Everything Nac

The Stephen F. Austin State University College of Fine Arts and School of Music will present Evgeni Raychev in a faculty cello recital at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 23, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

The recital, titled “Musical Foray,” takes the listener into the world of the great composer Gabriel Fauré with other selections by Carl Maria von Weber, J.S. Bach and Joseph Haydn.

Performing with Raychev will be Olga Wong, piano, along with Jonah Raychev, Jennifer Dalmas and Jarred Kennedy, violin; Preston Patterson, viola; and Carlos Martinez, cello.

“The recital will focus on the works for cello and piano by the French Romantic composer Gabriel Fauré, whose musical style influenced many 20th-century composers,” Raychev said. “His works often have descriptive titles and are very picturesque in character. They have unique figurative language, so typical of Fauré, which takes us on a special journey through various mental images.”

Although most of these pieces are short and programmatic, Fauré’s Sonata for cello and piano is larger in scope, Raychev said. Other composers and styles featured on the program provide contrast to Fauré’s music.

“Weber’s Adagio and Rondo, originally for harmonium and orchestra, is an interesting showpiece transcribed by the famous cellist, Gregor Piatigorsky,” Raychev said.

Raychev will be joined by his son, Jonah, in the first movement of Bach’s well-known concerto for two violins. The concert also features the third movement of the Haydn Cello Concerto in C major, which Raychev describes as “an exciting showpiece for the soloist, fully exploring the range and technique of the cello.” The last two selections will be accompanied by string quartet.

Cello instructor in the SFA School of Music, Raychev is the co-founder of the Piney Woods Camerata and Piney Woods Youth Orchestra and founding member of Alazan Piano Trio. A new endeavor is the Cello Club in which cello enthusiasts of all ages are prepared online to gather together for a concert at SFA.

Wong is principal organist at St. Martha Catholic Church in Kingwood. She completed a Master’s Degree in Piano Performance at SFA while serving as full-time graduate assistant in piano, accompanying student ensembles.

Recital 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 (888) 240-ARTS or visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu.

The Stephen F. Austin State University College of Fine Arts and School of Music will present Andrew Parr in a faculty piano recital at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 21, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

A presentation of the Cole Performing Arts Series, the recital will feature Parr performing “Contrasts in Romantic Piano Music.” The program includes Johannes Brahms’ Piano Sonata No 1, Op. 1 and a group of pieces by Spanish composer Isaac Albéniz from his “Iberia Suite.”

“The Brahms work is the first composition that the composer permitted to be published,” Parr said. “It was written to be a virtuoso vehicle for recitals by the young Brahms, when he was still a performing pianist.”

The “Iberia Suite” of Albéniz is a collection of 12 pieces written to portray different regions of Spain, particularly in the mountainous region of the Iberia peninsula, which includes areas of Spain and Portugal, Parr explained.

“I will present some selections from this Suite, which is generally considered to make enormous technical demands of the performer,” he said.

Parr is professor of piano in the SFA School of Music and has performed extensively in solo, chamber and concerto settings. He has presented guest recitals and master classes at universities in Texas, regionally, and in international venues such as Hong Kong. He was a member of the piano faculty at the Vienna Piano Academy in Vienna, Austria, helped to create the First International Piano Camp for students in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, was among the artist faculty of the Interharmony Music Festival in Arcidosso, Italy, and joined the jury of the Second International Iberoamericano Competition for Young Pianists in Santo Domingo in 2016. He has been awarded the Teaching Excellence Award for the SFA College of Fine Arts and in 2016 was awarded the Outstanding Collegiate Teaching Achievement Award for Texas by the Texas Music Teachers Association.

Recital 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 (888) 240-ARTS or visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu.

This spring Stephen F. Austin State University’s Rusche College of Business implemented a mentorship program to provide students with an additional resource outside of an academic setting.

This program matches members of the Rusche College of Business Executive Advisory Board with an SFA student based on the student’s goals, the mentor’s industry specialty and location, and personalities. Mentors advise and guide students as they advance in college and help students launch their careers.

“In this program, students have direct access to the skills and knowledge of highly successful individuals,” said Dr. Tim Bisping, dean of the Rusche College of Business. “The mentorship program provides a low-risk environment in which students can ask questions about professional development.”

In this program, mentors and students schedule weekly phone conversations and meet at least twice during the semester. Discussion topics range from communication skills and teamwork to office and interview etiquette. Tiffany Jones, director of external relations in the Rusche College of Business, is highly involved with the program and explained its benefits.

“This program places students in the position to receive insight and advice from some of our most successful College of Business alumni,” Jones said. “We hope that operating without the pressure of trying to secure a job from this experience will allow the mentors and students to develop relationships conducive to being open and honest about their questions, fears and personal development goals.”

This program is not an extended job interview, Jones said.

“It is our hope that these relationships develop on a personal level and last beyond the requirements of this program,” Jones said. “Our mentors are interested in helping students develop skills that will make them leaders in their field.”

Currently, there are 11 students involved in the pilot program, which lasts one semester. Jones said she hopes to expand the pool of mentors to accommodate more students.

For more information, contact Jones at jonestj9@sfasu.edu, or visit the dean’s office in the McGee Business Building on the SFA campus.

The National Endowment for the Humanities has once again recognized an NEH grant awarded to Kyle Ainsworth, special collections librarian at Stephen F. Austin State University’s Steen Library, by including it in NEH’s 50 States of Preservation series.

The series highlights former preservation assistance grants for smaller institutions awarded to libraries and archives across the United States.

Ainsworth’s 2012 grant helped fund a four-day disaster-and-planning workshop series from May 14-17, 2012, which was designed to instruct employees of regional museums, cultural heritage organizations and archivists in the basics of document preservation, emergency preparedness and salvage techniques.

The first two days focused on the usual threats, like leaks, pest infestation and mold, as well as preservation of oversized materials, photos and scrapbooks. The last two days highlighted disaster preparedness and salvage techniques. The fourth day included a hands-on demonstration of how to salvage water-damaged materials.

Additional workshops were held at the Durst-Taylor Historic House where members of the Nacogdoches community were invited to attend and learn techniques to help preserve treasured family heirlooms.

Ainsworth’s grant was recognized for its timely implementation in a region with more than 60 historical and cultural organizations archiving thousands of historical documents and which endured two hurricanes in the years leading up to the grant-funded workshop series.

The workshop series proved beneficial in 2014, when a leak in the East Texas Research Center’s special collections library damaged more than 200 books.

“Because of the workshop, we were able to save about 170 books,” Ainsworth said.