Everything Nac

The Stephen F. Austin State University School of Music will present concert pianist Hai Jin performing the program “Summer Dreams” at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 22, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

Filled with “lots of pictures and imagination,” the program features music from various periods and styles, from Baroque to Romantic, impressionism to nationalism, according to Jin.

“All of the pieces are related to paintings, poetic sources and the imagination,” she said.

The recital opens with works by Johann Sebastian Bach and Robert Schumann. Bach’s “Sheep My Safely Graze” is a soprano aria written in 1713 as part of his cantata Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd, BWV 208, also known as the “Hunting Cantata,” with text by Saloman Franck.

“The cantata’s title translates ‘The lively hunt is all my heart’s desire,'” Jin explained.

The other Bach piece, “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring,” is frequently played at weddings.

Schumann’s Arabeske Op.18 is also on the program. The term “Arabeske” is used here as a poetic metaphor, Jin explained.

French composer Maurice Ravel’s “Miroirs,” French for “Mirrors,” has five movements, each dedicated to a fellow member of the avant-garde artist group Les Apaches. “Noctuelles,” or “Moths,” is described as a chromatic work, maintaining a dark, nocturnal mood throughout. “Oiseaux tristes,” or “Sad Birds,” represents a lone bird whistling a sad tune, after which others join in. “Une barque sur l’océan,” or “A Boat on the Ocean,” recounts a boat as it sails upon the waves of the ocean, with arpeggiated sections and sweeping melodies imitating the flow of ocean currents. “Alborada del gracioso,” or “The Jester’s Morning Song,” incorporates Spanish musical themes into its complicated melodies. “La vallée des cloches,” or “The Valley of Bells,” elicits the sounds of bells through its use of sonorous harmonies.

The program closes with two selections from Goyescas Op. 11, a piano suite written in 1911 by Spanish composer Enrique Granados.

“This piano suite is usually considered Granados’s crowning creation and was inspired by the paintings of Francisco Goya,” Jin said. “Quejas, ó la maja y el ruiseñor,” or “The Maiden and the Nightingale,” is the best-known piece from the suite, and “El pelele,” or “The Puppet,” is a fast, technically difficult piece.

Jin is a D.M.A. candidate at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and she is the assistant conductor of the Maryland Lyric Opera. She is an active concert pianist, chamber musician and orchestral soloist and is a member of the Sassmannshaus Piano Trio. She has performed across the U.S. and Asia.

Tickets are $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and $3 for students and youth. For tickets or more information, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu.

A fun evening of jazz featuring the Swingin’ Axes and Swingin’ Aces from Stephen F. Austin State University will be presented from 7 to 11 p.m. Friday, March 1, at LugNutz Bar & Grill.

If weather permits, the jazz bands will perform on the outdoor stage. In inclement weather, the concert will be moved indoors.

The evening will open with The Swingin’ Aces, directed by Dr. J.D. Salas, performing a mix of big band favorites such as Count Basie’s “April in Paris” and Duke Ellington’s “Take the A Train.” The band will also feature newer works for jazz ensemble, including Kris Berg’s “No Spring Chicken,” which rearranges some of the themes from Pee-Wee Ellis’s well-known funk song “The Chicken.”

The Swingin’ Axes, directed by Dr. Deb Scott, will perform more big band favorites from the 1940s, including “In the Mood” and “String of Pearls,” both made famous by the Glenn Miller Orchestra, as well as “Song of India” as performed by Tommy Dorsey.

The evening will also include a performance by a newly formed jazz band, the SFA Jazz Club, directed by jazz graduate teaching assistant Max Mucino. The band will perform Cab Calloway’s “Minnie the Moocher” and Al Jarreau’s “Roof Garden,” among others.

“As the evening progresses, so will the music, changing to blues, funk and rock,” Scott said.

Concert tickets may be purchased ahead of time at the SFA Fine Arts Box Office for $10. Tickets at the door will be $15. For tickets or more information, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu. Tickets do not include food or beverages.

All proceeds from ticket sales will benefit the School of Music jazz program.

LugNutz is located at 5287 U.S. Highway 59 approximately five miles south of Loop 224, Nacogdoches. Drinks from the bar and food from LugNutz’ Spitfire Grill will be available for purchase.

