Everything Nac

Gavin Tolar and Lillian (Lilly) Montes will serve as the 2015 Stephen F. Austin State University Children of the Court during the annual Homecoming celebration Oct. 30 and 31.

Gavin Leroy Tolar is the 6-year-old son of Marcus and Erika (Wulff) Tolar of Houston. Erika, a 2002 SFA graduate, is a worldwide account manager for the FedEx Corporation and serves on the Board of Directors for the SFA Alumni Association.

Gavin is a first grader at Abiding Word Lutheran School in Houston. He has a servant heart and enjoys volunteering at FedEx events and at the Kid’s Camp for the Council on Recovery. He truly bleeds purple and enjoys “throwing the axe” every chance he gets. He also has two aunts, Sarah Gallander, class of 1999, and Emily Doyle, class of 2006, and one uncle, John Gallander, class of 1999, who are all proud SFA alumni.

Gavin enjoys playing flag football, golf and soccer, participating in Tae Kwon Do, and fishing with his dad. He also likes to play Minecraft, eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, read books, and attend SFA athletic events. His favorite athletes are J.J. Watt, Arnold Palmer, former SFA basketball player Jacob Parker, and all SFA Lumberjack football players. Gavin wants to work in a business-related field when he grows up, and he plans to attend SFA in fall 2027.

Lillian (Lilly) Grace Montes is the 9-year-old daughter of Dr. Jennifer Criss (Montes) and Mr. Michael Montes of Nacogdoches. Criss, a 1998 SFA graduate, is a pediatric dentist in Nacogdoches and was named SFA Outstanding Young Alumna in 2012. In addition, she serves as a member of the SFASU Foundation Board of Trustees. Michael, a Nacogdoches native and Sam Houston State University alumnus, is a design engineer with GE Lufkin Industries. Lilly’s grandparents are Bob and Dath Crain of Nacogdoches; Robert and Donna Criss of Tennessee Colony, Texas; and Bennett and Rhonda Montes of Nacogdoches. Lilly also has a younger brother, Anderson.

Lilly attended SFA’s Janice A. Pattillo Early Childhood Research Center until she was 5. She is a third grader at Christ Episcopal School in Nacogdoches, and her favorite subjects are math, science and computer. Lilly and her family attend First United Methodist Church of Nacogdoches. She has played five years for the Nacogdoches Youth Soccer Association’s Dragonflies soccer team, where her father is a volunteer coach. She also is a member of the Academy Elite Ballet Company and will perform in the Nutcracker this Christmas.

Lilly enjoys visiting the library, reading, sewing and playing with her cat, Snowball. Inspired by her SFA Pre-K teachers, Lilly wants to become a pre-school teacher when she grows up.

Gavin and Lilly will ride in the Homecoming parade at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 31, as well as assist Dr. Baker Pattillo, SFA president, with crowning the 2015 Homecoming king and queen during halftime at the SFA football game against the University of the Incarnate Word. The game begins at 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31, at Homer Bryce Stadium.

Stephen F. Austin State University College of Fine Arts and School of Music will present the Hachidori Duo performing a faculty recital at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 1, in Cole Concert Hall of the Wright Music Building on the SFA campus.

The Hachidori Duo includes music faculty members Dr. Jennifer Dalmas, violin, and Dr. Evgeni Raychev, cello. The husband-wife team will perform some of their favorite pieces from the duo repertoire for violin and cello they have discovered over the years.

The program includes two pieces the couple played during their Oct. 16 performance in Carnegie Hall. The duo will perform Sonata for Violin and Cello by Maurice Ravel and “F.C.’s Jig” by Mark O’Connor.

“The Ravel duo is probably the greatest duet ever written for this combination of instruments, and it is quite a change from Ravel’s typical style,” Dalmas said.

F.C. stands for “Fiddle Concerto,” as the melody of this duet is taken from O’Connor’s well-known work.

Other composers featured on the program will include Bohuslav Martinu and Johan Halvorsen.

“Evgeni and I have been playing duo music since we met in Florida almost 20 years ago,” Dalmas said. “Although we have played for various events and have been featured performing a piece here and there, it has been quite a while since we have played an entire duo recital together.”

Tickets to the recital 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.

Members of the voice faculty in the Stephen F. Austin State University School of Music, along with Ron Petti, SFA’s director of accompanying, will perform at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

The program, “Last Letter Home: The Songs of Lee Hoiby,” will feature works of the American composer and pianist who excelled in the genre of art song, according to Petti.

“Many of Hoiby’s songs are widely performed throughout the world, in particular the ‘Songs for Leontyne,’ written for legendary soprano Leontyne Price, which will be performed on this concert,” Petti said.

Scott LaGraff, professor of voice, will provide a short, informative talk about Hoiby and his work at the beginning of the concert.

The feature piece on the concert will be the last work, entitled “Last Letter Home.” The text was taken from a letter written by U.S. Army Pfc. Jesse Givens to be delivered to his wife and family should he be killed in the line of duty, Petti explained. Givens drowned in the Euphrates River on May 1, 2003, in the service of his country. He had previously written a letter to his wife, Melissa, son, Dakota, nicknamed “Toad,” and his unborn child, Carson, nicknamed “Bean.” He asked Melissa not to open the envelope unless he was killed. “Please, only read it if I don’t come home,” he wrote. “Please put it away, and hopefully you will never have to read it.”

“Three years later, Hoiby composed this song in honor of Jesse Givens,” Petti said.

Melissa expressed her gratitude to Hoiby in a letter. She wrote in part: “I think Jesse would be so honored by what you are doing. He was an artist in many forms and he loved music so much. We have great pride in the man we loved and lost. I am deeply touched by what sharing his letter has done for others. It feels as though he is still touching the hearts of other people even after his death. My family will live forever with the great loss of Jesse; he was so much more than anyone I have ever met. I am proud that others choose to remember him in such ways as you are doing.”

A PowerPoint presentation shown during the concert will feature photographs of Givens and his family.

Tickets for this Cole Performing Arts Series recital 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.