H. Leslie Adams

Harrison Leslie Adams, Jr. (December 30, 1932 - May 24, 2024) was an American composer. His works have been performed by the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Buffalo Philharmonic, and Indianapolis Symphony, and commissioned by The Cleveland Orchestra, Ohio Chamber Orchestra, Cleveland Chamber Symphony, and the Center for Black Music Research, among others. Metropolitan Opera artists have performed his vocal works internationally. He has also received composition awards from the National Association of Negro Women and the Christian Arts National Competition for Choral Music. Adams is best known for writing music for voice (including choral music, art songs, vocal solos, and music drama) but has also written numerous purely instrumental compositions as well. Adams's music is composed largely within the tradition of Western classical music and also incorporates elements unique to African-American music.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Adams began to study music at an early age, having lessons with neighbor and violinist Dorothy Smith at four years old. Adams earned a Bachelor of Music Education from Oberlin College in 1955, a Master of Music from California State University, Long Beach in 1967, and a Ph.D. in Music from Ohio State University in 1973. He also pursued private studies with Leon Dallin, Herbert Elwell, Joseph R. Wood, Vittorio Giannini, Robert Starer and Eugene O'Brien. He received composer residency fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation (Bellagio, Italy, 1979) and Yaddo Artist Residence (Saratoga Springs, New York, 1980 and 1984). Mr. Adams has held high school appointments and faculty positions at Stillman College, Florida A&M University and the University of Kansas (Lawrence).

Adams's music drama Blake (composed 1986) was the focus of a significant portion of Y.C. Williams's New Perspectives on Music (ed. J. Wright with S.A. Floyd Jr, published Warren, MI, 1992, pages 172–209). 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 work incorporates many elements of African-American music, such as syncopated rhythms, melodies reminiscent of spiritual and gospel music, and an improvised percussion passage in the style of Afro-Cubano. Adams started to compose Blake in June 1980 after taking up residence at the Yaddo Arts Colony. During this stage, he worked with librettist Daniel Myers, which carried the development of the opera into 1985. 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.

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. In 2015, he received the Cleveland Arts Award.

Adams works from his Cleveland studio in Ohio purely focused on composition and promotion of his music. He is also a frequent lecturer at various colleges and universities, instructing people on his music.

Adams died in Cleveland on May 24, 2024, at the age of 91.