Nationale in Braine L'Alleud, Belgium, Bösendorfer Saal in Vienna, the Ehrbar Saal of Praynor Conservatory in Vienna, the Reynolda House Museum of Art in Winston-Salem, the Museum of Modern Art in Fort Worth, the Riffe Rotunda at Ohio University's Southern Campus, Saint Paul Episcopal Church of Meridian and the Cortile Palazzo di Monte and the Chiesa di S. Chiara, at the Savinese Music Festival in Monte San Savino, Italy. As a recipient of the Semans Art Grant for Foreign Study, Davis performed and studied at the Tibor Varga Festival in Sion, Switzerland. He has also performed in Paris at the French Piano Institute. As a young artist winner, Jesse made his orchestral debut with Maestro Lorenzo Muti and the Tar River Philharmonic at age sixteen.
Jesse has had the honor to work with some of the world's most renowned concert pianists such as Beethoven specialist Stephan Möller (Austria), Simone Pedroni (Italy), José Feghali (Brazil), Tamàs Ungar (Hungary), Sir Harold Martina, John Owings (USA), Yasuko Mitsui (Japan) and the Russian master Leonid Brumberg. His early professors include Dr. Charles Bath and Daniel and Jayne Ericourt.
His future plans include solo performances in the US and Europe and a concert tour of South Korea in 2005. He will work as a teaching assistant to Nelson Delle-Vigne at the 2005 Paris International Summer Sessions in the Ecole Normale de Musique de Paris "Alfred Cortot."
In 2003 Davis produced a professional recording, sponsored by a Regional Artist Project Grant from the Arts and Science Council of Charlotte/Mecklenburg, which was aired on the NPR radio program Music at Baylor hosted by Dick Veit. On December 21, 2004, he was one of five young artists recorded live in a DVD of French piano music set at the Salle Cortot, and hosted by Jean-Michel Damase.
