Everything Nac

The Stephen F. Austin State University Residence Hall Association will ring in the holiday season at its annual Holiday Extravaganza from 6-8 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 1, on the SFA campus. This event is free and open to the public.

From 6-7 p.m. SFA’s Pep Band and local music groups will perform on the front steps of the Austin Building. Jacob Lusk, RHA president, said the performances will be a treat, and the association always looks forward to the shows.

Following the performances, Dr. Baker Pattillo, SFA president, will address the community and introduce special guests from the North Pole. Attendees will be able to meet Mr. and Mrs. Claus after the address.

From 7-8 p.m. visitors can enjoy a variety of child-friendly games and activities on the Baker Pattillo Student Center Plaza.

“We are very fortunate to have the opportunity to host this event on the first day of December. In my opinion, there is no better way to jump into the holiday spirit than to drink hot chocolate, listen to performances from some of Nacogdoches’ finest musicians, meet Mr. and Mrs. Claus and enjoy some fun games and activities on the plaza,” Lusk said.

RHA has hosted this event for decades, and it has become a Lumberjack tradition.

“Many students say this event reminds them of the holiday season and pushes them to finish off the semester so they can travel back home to be with their families,” Lusk said. “I highly recommend that everyone come be part of this annual tradition.”

For more information, contact Lusk by email at rha@sfasu.edu or RHA at (936) 468-2700.

Dr. Kasandra Keeling will present a guest piano recital at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21, in Cole Concert Hall in the Wright Music Building on the Stephen F. Austin State University campus.

Keeling, who is associate professor and coordinator of keyboard studies at the University of Texas at San Antonio, will perform a Spanish-themed concert that features the music of Domenico Scarlatti, Astor Piazzolla, Octavio Pinto and other noted composers.

She chose a theme of Spanish music because, in addition to her solo recital performance, Keeling will serve as judge for the Nacogdoches Music Teachers Association Fall Fiesta Festival Nov. 20 and 21, according to Dr. Andrew Parr, professor of piano at SFA.

“Pianists from elementary grades through high school will perform Spanish piano works for Dr. Keeling, receive critiques, and possibly perform on a festival student recital earlier on Saturday,” Parr explained. The student recital is slated for 4 p.m. in the Music Recital Hall on campus.

Also appearing in duet with Keeling on Pinto’s “Scenas Infantis” will be Linda Parr, piano instructor in the SFA Music Preparatory Division.

Keeling has had an active career as a performer and clinician throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico and China. In 2014, she was awarded the American Prize for Piano Performance for her recording of Serge Rachmaninoff’s “Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini.” In 2008, she was awarded the Outstanding Collegiate Teaching Award by the Texas Music Teachers Association and in 2015 received the UTSA President’s Faculty Excellence Award for Creative Production. Last year, Keeling joined the summer piano faculty at Interlochen Arts Camp, and in 2016 she will celebrate 15 years as director of the Summer Music Institute for Piano and Strings at UTSA.

The recital 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.

The Stephen F. Austin State University College of Fine Arts and School of Music will present the Cello Club with Evgeni Raychev in a recital at 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

Performers will include active Cello Club members playing with Raychev, School of Music faculty member, and his students, who will present the program “Cello Is the New Black.”

In its second season, the Cello Club will perform works by J.S. Bach, Frédéric Chopin, David Popper, Wilhelm Kaiser-Lindemann and other renowned composers.

“The blend of multiple cellos sounding together has been used ever since the Baroque period,” Raychev said. “Several compositions were written for cello ‘a cappella’ choir in the 19th century (with many more in the 20th century), and cello ensembles have been forming since the 1970s with the sole purpose of performing these works.

“With a sound reminiscent of the human voice, a range spanning over four octaves, and its rich dynamic and expressive color, the homogenous sonorities of the cello ensemble are practically unmatched,” he said. “The increasing interest in the sound of that instrument nowadays certainly makes the cello the ‘new black.'”

The recital is part of the Cole Performing Arts Series.

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.

The Swingin’ Axes and Swingin’ Aces, the jazz bands at Stephen F. Austin State University, will perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 20, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

Directed by Dr. Gary Wurtz, professor of trumpet and jazz studies at SFA, the Swingin’ Axes will perform a program in tribute to the Boss Brass, the premiere Canadian big band.

“Founded by valve trombonist Rob McConnell in the 1970s, the Boss Brass is an assemblage of the best studio jazz musicians in Toronto, Ontario,” Wurtz said. “The band recorded numerous records over the decades and has earned 17 Grammy nominations.”

The Swingin’ Axes have chosen a program of some of the Canadian band’s greatest hits, including “Just Friends,” “Back Bacon Blues” and “I Got Rhythm.”

The Swingin’ Aces, directed by Dr. Deb Scott, SFA professor of trombone, will perform an electric program of 1940s swing, ’50’s bebop, and ’60s and ’70s funk.

The Aces’ program will include “Route 66” by Bobby Troup and arranged by Michael Sweeney, “The Chicken” by Alfred James Ellis and arranged by Kris Berg, “Night Winds” by Jay Chattaway, “Havin’ a Good Time” by Les Hooper, “Straight No Chaser” by Thelonious Monk and “Little Brown Jug” by Glenn Miller.

The concert is a joint presentation of the College of Fine Arts and School of Music. Cole Concert Hall is located in the Tom and Peggy Wright Music Building, 2210 Alumni Drive.

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.