Everything Nac

The Stephen F. Austin State University School of Art and the Friends of the Visual Arts will present a free, one-night screening of “Rango” at 7 p.m. Friday, Dec. 2, in The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House in downtown Nacogdoches.

This Academy Award-winning animated film directed by Gore Verbinski stars Johnny Depp as the voice of Rango, an ordinary chameleon who accidentally winds up in the town of Dirt, a lawless outpost in the Wild West in desperate need of a new sheriff and town hero.

“‘Rango’ is a film for the whole family,” said Richard Orton, film committee member. “Children and adults will most likely be laughing at it for different reasons. The Friends of the Visual Arts offer it as a holiday treat for Nacogdoches.”

“Rango” won the Academy Award in 2012 for Best Animated Feature Film of the Year as well as numerous other awards. The motion picture rating is PG for rude humor, language, action and smoking. The film runs 107 minutes.

This screening is part of the School of Art’s monthly Friday Film Series and is sponsored in part by William Arscott, Nacogdoches Film Festival, Karon Gillespie, Mike Mollot, David Kulhavy, Brad Maule, John and Kristen Heath, Galleria Z, Jill Carrington, Jean Stephens, Jim and Mary Neal, Richard Orton, Main Street Nacogdoches and Nacogdoches Junior Forum.

The Cole Art Center is located at 329 E. Main St. For more information, call (936) 468-1131.

Four guest percussionists will be featured when the Trombone Choir at Stephen F. Austin State University performs at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 1, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

Performing with the choir, which is directed by Dr. Deb Scott, professor of trombone in the SFA School of Music, will be student percussionists Ethan Ainsworth, Longview freshman; Trevor McCulley, Kyle freshman; Chris Williamson, Robinson freshman; and Austen White, Robinson sophomore.

Among the program selections is “Sequoia” by Stephen Lias, professor of composition in the School of Music. The piece is among a series of works Lias has written in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service. “Sequoia” was written for Scott and the SFA Trombone Choir. It premiered at the 2010 International Trombone Association Conference in Austin.

Also on the program is “Torque” by Justin Writer, associate professor of composition and music theory at the University of Texas, Rio Grande Valley. Scott described the piece as “very lively with lots of surprising rhythms, very fun and intense to listen to.”

“Tower Music” by Václav Nelhýbel is a standard literature for trombone choir, and Scott selected it for the program in anticipation of the restoration of SFA’s carillon set in the Griffith Fine Arts Building, which will be completed in January.

“I am very excited about the upcoming restoration of the carillon, and it made me think of this wonderful piece for trombone choir,” she said.

Scott will perform “Amazing Grace,” arranged by Irv Wager. Ben Kelly, drum major of the Lumberjack Marching Band, will conduct.

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.

Guest artists Paul Christopher and Milovan Paz will present a program of cello duos by French composer Jacques Offenbach when they perform at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 29, in Cole Concert Hall on the Stephen F. Austin State University campus.

Selections will be drawn from the artists’ two recordings of Offenbach cello duos, as well as an ensemble piece for multiple cellos, featuring the SFA cello studio under the direction of Dr. Evgeni Raychev, cello instructor in the SFA School of Music.

Commonly known as the creator of French operetta, as exemplified by the famous Can-can from “Orpheus in the Underworld,” Offenbach was actually German, not French. He entered the Paris Conservatory at the age of 16 as a cellist, followed by his tenure as a member of the Opéra-Comique cello section.

Since 2005, Christopher has been performing and preserving this repertoire, often in world premiere recordings, on the Human Metronome label. With cellist Ruth Drummond, he recorded five CDs. With his current duo partner, Paz, a sixth CD, “The Gift-Wrapping,” Opus 54, Nos. 1-3, was released in May 2016. Their second CD, the seventh in the series, will be released later this year and will feature the world premiere recordings of the “École du Violoncelle,” Opus 19 and 20.

Christopher has appeared as clinician and guest artist throughout the United States, Costa Rica, Honduras, Panamá and South Korea. He has performed with Shreveport Symphony Orchestra and Shreveport Opera. He is a former lecturer in the SFA School of Music. As a member of the Nashville String Machine, Christopher has recorded with artists such as Faith Hill, Ricky Skaggs, Bruce Springsteen and George Strait. He is associate professor of cello and music theory at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches.

Paz has worked with the chamber string orchestra in San Pedro Sula and the Sinfónica Centroamericana. A former student of Christopher, he graduated in May 2014 with a Bachelor of Music Performance and in May 2016 with a Master of Music Performance from Northwestern State University. Paz currently performs with symphony orchestras in the Ark-La-Tex area and works in the Natchitoches School Board String Program.

The Cello Club, a cello ensemble performance endeavor founded by Raychev that strives to bring cellists together, is concert sponsor.

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.