Harpsichordist Shawn Leopard reached back to her Gulfport childhood to peg her first introduction to the instrument that has been so key to her music career, and to the composer who became her lifelong favorite.
“As a child growing up, my father loved the music of Bach,” Leopard recalled. “And, he had this one recording that he would play all the time, and it happens to be the very concerto that I’m playing this season.”
Leopard is the guest soloist for Mississippi Symphony Orchestra’s “Baroque Splendor” concert, Saturday, September 19 at St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Jackson. There, she’ll soak up the spotlight in Johann Sebastian Bach’s breathtaking Harpsichord Concerto No. 1, in D minor.
Leopard may have known the concerto since childhood, but this will actually mark the first time she has ever played it in performance. “I’ve really gotten into the middle of it for this concert, I tell you.”
The “Baroque Splendor” concert opens “A Season of Excellence” for MSO and signals the start of its 82nd year as one of Jackson’s premier performing arts anchors.
The program revels in the rich traditions of the era, with music treasured for its high energy, gorgeous ornamentation and delicious accessibility.
In addition to the Bach concerto at its heart, the evening delights with Antonio Vivaldi’s Sinfonia, Francesco Geminiani’s Concerto Grosso, Arcangelo Corelli’s Concerto Grosso and Georg Philipp Telemann’s Overture Suite (known as “La Bizarre” for its unexpected rhythmic quirks and more).
Leopard was 16, visiting Piano Day at the University of Southern Mississippi, when she heard the harpsichord live for the time. Dana Ragsdale, music professor at USM, played a demonstration of Baroque music and then 20th century music on the harpsichord.
“It just clicked. I said, ‘I want to do that.’
“Being a Bach lover, the fact that that was the instrument he actually wrote for, was very enticing,” Leopard said. She was also drawn by its timbre. “It’s very cymbal-like, very sparkly, very bell-like.”
Leopard received her undergraduate degree from USM in foreign languages and her master’s in musicology from Indiana University with special emphasis on early music performance. She teaches piano and harpsichord at Jackson State University.
Admired for her specialty as a continuo player and harpsichordist in concerts with various orchestras throughout the South and Northwest, Leopard has also garnered critical acclaim for her collaboration, tours and recordings with celebrated organist John Paul (now her husband), performing music written for two harpsichords focusing on the works of Bach and sons. They live in Biloxi, and she commutes to Jackson to teach.
Bach’s harpsichord concerto grabs the ear from the outset, relentless and ravishing in its intensity. “It is aggressive in its own way,” Leopard said, “but in a very refined way.” Highly emotional, too.
“You can run the gamut of emotions in Bach’s work. Contrary to what most people believe, the music of the Baroque period was not just automatic, where you can set a computer to play it.… It has a different dialect of emotion. And, it is just as lush and fiery and romantic, but in a different way, as the Romantic period. It just has its own style of language.”
Leopard has been featured in MSO concerts in years past, including Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5. She plays continuo for this opening Baroque concert every year. “So, I’m part of that group, and they’re part of me.”
She noted that Bach’s harpsichord concerto differs from some of his other works, featuring a lot of unison playing with the orchestra.
“Even though it is a solo part, it is all a joint effort.”
And, it’s bona fide Bach.
“Bach is my favorite composer,” Leopard said with a fond chuckle, “so you know, if it’s him, it’s gotta be good.”