Everything Nac

“Piano Reflections,” a faculty recital with Mario Ajero, associate professor of piano and piano pedagogy in Stephen F. Austin State University’s School of Music, will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 5, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

Ajero selected the theme “Piano Reflections” because “the majority of the works on the program are pieces that I had learned when I was younger. I discovered that the process of re-visiting them when I’m older gave me a different perspective on these piano compositions.”

The recital in a joint presentation of the College of Fine Arts and School of Music and is included in this year’s Cole Performing Arts Series.

As a highlight, the concert will feature Ajero’s 10-year-old son and piano student, Antonio “Nio” Ajero, as guest solo artist performing the Piano Concerto in A Major, K. 414 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Ajero will play the orchestra portion on a second piano.

“This is the first full three-movement piano concerto that Nio has learned,” Ajero said, “and in a program entitled ‘Piano Reflections,’ I felt it fitting to include my son as a reflection of my teaching. I consider it one of the most satisfying experiences to share the stage with him and be able to perform the orchestra reduction part for his piano solo at this age.”

Among the other pieces to be performed are Piano Variations by Aaron Copland.

“This is one of my favorite piano works of the 20th century and is much more striking than his more popular compositions and works influenced by jazz,” Ajero said. “It focuses on a short main theme from which Copland weaves imaginative musical ideas. The shocking dissonances are contrasted by moments of tenderness as well as variations with changing meter and driving rhythms.”

Ajero will also perform Ballade No. 4 in F Minor by Frédéric Chopin, which Ajero describes as “one of my favorite works from the Romantic era. It exhibits beauty in a more traditional sense compared to the Copland Piano Variations.”

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 School of Art and the Friends of the Visual Arts will present a free, one-night screening of “Tim’s Vermeer” at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 6, in The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House in downtown Nacogdoches.

A Sony Pictures Classic release, this 2013 Penn & Teller film is the story of Tim Jenison, a Texas-based inventor, who attempts to solve one of the greatest mysteries in all art: How did 17th century Dutch master Johannes Vermeer (“Girl with a Pearl Earring”) manage to paint so photo-realistically – 150 years before the invention of photography?

According to information at sonyclassics.com, “The epic research project Jenison embarks on to test his theory is as extraordinary as what he discovers.”

Spanning eight years, Jenison’s adventure takes him to Delft, Holland, where Vermeer painted his masterpieces, on a pilgrimage to the north coast of Yorkshire to meet artist David Hockney, and even to Buckingham Palace to see a Vermeer masterpiece in the collection of Queen Elizabeth II.

Betsy Sharkey of The Los Angeles Times describes the 80-minute film as, “A fascinating new documentary about art, obsessions, ideas and answers.”

The film is rated PG-13 for some strong language.

This screening is part of the School of Art’s monthly Friday Night Film Series and is sponsored in part by the Nacogdoches Junior Forum, The Liberty Bell, Main Street Nacogdoches, Bill Arscott, Jill Carrington, Karon Gillespie, John Heath, David Kulhavy and Brad Maule.

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

The 2013 Penn & Teller film “Tim’s Vermeer” chronicles Tim Jenison’s quest to determine how Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer painted so photo-realistically.