Stephen F. Austin State University’s Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture will host a public ceremony on the SFA campus to officially crown the latest addition to the Texas Big Tree Registry.

The ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. Friday, March 1, at the SFA Arboretum gazebo, located at 2031 Wilson Drive.

The tree, a chalk maple, was submitted to the Texas A&M Forest Service for consideration by Greg Grant, Smith County extension agent and former horticulturalist for SFA Gardens. The agency manages the statewide Texas Big Tree Registry and is responsible for confirming trees worthy of inclusion.

“Being home to a state-champion tree is a unique honor, yet it seems fitting for a university with trees in its DNA,” said Dr. Steve Westbrook, interim university president. “I think all Lumberjacks would agree that SFA wouldn’t be the same in any setting other than our beautiful, wooded campus.”

The Texas Big Tree Registry recognizes the largest known tree of each species growing in the state. Currently, there are 274 state champion trees — 75 of which hold the title of national champion for their species.

According to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Plant Database, chalk maples, although rare, are native to Texas and are a southern variation of the sugar maple.

“The tree itself is not very big, but for the species, it’s impressive,” said John Boyette, district forester with the Texas A&M Forest Service.

SFA’s champion chalk maple measures 28 feet tall with a circumference of 34 inches and a crown spread of 30 feet.

For more information regarding this event, contact Sarah Fuller, outreach coordinator for SFA’s Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture, at (936) 468-1185 or fullersa@sfasu.edu.

The Orchestra of the Pines at Stephen F. Austin State University will perform the music of Samuel Barber and Felix Mendelssohn in a concert at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 20, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

Dr. Pierre-Alain Chevalier, visiting director of orchestral activities in the School of Music, will conduct the orchestra performing “Sorrow and Joy” featuring Barber’s “Knoxville: Summer of 1915” and Mendelssohn’s “Italian.”

Soprano Amanda Sheriff is soloist for “Knoxville: Summer of 1915,” op. 24. The orchestra’s program will also include Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 4 in A major, op. 90, his Italian symphony.

Sheriff graduated from SFA with a master’s degree in vocal performance and a bachelor’s degree in music education. While earning her master’s, she received many accolades, including receiving one of the two voice assistantships allowing her to teach voice to collegiate level music minors and non-music majors. She was president of the 2017 A Cappella Choir and directed a scene for the SFA Opera Scenes performance in 2018.

While at SFA, Sheriff was awarded with the Opera Conductor’s Award, Baumgartner- Outstanding Senior Voice Award and Recitalist of the Year, and she earned her membership into Pi Kappa Lambda music honor society. She was selected to perform in SFA’s exclusive Madrigal Singers. Sheriff studied voice with SFA alumnus Debbie Berry.

Sheriff performed principal operatic roles with SFA opera, including Lauretta in “Gianni Schicchi” (Puccini), Rosabella in “The Most Happy Fella” (Loesser), Marenka in “The Bartered Bride” (Smetna), Anne in “The Merry Wives of Windsor” (Nicola), and Pamina in “The Magic Flute” (Mozart). Sheriff has also competed at the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), placing in the finals from 2013-2018.

Outside of SFA, Sheriff has performed as soloist at the Texas Music Educators Association Conference (TMEA) in 2015, sang the title-role in Carlisle Floyd’s “Susannah” with Red River Lyric Opera Festival in 2016. She performed with the renowned Ron Raines and the Longview Symphony in 2017, performed the chamber opera “Face on the Barroom Floor” (Mollicone), and was the soprano-soloist in Faure’s Requiem with the St. Cyprian Episcopal Church. Sheriff was a chancel choir member at First United Methodist Church in Nacogdoches under direction of Dr. Tod Fish, associate director of choral activities at SFA, since 2013.

Sheriff recently moved to the Washington, D.C., area with her fiancé and is currently pursuing a career in performance on the East Coast. This summer, Sheriff will perform the role of Susanna in “Le Nozze di Figaro” (Mozart) at Seagle Music Colony in Schroon Lake, New York.

The concert is a joint presentation of the College of Fine Arts and School of Music.

Tickets are $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and $3 for students and youth. For tickets or more information, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu.