Accomplished student oboist set to perform at MSU Ragtime and Jazz Festival as Docher Award honoree

STARKVILLE, Miss.—Mississippi State senior Madeline Lee of Ocean Springs will be honored this weekend with a prestigious university award during the 16th annual Charles H. Templeton Ragtime and Jazz Festival running March 24-26.

The Keyone Docher Student Achievement Award is given annually to an outstanding MSU student majoring in music and is named for former music education major Keyone Docher, a performer for the 2014 Templeton Festival. The event’s planning committee—influenced by the young artist’s talent—elected to honor him with this recognition after he died that same year.

Lee, who takes the stage on Friday [March 25] at 7:30 p.m. in the McComas Hall Theater, said of the honor, “This is an instructor selected award, and to know that professionals in my future field have identified me as an individual of recognition in my department is an overwhelming feeling.”

Performing during the evening’s “Rag-a-Jazz: Sweet AND Hot!!” concert, the oboist also explained that music is the “one thing” that is a constant in times of hardship and can be “as much of a joy to those listening to it as it is a joy to practice and perform.

“I love music more than anything, and to realize I follow a line of individuals who, like Keyone, were recognized for their grit and perseverance is a humbling honor,” she said. “I know that Keyone’s passion touched so many lives, and I’m grateful for the legacy of excellence he left at Mississippi State.” 

The St. Martin High School graduate is principal oboist and a soloist for the MSU music department’s Wind Ensemble and is a member of the Oboe Studio, Double Reed Ensemble and Famous Maroon Band. Under the direction of her university instructor Jessica Haislip, Lee also has performed as a soloist with the Starkville Symphony Orchestra as the winner of its 2021 Concerto Competition and with the Corinth Symphony Orchestra. She also has played at the American Bandmasters Association conference, Mississippi Bandmasters Conference, and many MSU Double Reed Day and Oboe Studio recitals.

Outside of her musical studies, Lee has served the music department in leadership roles with Kappa Kappa Psi professional band fraternity as MSU chapter president and Southeast District programs vice president, and currently is district president. The Shackouls Honors College student has presented at the Undergraduate Research Symposium and has been published in the college’s Streetcar Literary Journal. Her future plans are to work toward advanced degrees in oboe performance.

Previous Docher Award recipients include Eli N. Denson of Decatur, Alabama; Daniel A. Rorabaugh of Long Beach; Quinlan X. Gray of De Kalb, Texas; Catherine N. Patriquin of Ocean Springs; Abby L. Weinstein of Marietta, Georgia; Tyler J. Stallings of Pontotoc; and Sarah G. Wallace of Brandon.

For more on MSU Libraries, visit www.library.msstate.edu; College of Education and its Department of Music, www.educ.msstate.edu and www.music.msstate.edu.

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