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The Stephen F. Austin State University College of Fine Arts and School of Music will present music faculty member Charles Gavin in a recital at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 3, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus as part of the Cole Performing Arts Series.

The program, “Journeys and Reflections,” will include selected repertoire inspired by different places, locations or works of art, according to Gavin, professor of horn and chamber music in the SFA School of Music.

“With the exception of two pieces, the compositions are by American composers who interpret the different locations,” Gavin said. Accompanying Gavin will be faculty member James Pitts, pianist.

Among the works to be performed is “Sherwood Legend” by Elizabeth Raum.

“Inspired by the Robin Hood legend, this takes the audience back to the silent movie days of Robin Hood,” Gavin explained. “The music certainly takes on the life of a film score.”

Also on the program is “Vermeer Portraits” by Dallas composer Simon Sargon, who takes inspiration for this composition from the paintings of 17th century Dutch artist Jan Vermeer. The program will close with a musical visit to the circus with “Circus Suite” by Michael Horvit.

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.

The Stephen F. Austin State University College of Fine Arts and School of Music will present Christina Guenther in a faculty flute recital at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 1, in Cole Concert Hall as part of the Cole Performing Arts Series.

Guenther will present the program “Baroque to Jazz,” which also features music colleagues Geneva Fung, piano, J.D. Salas, bass, and Brad Meyer, drums.

Among the works to be performed is Sonata in B Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach as well as Grand Polonaise in D Major by Theobald Boehm.

“Bach is one of the greatest composers of all time,” Guenther said. “His Sonata in B Minor is in three movements. The first has an active feel because of the use of constant faster rhythms – sixteenth notes, thirty-second notes and triplets. The second movement presents a beautiful, floating melody in the flute line supported by lovely chords in the keyboard. The third movement clearly shows Bach’s prowess as a keyboard master and his brilliant use of counterpoint.”

Boehm was a German flutist, composer and inventor during the Romantic period who is considered responsible for the fingering system of the modern flute, according to Guenther.

“His in-depth study of acoustics resulted in his development of the instrument on which the modern flute is based,” she said.

The performance will also pair Samuel Barber’s “Canzone” and Philippe Gaubert’s “Madrigal” as a set.

“Both pieces’ titles mean ‘Song,’ and they are wonderful complements to each other,” Guenther said.

Closing the program is a performance of Claude Bolling’s “Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano Trio,” which is composed for “classic” flute and “jazz” piano, Guenther 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.

The student actors in “Trojan Barbie” bring global, multicultural perspectives that are as varied as the play itself to the Stephen F. Austin State University School of Theatre’s Mainstage Series.

In “Trojan Barbie,” Australian playwright Christine Evans’ award-winning drama, the past collides with the present as the owner of an English doll hospital somehow finds herself face to face with survivors of the Trojan War, fought 3,000 years ago in Asia Minor, now known as Turkey.

Helping to tell this story on stage is an eclectic cast of student performers with diverse and interesting backgrounds, according to Rick Jones, professor of theatre at SFA and director of “Trojan Barbie.”

Two exchange students from London’s Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance, Scarlett O’Reilly and Hana Ghassali-Sbai, have major roles. “They are both English and Hana has a Brazilian heritage,” Jones said.

Another important character is played by Malena Gordo, an SFA student from Argentina “who also happens to play first singles for the SFA tennis team,” according to Jones. Yet another cast member, Sarah Hendrix, also lived in England for three years.

Mainstage veterans Nnamdi Nwankwo and Joshua Lopez bring their performance skills to the cast along with freshman Anais Saenz and a new transfer student, Richard Scott. “Demographically, Nnamdi and Rich are African-Americans, and Josh and Anais are Latino/Latina,” Jones said.

“It’s an interesting assortment: partly because of the demands of the script (which requires, for example, that characters Max and Talthybius be black and that Jorge be Latino), partly because a more diverse cast works well with my concept for this show, and partly because the actors who did the best work in auditions happened to be ethnically mixed.”

Directors in the School of Theatre are focused on providing good roles for students, regardless of demographics, Jones explained. Nwankwo, for example, has been in a number of shows at SFA, but “Trojan Barbie” is the first one in which the character he plays is specifically written as a black man.

“If the script permits it, I use non-traditional casting,” Jones said. “Sometimes – as with the men in this play – that option isn’t available. Often – as with the women in this play – it is.”

