Please join us on Thursday, February 14, 2013, from 7:30 pm for the first in this year’s series of Hickory Arts house concerts featuring vocalists Lee and Dustin Ousley in a special Valentine’s Day performance! Tickets (“donations,” if you prefer) are $20 and can be purchased online or at Hickory Arts. Please call ahead. Only 40 seats are available. Lee Whittington Ousley is a native of Florence, SC. She received a Bachelor of Music degree from Furman University and a Master of Music degree from Manhattan School of Music. She has shared her love of music through teaching public school and private lessons over the past five years and is currently teaching voice for Columbia Arts Academy. Mrs. Whittington has performed in many recitals, concerts, musical theatre, and opera productions and most recently played the role of Donna Anna in Mozart’s Don Giovanni with Opera at USC. Dustin Ousley is a native of Fountain Inn, SC. He earned music degrees from Furman University and UNC at Greensboro. Dustin has been the conductor for many musical productions and concerts and spent seven years as the choral director at Fred T. Foard High School in Newton, NC. He is frequently asked to adjudicate scholarship and singing competitions and is often invited to be the guest clinician at middle school and high school choral clinics throughout the Carolinas. Also an avid performer, Mr. Ousley has been involved in over 40 musical productions, most recently playing “The Baker” in Sondheim’s Into the Woods with the Green Room Community Theatre. Dustin and Lee Ousley are pursuing doctoral degrees at the University of South Carolina. They have plans to complete research for their doctoral dissertations in Vienna over the summer of 2014. This performance is given in part, to raise money for their research endeavors. Hickory Arts is a teaching and production studio dedicated to responding in a personal way to the needs of up-and-coming artists of all types and ages. The studio is located at 720 Second Avenue SW, Hickory 28602 across from Hickory Optimist Park and behind ITP (where you’ll also find additional parking). For more information about tickets and Hickory Arts, please visit hickoryarts.com or call 828-270-9801. Hickory Arts House Concerts are very intimate. Volunteers to provide food (“potluck,” if you prefer) for the performer(s) and guests is strongly encouraged. All proceeds always go directly to the artist(s).