Dr. Harrison Leslie Adams Jr.

Dr. Harrison Leslie Adams, Jr., age 91, of Cleveland, passed away on May 24, 2024. Beloved son of the late Harrison L. Adams, Sr. and Jessie Manese Adams.

Composer, pianist, educator, and music minister, Dr. Adams was born in Cleveland, Ohio on December 30, 1932. He graduated from Glenville High School, studied voice, piano and composition at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, earned his master's degree in music from California State University at Long Beach in 1967, and his Ph.D. degree from The Ohio State University in 1973. He also completed additional studies in composition with Edward Mattila, Eugene O'Brien, and Marcel Dick from 1978 to 1983.

Dr. Adams was one of America's gifted and most respected composers of art song and opera, choral, cantata, and other vocal music forms. In recent years, players have discovered the depth of his eloquent instrumental chamber works, and many have created arrangements of his songs for other ensembles. His orchestral and symphonic music has been performed by the Cleveland Orchestra, the Ohio Chamber Orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, and the National Symphony in Iceland, Mecklenburgische Staatskapelle Symphony Orchestra in Germany, among others.

His music touched a wide variety of musical tastes and preferences. His recently published opera Blake is loosely based on a novel by Martin Delaney on the lives of enslaved African-Americans on the eve of the Civil War.

Adams' legacy lives on with the ongoing performances of his music around the entire world, most notably his Twenty-Six Etudes for Solo Piano, widely performed and recorded by artists including Maria Thompson Corley, Thomas Otten at UNC, Chapel Hill, and many others. The Etudes were recently part of a pandemic project in which 25 pianists from BYU, in honoring Dr. Adams, each recorded one of his etudes, and the performances were assembled for a grand YouTube playlist.

Leslie's art songs have been sung by operatic artists worldwide, including Kenneth Overton, Russell Thomas, Denyce Graves, Damien Geter, Sarah Dailey, and Louise Toppin. The album Love Rejoices: Songs of H. Leslie Adams featured internationally known vocal artist Darryl Taylor and accompanist Robin Guy. It was chosen as one of the ten best recordings of the year by American Record Guide and continues to be widely streamed. The album features the song cycles Nightsongs and The Wider View. Dr. Taylor's album contributed to bringing those works into standard art song repertoire for singers. The song collection Daybirth was written by Dr. Adams based on poems by his good friend, Cleveland poet Joette McDonald.

Dr. Adams is the recipient of honors and awards from the National Association of Negro Women, Christian Arts National Competition, and the National Endowment for the Arts. He was the winner of the 2015 Cleveland Arts Prize Lifetime Achievement Award.

Leslie's parents signed him up for piano lessons when he was only 4 years old, to help keep him away from trouble. And so began his amazing talent and incredible career. He taught at Florida A&M University and the University of Kansas, served as composer in residence at the Karamu House and the Cleveland Music School Settlement. He began to compose exclusively after 1979. He was also the music director and pianist at Grace Presbyterian Church in Lakewood, Ohio for more than 2 decades.

A friend to so many, Leslie was a kind and gentle soul, a true gentleman, and an amazing talent, who was always ready to share his wonderful smile to everyone.

A memorial honoring Dr. Adams will be held at 10:00 AM on Wednesday, June 12, 2024, at Grace Presbyterian Church, 1659 Rosewood Avenue, Lakewood, Ohio 44107. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in honor of Dr. H. Leslie Adams to Grace Presbyterian Church.