Ouachita Baptist University to host Young Artist winner in concert

By The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

ARKADELPHIA — Ouachita Baptist University will host James Cockman III, winner of the National Federation of Music Club's 2009 Young Artist Competition in piano at 7:30 p.m. in concert Tuesday.

The performance will be held in Mabee Fine Arts Center's McBeth Recital Hall on Ouachita's campus. It is open to the public and free of charge.

"This is a special year for us because it's the 50th year that we have hosted Young Artists at Ouachita," said George Keck, chairman ofOuachita's division of music and organizer of the Young Artist tour inArkansas.

"We're proud to carry on the tradition as well as bring in new talent to perform every year."

Cockman, a nationallyrecognized pianist, will perform selections from compositions byW.A. Mozart, Felix Mendelssohn, Franz Liszt, Modest Mussorgsky and Claude Debussy.

"We are particularly excited to have an artist coming with the caliber of Dr. Cockman because he is an outstanding performer," Keck said.

"He is very young - he's at the beginning of his career - and he has a very promising career at that. So we're excited to be a part of that."

Not only is Cockman an accomplished performance pianist, but he also served as a faculty lecturer at the University of Kansas and has taughtpiano literature seminars.

He teaches private lessons in the Kansas City metropolitan area and serves as pianist and organist at his church.

Cockman earned his doctorate in piano performance and pedagogy from the University of Kansas, his master's degree in piano performance from Central Missouri State University and his bachelor's degree from William Jewell College.

He has won many awards and competitions in piano, including the Naftzger Young Artist competition, the King Award Competition, the GMA 32nd Annual Music in the Rockies Competition and the Lee Biennial Competition.

For more information about Cockman, visit www.jamescockman.com.

As the 2009 winner of the Young Artist competition, Cockman's concerts are being arranged nationwide. In Arkansas, he will be performing in Little Rock, Monticello, Bentonville, Texarkana and Arkadelphia.

For more information, visit www.nfmc-music.org

Tri-Lakes, Pages 140 on 09/20/2009