Everything Nac

Music streams inside the Culinary Café kitchen at Stephen F. Austin State University as seniors Anna Smith and Amanda Powers prepare a dish for a local event. Peeling pears, they read over the recipe, planning out the cooking time, temperature and method for creating the dish. On the stove, a rosemary-red-wine-muscadine sauce simmers. After a taste test proves the sauce is the right consistency, Smith and Powers soak the pears in the sauce for flavoring.

Working in the kitchen comes natural to Smith of Thicket, Texas, and Powers of Cedar Park, Texas, who are both SFA hospitality majors. In May, the women will join an elite group of students who will work in France at the American Pavilion at the Cannes International Film Festival Culinary Program.

The Cannes International Film Festival celebrates cinematographic art with various red carpet events, workshops, seminars, film screenings and more. The American Pavilion is the center of activity during the festival for the American film community. It is a membership-based communications and hospitality center for journalists, publicists, celebrities, filmmakers and motion picture executives working at the festival, and it provides students with a variety of immersive program offerings.

Smith and Powers were introduced to the Cannes Culinary Program when a representative visited the SFA campus and discussed the many opportunities the Cannes International Film Festival offers students.

“When he talked about the culinary program, it got me so excited for the opportunity to cook in France, go to farmer’s markets, meet French chefs, and make more than a thousand meals a day for festival workers and guests,” Powers said. “It is truly a dream come true to have been accepted into this culinary program.”

Smith agrees the presentation sparked her interest in applying.

“I’ve always known I wanted to travel to gain experience like this. During my internship, I traveled to Colorado and spent my summer learning what it is like working in a large-scale bakery,” Smith said. “Experience, adventure and passion for what I do led me to apply to this competitive program, where only 20 students out of the whole country were accepted.”

The Cannes Culinary Program is unique and competitive. Students submit an application, answer essay questions, and send their résumés, transcripts and letters of recommendations to a selection committee.

While at the festival, Smith and Powers will cook and prepare meals for special banquets and events that host celebrities and others. The students’ training also will include visiting French kitchens, wineries and farmer’s markets.

“Most people have asked, ‘Aren’t you excited to see celebrities?’ And while there is some excitement at the prospect of an Anne Hathaway or Ryan Reynolds sighting, I’m more excited to experience a new place, culture and ultimately, learn more about how to cook some great cuisine,” Smith said.

The pair feel they are ready for their adventure in France and said they credit SFA’s culinary program with preparing them for the journey.

“My courses at SFA have taught me how to cook for a large number of people, how to plan and what to expect,” Powers said. “Chef Todd Barrios has been an amazing professor and has helped teach us what to add to complement flavors, how to prepare and make so many varieties of foods, and so much more.”

After graduation, Powers plans to work for Cakes Rock, an in-house bakery in Austin, while Smith hopes to become a pastry chef.

“Baking is a lot different than cooking. There’s a science and everything has to be exact or things don’t come out quite right. There’s something therapeutic about baking,” Smith said. “I love the idea that it is both a science and an art — that you can take something so exact and still find ways to make it your own.”

This year’s Schmidbauer Young Artist Competition winner Ethan Le will be among the guest artists who perform when the Orchestra of the Pines presents “Vim and Virtuosity” at 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 7, in Cole Concert Hall on the campus of Stephen F. Austin State University.

“The evening is a potpourri of music selections – a melting pot of variable delights,” said Dr. Gene H. Moon, director of orchestras at SFA. “We have two guest artists joining us, both of whom are full of vim and virtuosity.”

Le, a senior at Cinco Ranch High School in Katy, will perform the first movement of Johannes Brahms’ Violin Concerto in D major. Le made his orchestral debut at the age of 14 with the Houston Civic Symphony as its winner of the Young Artist Concerto Competition Junior String Division. In that same year, he also won the Clear Lake Symphony Youth Concerto Competition, Junior String Division, and performed with the orchestra. Le won first place at the 2014 Clear Lake Symphony Youth Concerto Competition and at the 2015 Houston Civic Symphony Young Artist Concerto Competition.

Also performing with the orchestra will be John Ma, violin professor at the University of Macau, Hong Kong. As a musical exchange, Moon will travel to Hong Kong to join Ma and two of his students in a collaborative performance.

With the Orchestra of the Pines, Ma, who is an active violinist with symphonies and orchestras throughout Hong Kong and China, will perform “Estaciones Portenas,” or “Four Seasons,” by Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla.

Also on the program is a performance of this year’s winning entry in the orchestra’s annual composition competition. SFA “prides itself in having a thriving composition studio” led by Dr. Stephen Lias, professor of composition in the School of Music, according to Moon.

“I have always championed new music and strive to introduce my orchestras to such contemporaries,” Moon said “This year, we have a unique ‘first time,’ not only in the work being performed, but also by the composer, who is our first freshman winner.”

Freshman composition major and talented pianist Jesse Edwards composed “Shipwreck,” a full orchestra work inspired by the painting “A Shipwreck Off a Rocky Coast” (c. 1760) by Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg, a French painter made famous for his renditions of landscapes and battles. Edwards has had works premiered in concerts, theaters and films.

The program is bookended by two popular concert works. Jeff Leung, SFA graduate conductor from Hong Kong, will open the program by taking the orchestra through Felix Mendelssohn’s “Hebrides Overture,” a work that “helped establish the genre of the concert overture,” Moon explained. The program ends with the “Dance Bacchanale” from “Samson and Delilah,” an opera by French composer Camille Saint-Saëns.

