Contact: Sasha Steinberg

STARKVILLE, Miss.—A distinguished faculty member in Mississippi State’s Department of Music is presenting a classical recital Thursday [Aug. 25] at Harrison Auditorium in Giles Hall.

Free to all, the 7:30 p.m. performance by Professor Rosângela Yazbec Sebba will feature works by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), Isaac Albéniz (1860-1909) and Ernesto Nazareth (1863-1934).  

Sebba, the music department’s professor of piano, theory and ear training, is among the select ranks of some 1,600 highly esteemed musicians from around the world who have chosen to play exclusively on pianos produced by internationally renowned piano manufacturer Steinway & Sons.

A native of Brazil, Sebba said she enjoys combining an active concert and teaching schedule. Noted for her lecture-recitals and research in Brazilian music, she has given recitals, master classes and lectures in the United States, Brazil, Mexico, Portugal, Costa Rica, England and Spain.

In summer 2015, Sebba served for six weeks as an examiner for the Taiwan-based International Piano Performance Examination Committee, where she instructed more than 1,300 students on technique, style, literature, music history and theory.

An active board member of the Mississippi Music Teachers Association, Sebba also serves as secretary and district audition chair for pre-college evaluations of the Golden Triangle Music Forum. She is featured on the Mississippi Arts Commission’s Artist Roster, with a CD titled “Eight Sonatinas and the Sonata for Piano Solo by M. Camargo Guarnieri” released in 2010.

“Eight Sonatinas” will be available for purchase at Thursday’s recital, with half of the proceeds benefiting Mississippi State’s chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity.

Prior to joining MSU in 2000, Sebba held positions at Gustav Ritter State Conservatory-Brazil, the University of Southern Mississippi and Pearl River Community College.

Founder and coordinator of the Brazilian Music Festival, Sebba is a music graduate of the Universidade Federal de Goias and the University of Wyoming, with additional studies completed at the prestigious Juilliard School in New York City. For more biographical information, visit www.music.msstate.edu/faculty/bio/rosangelasebba.

Sebba, who has more than 37 years of experience in piano performance, is among those committed to making the university’s music department an All-Steinway School with the acquisition of a baby-grand and four vertical Steinway pianos.

With the All-Steinway School designation, MSU would join a select group of more than 160 institutions of higher learning and conservatories around the world and become the only Mississippi school holding the prestigious honor.

Alumni and friends of the university may assist with gifts toward the All-Steinway Initiative. To contribute, contact Trish Cunetto at 662-325-6762 or tcunetto@foundation.msstate.edu.

Accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music, MSU’s Department of Music offers a bachelor’s degree in four areas of music education, as well as a bachelor of arts in music. Learn more at www.music.msstate.edu and bit.ly/MSUMusicFB.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.