Everything Nac

Due to a last-minute group cancellation, seats have opened up for the 12:30 p.m. Jan. 30 performance of “Junie B. Jones,” a previously sold-out show in this year’s Children’s Performing Arts Series at Stephen F. Austin State University.

Back by popular demand is the fast-paced musical starring Junie B. Jones, the outspoken, precocious first grader from Barbara Park’s series of books. Learn about new friends, new glasses, the annual kickball tournament and other angst-ridden situations as Junie writes down the story of her life in her ‘Top-Secret Personal Beeswax Journal.’

Theatreworks USA presents this touring production, which targets children in kindergarten through fifth grade. The Children’s Performing Arts Series is presented by the SFA College of Fine Arts.

Tickets are $6 for individuals and $5 per person for groups of 20 or more. For tickets or more information, call the Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit www.cpas.sfasu.edu.

The Stephen F. Austin State University College of Fine Arts and School of Music will present the Madera Wind Quintet, one of the state’s premier woodwind ensembles, in concert at 4 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 8, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

The performance is part of the quintet’s 2015 Southwest Tour and will feature the music of Texas composer Don Gillis from the ensemble’s upcoming CD release “Five Piece Combo,” along with new works for wind quintet from the group’s earlier album, “Five at Play.”

Throughout February, the quintet, which includes SFA School of Music alumnus Jason Paschall, will give concerts and master classes in Tyler, Denton, Nacogdoches, Kingsville and Corpus Christi before heading to San Antonio to perform at the Texas Music Educators Association Convention.

“I am thrilled at the thought of our upcoming tour,” Paschall said. “Our love for outreach, for each other and for the music itself will make every performance engaging and inspiring.

“My journey of self discovery began at SFA, and it is with a lot of excitement that I’m visiting again,” he said. “The artistry and musicianship possessed and shared by the faculty at SFA is a large part of what has fueled my passion for a career in performance. I think what I’m most excited about is meeting and sharing with the next generation of young music majors. It will also be a thrill to be back on stage in Cole Concert Hall to share a really fun program that features works from our upcoming album ‘Five Piece Combo!’”

In 2008, five musicians with a shared love for chamber music came together in Denton to form the Madera Wind Quintet. Performing for diverse audiences across the United States, the group has quickly become known as one of today’s most exciting wind quintets, according to Fred J. Allen, director of bands at SFA.

Exploring the fringes of the quintet repertoire – new music, forgotten gems, original arrangements and music for children – Madera also engages audiences with the classic repertoire and beauty of the wind quintet sonority.

The musicians of the Madera Wind Quintet are Paschall, oboe; Amy Thiemann, flute; Rachel Yoder, clarinet; Jorge Cruz Jr., bassoon; and Angela Winter, horn.

Madera premiered the International Joint Wind Quintet Commissioning Project’s winning composition at the 2012 International Double Reed Society and International Horn Society conferences. Educational outreach is also important to Madera, whose work includes workshops and clinics for students of all ages.

The concert, which is sponsored by the SFA band program, will also include classics from the wind quintet repertoire, as well as some original arrangements.

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 Jennifer Dalmas and Kae Hosoda-Ayer performing a violin and piano recital at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 8, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

Dalmas, associate professor of violin and viola at SFA, and Hosoda-Ayer, assistant professor at Baylor University where she teaches collaborative piano, will perform sonatas for violin and piano by three distinctive composers, including Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johannes Brahms and Maurice Ravel.

The first piece on the program will be Mozart’s Sonata for piano and violin in E minor, K. 304.

“It was written when Mozart was in Paris and around the time of his mother’s death, which probably accounts for its melancholy and expressive character,” Dalmas said. “Although an early work, it is regarded as one of Mozart’s finest chamber compositions.”

The Violin Sonata in G major by Ravel emphasizes the difference in tone colors between the two instruments, Dalmas explained, describing the piece as “elegant and sometimes quirky.”

“The second movement, ‘Blues,’ contains many jazz and blues elements,” she said, “and the last movement is quite exciting, featuring perpetual motion throughout.”

The final piece on the program is the Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108, which is the last sonata Brahms composed for the violin and the “most dramatic and stormy in character,” Dalmas said.

“It is almost symphonic in scope, as well, and is his only violin sonata containing four movements,” she said.

Dalmas and Hosoda-Ayer will perform this same program in Waco on Feb. 6 before performing it at SFA. Dalmas will also teach a master class at Baylor University that day.

Tickets for this Cole Performing Arts Series performance 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.