Musical Background
Leroy Southers began composing at a very early age, and by age sixteen was composing prolifically, including these pieces for his girlfriend and her three little piano students.
He studied composition at the University of Southern California, with, among others, Halsey Stevens and Ingolf Dahl, receiving a D.M.A in musical composition in 1990. His long teaching career included the University of Southern California, Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA, and Loyola Marymount University, where he was chairman of the Department of Music for fourteen years. He was the recipient of grants in musical composition from both the Ford Foundation and the National endowment for the Arts.
"...creating is individual, and is a duel between one person and his/her conceptions."
Though he was primarily a composer, Southers also had an extensive performing career, serving as 1st oboe in the Beverly Hills Symphony Orchestra, 1st oboe in the Eastern Sierra Music Festivals, 1st oboe in Loyola Marymount University Orchestra, each of these for ten years or more. He also played in many chamber groups, including the Schoenberg Quintet.
Compositions
Although his more than 100 compositions are yet to be cataloged, they include 3 symphonies, an opera, two complete masses, chamber works, works for concert band, solos for strings, woodwinds, brass (a piece for 12 equal trumpets!) and song cycles on the poetry of Baudelaire, Burns and others.
He was fond of saying "I’ve tried never to write the same piece twice…"
Two of his compositions are available here:
- Five Aphorisms and a Statement for Flute and Piano, one of his last compositions
- Sonata for Pianoforte, written for his best friend, Ralph Grierson in 1963.
Some of the music whose composition is described in the Letters section is also available by application:
Musical Greetings
