Lettie Beckon Alston is the first African-American composer to obtain a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1983. Her principle teachers were Dr. Leslie Bassett and Dr. William Bolcom. She received her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in composition and piano from Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan. Her composition instructor was Dr. James Hartway and her piano instructors were Mischa Kottler and Frank Murch. Dr. Alston is Associate Professor of Music at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. She was the artistic director of Lettie Alston and Friends Professional Artists Concerts from 1995-2008 featuring music by living composers. Dr. Alston is presently the artistic director of the Composers at Oakland concert programs, featuring faculty, alumni and student works.
Alston was featured as composer and pianist at the Festival of Composition in Africa and the Diaspora at the University of Cambridge/Churchill College, England in August 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2007. Her compositions for Solo piano, Soprano and Piano, Woodwind Ensemble and Orchestra have also been showcased at the Symposium of Black Women Composers at Hampton University, Virginia; the Women’s Music Festival, Massachusetts; the Eastern Michigan University’s Music Now Fest, the Warren Symphony Orchestra and the Pontiac Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Alston’s compositions were selected three times for performance in an annual National Competition in Michigan at the Unisys African-American Composers Symposium with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra performing works in 1992 and 1999. Other performances include the National Black Arts Chamber Music Mini-Festival at Georgia State University, Georgia; A Schloss Concert: Women Composers from the U.S.A., Salzburg, Austria; the Pennsylvania Music Teachers Association Convention at Manfield University, Pennsylvania; and the Festival of Women Composers at Indiana University Pennsylvania. Alston’s vocal works have also premiered with the Bronx Singers and Bronx Singers Chamber Orchestra, Bronx, New York, 2005. Most recently, in the FESAAM (Festival of African and African-American Music) 2009, Dr. Alston received two performances of her composition, Anxiety for Orchestra, performed by the New Horizons / St. Louis Symphony Orchestras. She was also featured in a solo piano recital during the festival. Her vocal work was also performed in 2009 at the Scripps College Performing Arts Center, Claremont, CA in the 5th Annual Faculty/Student Gala Concert.
Dr. Alston has received numerous commissions, faculty grants, the Oakland University spring/summer 2000 Research Fellowship grant and annual ASCAP Standard awards from 2001-2010. Her music has been recorded on CD under Kaleidoscope Leonarda LE 339, Albany TROY 439/TROY 266, www.videmus.org/videmusrecordings.html, www.colum.edu/…/Discography_of_Music_by_Black_Composers.php, www.maggiegeorgeLLC.com, www.artsongupdate.org/Articles/WillisPatterson.htm, labels. Alston’s music scores are published with www.presser.com or www.hildegard.com., www.vivacepress.com, www.artsongupdate.org/Articles/WillisPatterson.htm and Oxford University Press, 2008 www.oup.com Religious Music for Voice and Piano was professionally recorded on Compact Disc under lbafriends@wowway.com, 2006. Lettie is presently working on a professional CD of her works for two pianos-four hands, Sonata, No.3/No.4 and an orchestration project.