The need for various dialects poses some related challenges for the production. “Scarlett keeps her accent for the play, and Nnamdi has had a lot of exposure to the Nigerian accent he uses in the show because of family connections. But Hana has to sound American to blend in with the rest of the cast, and Josh plays one character who is stereotypically British,” Jones explained. “Helen (of Troy) needs to be exotic, so it’s fine that Malena, who plays that role, doesn’t sound like she grew up in America.”

Lopez, who plays several characters, one of which is Jorge, believes his Latin heritage helps him to better construct movements and mannerisms of this particular character.

“Bringing Latin flavor to such a character is less difficult to do,” he said. “Regarding the other characters that I portray, the overall sternness and discipline that my parents instilled within me is what forces me to give myself to each character and scene.”

But Lopez also finds portraying Jorge’s character difficult in a different way, “especially since his way of interacting with women curdles my stomach,” he said.

“As an actor, I have to be able to relate to his thoughts and understand why it is he thinks a certain way,” he said. “Playing a person who is down right despicable while still being able to wear his ideals as my own is the most difficult aspect of this role.”

Ghassali-Sbai believes her childhood in South London gives her insight into her character and the tumultuous world in which she lives.

“Growing up in South London, I can relate to feeling like I live in a world of chaos,” she said, “but I still want to make something good, something that matters.”

But even with her background, fully understanding her character is still difficult.

“I think the challenge is keeping in consideration all the history and also trying to understand the mindset of a 15-year-old girl who has been thrown into an awful situation,” she said. “The scene not only becomes challenging for the actor, but also for the spectator, too.”

Differences in educational background make the production process even more intriguing. The exchange students in the cast of “Trojan Barbie,” who are working toward a degree in American Theatre Arts (ATA) at Rose Bruford College, come from a completely different system of actor training than the American students.

“I hope I’m teaching everyone in the cast,” Jones said. “And the less experienced actors are always watching those who are a little further advanced in their training. But the ATAs can do things our regular students can’t, and vice versa. So the opportunities to learn from each other are more highlighted, both in rehearsal and in conversation in the student lounge or over a cup of coffee.”

Even the student staff working behind the scenes has an international flavor. “The assistant director, April Gore, is Welsh and the stage manager, Monika Zimmermann, has lived in Scotland and Dubai and went to high school in Singapore,” according to Jones.

Sloan Frierson, Shelby Gilliam, Brandon Hood and Kate Shirley round out the student cast.

“Trojan Barbie” will be presented at 7:30 nightly Tuesday through Saturday, Oct. 7 through 11, in W.M. Turner Auditorium in the Griffith Fine Arts Building.

Tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for seniors and $7.50 for students/youth. For tickets or more information, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit finearts.sfasu.edu.

The play is recommended for mature audiences, and a content advisory is available at theatre.sfasu.edu. “Trojan Barbie” is presented by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.

The Stephen F. Austin State University College of Fine Arts and School of Music will present The Alazan Trio in concert at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 30, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus as part of the Cole Performing Arts Series.

The trio features SFA music faculty members Jennifer Dalmas, violin, Evgeni Raychev, cello, and Ron Petti, piano. Special guest performer is tenor Jamie Dahman, SFA voice faculty member. The concert will feature a performance of award-winning composer Stanley Silverman’s Trio No. 2 “Reveille.”

Silverman has collaborated with numerous musical figures, including James Taylor, Paul Simon, Sting, Elton John, Aaron Copland, Michael Tilson Thomas and Pierre Boulez, to name a few, Petti said.

“His music has been performed by the New York Philharmonic, at the Beijing Olympics and throughout the world,” he added.

“Reveille” premiered in 2011 in New York City by the Kalichstein Laredo Robinson Trio and Sting. It was dedicated to 9/11 World Trade Center victim Herman Sandler by a collection of people who were personally involved with him, including Silverman’s son, Ben, the commissioner, Sting, Sandler, who was a primary supporter of the Rainforest Foundation concerts at Carnegie Hall, and Joseph Kalichstein, pianist and a recipient of early support from Sandler’s Family Foundation.

“The composition itself was influenced, not so much as a ‘portrait’ of the subject, but by historical references to feelings Ben and I experienced due to the tragic event,” Silverman has said of the piece. “It was as a family friend that I have the most cherished memories of Herman. Our children were classmates from grade school through college, and he was a mentor and important influence on my son Ben.”

The piece has six contrasting movements and is unique in that the fourth movement is scored for violin, cello, piano and tenor, Petti explained. “This is an unusual combination in piano trio literature,” he said. “Also of interest is that the last movement is a series of variations based on the popular tune ‘You Can Call Me Al’ by Paul Simon.”

Also on the program are works of Leonard Bernstein and Leo Sowerby.

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.