“The sultry melodies and driving rhythmic forces are sure to give the audience the ride of their lives,” Moon said.

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.

Stephen F. Austin State University is set to host the sixth biennial Lone Star Legislative Summit March 2-3, which will bring more than 20 state lawmakers to SFA’s campus to discuss pressing and relevant statewide issues.

“The Lone Star Legislative Summit is an amazing showcase for the university,” said Dr. Adam Peck, SFA dean of student affairs and member of the Nacogdoches County Chamber of Commerce Legislative Affairs Committee. “It exposes law and policy makers to our beautiful campus, our expert faculty members and the community in which we reside. Additionally, the event is frequently attended by students who benefit tremendously from the insights of the speakers, moderators and panelists.”

Fittingly, the summit also will coincide with the Nacogdoches Tricentennial Celebration.

“I see this year’s LSLS, which is part of the Nacogdoches Tricentennial Celebration, as a way to promote our city, our heritage and SFA, and show the rest of the state our city’s vibrancy,” said Dr. Scott Sosebee, associate professor of history at SFA and a summit moderator. “Also, I like this summit’s sessions. It is truly a 21st-century agenda, one that looks to the future of the state and how we can solve some of our problems, and highlight why Texas is — and should be — a leader for the rest of the nation as we move further into the 21st century.”

The two-day summit will begin with a kick-off reception at 5 p.m. Wednesday, March 2, at Austin Hall, 4603 North St. The first of five sessions will begin at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, March 3, in the SFA Baker Pattillo Student Center Grand Ballroom following a 7:15 a.m. breakfast. Ticket prices vary and can be purchased at the Chamber, 2516 North St.

Topics to be discussed include diversity and race in Texas, the Nacogdoches tricentennial, state health care and education, and Texas music. Glenn Hegar, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, also will give a report on the Texas economy. Dr. Steve Bullard, SFA interim provost, will serve as moderator for the second session, titled “Educating 21st Century Texans: Remembering the Alamo and shooting for the stars.”

“The summit is a wonderful opportunity to show the world (and the rest of Texas) that East Texas not only respects and values the 300-year history of the settlement of Nacogdoches and the great natural beauty of its waterways and forests, but also is fully committed to the future of East Texas citizens through economic growth, health care, education, and conservation of our natural resources,” said Brad Maule, SFA theater lecturer and a summit moderator.

“We also like to have fun here, and that’s where I hopefully can be of help. East Texas is filled with music — the sweet sound of guitars in the night air around a campfire, gospel groups in one of our many churches, the western swing and country twang of dance halls, all the way to the celebration of life in weddings and funerals — music is everywhere you turn in Nacogdoches. I hope to share a little bit of the long history of music here, the different kinds and the origins of our music.”

Summit topics are selected by the Legislative Affairs Committee in consultation with summit hosts, State Rep. Travis Clardy and State Sen. Robert Nichols, Peck said. Selected topics are based on what organizers believe will be particularly important in the coming legislative session and that have relevance for the city and region.

Sosebee said the primary goal of the session he will moderate, “Diversity and Race in Texas: Who were we, who are we, and who do we want to be?” is to discuss Texas’ increasingly diversifying population.

“We may not realize that we are the home of the most diverse city in the United States (Houston), and our state contains sizable populations of various ethnic groups as well as races,” he said. “Important to me as a historian is how we use the past to explain the present and future. What we must learn to do is have a historical narrative that contains a ‘usable past,’ or one that all Texans can relate to. For far too long we have relied on a narrative that concentrated on the 19th century, Texas as a frontier state and how the predominant Anglo population dominated the institutions.

“We are more than a 100 years removed from Texas as a place that was rural and emerging, with an immature economy. Yet, in many ways, the story we tell only relates to that reality. We are, in 2016, an urban state, one that is diverse, a leader in technology and an economic giant. I think that most Texans of 2016 do not relate to the old tales of ‘gun smoke and cows’ and would welcome a story that stresses how we became the state we are today.”

For information about the summit, visit www.travisfortexas.net/lsls2016.

The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House will host an artist’s talk and musical performance starting at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 6, in conjunction with the exhibition “East Texas Impressions: The Art of Charles D. Jones,” which is currently showing at the downtown gallery.

The comprehensive catalogue of this exhibition will be available for purchase, and Jones will be available to sign following the 2 p.m. artist talk.

As an “added value” event of the Nacogdoches Music Festival, slated for March 3 through 6 in downtown Nacogdoches, the afternoon’s festivities will also feature Jones and the musical group Camino Real, which includes Jon Hall, Craig Smith, Mark McClain and Robbie Roach, performing old-time string band music, Irish tunes and a variety of other songs. Joining them for some special songs will be Michelle Smith, Tim Chauvin, Cele Knight, John Guedry and Paul Driver. Admission is free.

“East Texas Impressions: The Art of Charles D. Jones” features drawings, prints and paintings of the professor emeritus in the School of Art at Stephen F. Austin State University who now serves as director and master printer for the LaNana Creek Press in SFA’s College of Fine Arts. Woodcuts, intaglio and book arts are also featured in this retrospective of Jones’ work, which is curated by David Lewis, professor of art history at SFA.

The Jones exhibition and the Refined jewelry and metalwork exhibition, both of which are sponsored in part by the Nacogdoches Junior Forum and SFA Friends of the Visual Arts, have been extended to run through March 19.

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