Southeastern NEWS

                                                       Southeastern Louisiana University
                                           Office of University Relations
                                           SLU 880, Hammond, LA 70402
                                           504/549-2341/fax 504-549-2061
                                           publicinfo@selu.edu
                                           www.selu.edu/NewsEvents
    Date: 3/27/98
      Contact:                           Christina Chapple  95

RECITAL MEMORIALIZES SOUTHEASTERN MUSIC GRADUATES
     HAMMOND -- Seven notable Southeastern Louisiana University music department
faculty and alumni will be remembered April 5 in a special memorial recital.
     The free recital sponsored by the Southeastern Music Alumni Club is scheduled for 4 p.m.
p.m. in the Pottle Music Building Auditorium. Pianists Melvin G. Alford, a 1964 Southeastern
graduate, and Eleanor Statmore will perform four-hands piano pieces by Schubert, Grieg and
Logan Skelton. A reception will follow the recital.
     The recital honors Southeastern music department founder and department head Dr.
Ralph R. Pottle; Hammond piano teacher Mildred B. Stetzel; St. Tammany Parish music teacher
and choral director Carol Bauer Drewes; professional trombonist, composer and conductor James
R. Duggan; organist and SLU staff accompanist Ronald Brothers; University of Maryland music
library director Neil Mixon Ratliff, and Southeastern music department head Richard B. Temple.
Drewes, Duggan and Ratliff are Southeastern alumni. Stetzel's husband, Ronald, is a former
member of the Southeastern faculty.
     Southeastern music professor Robert Priez, a member of the Music Alumni Club, said
memorial contributions can be  made to the Pottle Endowment Fund at any time. Established in
1993, the endowment supports music department scholarships, faculty enhancement activities
and special department projects. Contributions may be made through the Southeastern
Development Foundation, 5040549-2239.
     A Mississippi native, Alford received a bachelor of music degree from Southeastern in
1964 and also studied at the Eastman School of Music and the University of Southern California,
Los Angeles.                             Alford was co-founder and director of the New Orleans Institute
for Performing
Arts and artistic director of the New Orleans International Piano Competition. As a teacher he
has held faculty appointments at Our Lady of Holy Cross College and Tulane University in New
Orleans, Blue Mountain College in Mississippi, and Humboldt State University in Arcata, Ca.
He has given recitals across the United States, including a recent recital of works by Guiseppe
Ferrata for the American Liszt Society in San Francisco, Ca. He is in demand as a vocal and
instrumental accompanist and also is active as an organist and choral conductor at the Church of
the Holy Comforter in New Orleans.
     Statmore is well known as a teacher, lecturer and adjudicator and has served as a judge
for the Music Teachers National Association Auditions, the National Piano Teachers' Guild and
the Music Educators Association auditions. A graduate of the Julliard School, she maintains a
large studio in New Jersey. Her students have won major awards such as the Concert Artists'
Guild, Exxon Artists Affiliated, and International Artists Competitions and have performed at
Carnegie Hall, at the Tanglewood Festival and with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Stratmore
lectures extensively on subjects ranging from pedagogy to  making a viable living in music.
     For additional information about the recital and the Pottle Endowment Fund, call the SLU
Music Department, 504-549-2184.
                                 - SLU -
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