Everything Nac

The SFA Faculty Trio will present an afternoon of chamber music for clarinet, violin and piano when the ensemble performs at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, March 8, in Cole Concert Hall on the Stephen F. Austin State University campus.

The trio features SFA School of Music faculty members Christopher Ayer, clarinet; Geneva Fung, piano; and Jennifer Dalmas, violin. In addition to performing short works for clarinet/piano and violin/piano by Leonard Bernstein and Johannes Brahms, the musicians will perform Suite for Violin, Clarinet and Piano, Op.157b, which Dalmas described as “a delightful piece, fusing jazz and sometimes Latin elements of music in the contrasting movements.”

The trio will perform Aram Khachaturian’s Trio for Clarinet, Violin and Piano, which is an early work, but carries the composer’s distinct compositional voice, Dalmas said.
“At times rhapsodic and almost gypsy-like, this trio is very engaging and is filled with folksong melodies and ideas,” she said.

The program also includes “Cantiga D’Amor” by Vianna de Mota. Originally written for piano, the Portuguese piece was arranged for the trio’s combination of instruments by Josh Coe, SFA composition student from McKinney.

“As we will be performing this program soon in Macau with the Portuguese consul in attendance, we wanted to include a typical Portuguese work,” Dalmas said. “‘Cantiga D’amor’ (love song) is a colorful piece, full of Portuguese folk melodies and rhythms.”

The trio will perform this program several times at different universities in Hong Kong and Macau during spring break as part of an international outreach and recruiting effort.

Tickets for the concert, which is a presentation of the SFA College of Fine Arts and School of Music, 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.

Canadian pianist Janice Fehlauer will perform a guest solo recital at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 7, in Cole Concert Hall on the Stephen F. Austin State University campus as part of the School of Music’s Cole Performing Arts Series.

“The Pianist as a Rock Star” features virtuosic composers for the piano and highlights the music of such greats as Franz Liszt, Enrique Granados and Alexina Louie.

“Often referred to as the greatest pianist that ever lived, Liszt was a legend in his time, the 19th century equivalent of a rock star,” Fehlauer said.

Liszt was considered the father of modern piano technique and also a prolific composer, according to Fehlauer.

“He forever raised the standards of what the piano is capable of,” she said. “The composers who followed him tended to borrow or appropriate his virtuosic style in various ways. Virtuosic Lisztian technique can be seen in the compositions of Granados (Spanish), Alexander Scriabin (Russian) and Louie (Canadian).”

Fehlauer began her musical training in her hometown in British Columbia, where she received the associate diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music in both piano and violin. She also holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of British Columbia, a master’s degree from the University of North Texas, and a doctoral degree from the University of Houston. She was the gold medalist of the Wideman International Piano Competition and the winner of the University of North Texas Concerto Competition, and won second prize in the Los Angeles International Liszt Competition and the Hodges Competition for 20th-Century Music. Recent appearances as concerto soloist in the USA include performances with the North Florida Symphony, the Meridian Symphony, the Mississippi Symphony, the Lewisville Lake Symphony, and the UNT Symphony, and in Canada with the Fraser Valley Symphony and the Chilliwack Metropolitan Orchestra.

Her program at SFA will feature “Reminiscences de Norma” by Liszt, “Coloquio en la reja” and “El fandango de candil,” which are two pieces from the piano suite “Goyescas” by Granados, and “Scenes from a Jade Terrace,” by Louie.

“Louie is a Chinese-Canadian composer who tries to innovatively push the piano’s technical capabilities even past those developed by Liszt, using techniques such as playing on the strings inside the piano,” Fehlauer said. “‘Jade Terrace’ combines Eastern and Western musical styles, and is a wonderful example of how contemporary composers continue to push the boundaries of piano technique.”

Liszt’s transcription of the opera “Norma” by Bellini “shows off everything that Liszt loved: hummable melodies, the drama of Italian opera, and show-stopping piano technique with thundering octaves, “three-handed” technique (so called because a 19th century critic remarked that this passage was impossible to play without three hands), and huge leaps,” Fehlauer 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.

Seniors in the interior design program at Stephen F. Austin State University will showcase their work through April 2 on the second floor of the Ralph W. Steen Library on the SFA campus.

Each of the 11 participating seniors designed, fabricated and installed a freestanding structure on which to display their work and support a monitor to digitally present their portfolio. The structures reflect each student’s design philosophy and personality and provide a backdrop for their display.

The Essence of Design exhibit achieves four objectives in the interior design curriculum:

· to ready student portfolios for the job-search process by providing a digital portfolio;

· to encourage student self-assessment;

· to allow students to experience the complete design process of conceptualization, design development, fabrication, installation and evaluation;

· to communicate the scope of interior design education to the public; and

· to provide a recruitment tool for the interior design program.

Guided tours may be arranged by contacting Sally Ann Swearingen, associate professor of human sciences, at (936) 468-2048 or email sswearingen@sfasu.edu.

The Stephen F. Austin State University Student Government Association and Hunger Jacks, along with the Office of Academic Affairs, will host a grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Food for Thought campus food pantry at noon Thursday, March 5, in the Baker Pattillo Student Center, Room 3.201 on SFA’s campus.

The new pantry will serve as an unlimited resource for SFA students on campus. Donations can be made from 3 to 6 p.m. on Mondays. Student volunteers have already stocked the pantry with items collected from the Monday night Lumberjack basketball game versus Lamar.

“The mission of the Food for Thought food pantry is to help alleviate food insecurity among SFA students,” said Dr. Miranda Terry, assistant professor of kinesiology and health science and health science program coordinator at SFA.

All donations are welcome, including canned goods, food items in plastic jars and even funds. For more information about the event or to donate, please contact Terry at (936) 468-2353 or email terryms@sfasu.edu.