CHICAGO, IL (November 18, 2005) – North Park University’s instructor of Flute and World Music, Lyon Leifer, has been awarded a Senior Fulbright Fellowship to India. The fellowship, for 2005-2006, will allow Leifer to pursue his project, “Mastering the Bansuri, a Lifelong Quest.”<\/p>\n
The bansuri, is a keyless, bamboo, flute; an important instrument in Indian music. A Julliard graduate, Leifer began studying bansuri and Indian music in 1965 during his first Fulbright fellowship.<\/p>\n
Since that time, he has won wide recognition for his mastery of both Western and Indian flute music. He performs with a number of prestigious ensembles in Chicago, including Music of the Baroque, Ars Viva and the Chicago Opera Theater. He has given Indian music recitals across the United States, and has appeared in concert and offered master classes in Great Britain, China, India, Venezuela, Cuba, Barbados, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Turkey. His renditions of Indian classical music have been widely acclaimed in the Indian press.<\/p>\n
Leifer will use the grant to fund a residency at Sangeet Mahabharati, a well-known institution in Mumbai, India. While there, he will study North Indian classical music with that institution’s principal, the highly regarded sitarist, Nayan Ghosh and provide flute lessons and music coaching in Western classical music with a particular focus on North American flute repertory.<\/p>\n