Everything Nac

The Stephen F. Austin State University School of Art and the Friends of the Visual Arts will present a free, one-night screening of “Muscle Shoals” at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 3, in The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House in downtown Nacogdoches.

Directed by Greg “Freddy” Camalier and released by Magnolia Pictures, “Muscle Shoals” is the true story of a small town with a big sound and an even bigger influence on the music industry.

Located alongside the Tennessee River, Muscle Shoals, Ala., has helped create some of the most important and resonant songs of all time, according to information at magpictures.com/.

“Overcoming crushing poverty and staggering tragedies, Rick Hall brought black and white together to create music for the generations,” the website says. “He is responsible for creating the ‘Muscle Shoals sound’ and The Swampers, the house band at FAME Studios that eventually left to start its own successful studio known as Muscle Shoals Sound.”

Performers such as Gregg Allman, Aretha Franklin, Mick Jagger, Steve Winwood and others bear witness to Muscle Shoals’ magnetism, mystery and why it remains influential today.

“Muscle Shoals” was a grand-prize winning film at the Boulder International Film Festival. The film runs 111 minutes and is rated PG for thematic elements, language, smoking and brief partial nudity.

This screening is part of the School of Art’s monthly First Friday Film Series and is sponsored in part by the Nacogdoches Junior Forum, Mainstreet 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 Stephen F. Austin State University College of Fine Arts and School of Music will present the Orchestra of the Pines in concert at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 6, in Cole Concert Hall in the Wright Music Building on the SFA campus.

The program, titled “Festive Beginnings,” celebrates a growing music program at SFA with ever-increasing enrollment, according to Gene H. Moon, director of orchestras at SFA.

“The orchestra has reached a new plateau in regards to numbers and performance,” Moon said. “It is an exciting time to be a part of the SFA School of Music. We have record numbers in enrollment with a strong undergraduate and graduate student body. The School of Music has exciting ventures under way, and the Orchestra of the Pines is pleased to be a part of the festivities.”

The program includes works that were written for special inaugurations, Moon explained. Among the composers whose works will be performed are Johannes Brahms and Antonín Dvořák.

“Brahms composed his ‘Academic Festival Overture’ as a musical homage to an honorary doctorate bestowed upon him by the University of Breslau in 1879,” Moon said. “Dvořák composed his ninth symphony, dubbed ‘From the New World,’ in 1893 when he and his family first moved to New York. The work embodies his impressions of the New World and the beginnings of his new life in America.

“Both composers experienced festive beginnings that made a profound impact upon their compositions,” he said.

Guest soloist will be Josh Reyna, senior alto saxophonist from The Colony.

“His night in the spotlight will surely be the first of many to be a guest soloist with an orchestra,” Moon said. “A fine saxophonist, Josh brings fiery technique and passionate lyricism to the instrument in a fine work by David Canfield.”

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 Dr. Jun Qian in a guest clarinet recital at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus as part of the Cole Performing Arts Series.

Qian, assistant professor of clarinet at Baylor University, will perform with Baylor piano professor Kae Hosoda-Ayer in a program that features a mix of traditional and contemporary music.

In addition to performing music of contemporary Chinese composers, Qian will also perform staples of the clarinet repertoire, such as “Introduction and Rondo” by Charles-Marie Widor and “Grand Duo Concertant” by Carl Maria von Weber.

“Dr. Chen has recorded the Chinese pieces he’ll be performing, and it will be exciting to hear them for the first time on the SFA campus,” said Christopher Ayer, professor of clarinet at SFA.

Chinese-born American clarinetist Qian joined the music faculty at Baylor University in 2012 when he was also appointed principal clarinetist of the Waco Symphony. In addition to performing the standard clarinet repertoire, Qian also collects, performs, records and commissions new music for clarinet by Chinese composers.

Ayer has concertized throughout the United States, Canada, Japan and Korea, where she is in demand both as a soloist and collaborative pianist. With her husband, clarinetist Christopher Ayer, she performs as the Duo Karudan throughout the United States, Canada and Japan.

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 voice faculty member Scott LaGraff in a joint recital with guest soprano TiWei Chen at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

LaGraff, baritone and associate professor of voice at SFA, and Chen, an assistant professor at Hong Kong Institute of Education, with collaborate with mezzo soprano Kimberly LaGraff and SFA pianist Geneva Fung in a concert that will feature the music of noted composers ranging from Gabriel Fauré to Felix Mendelssohn to SFA Professor of Composition Stephen Lias.

According to LaGraff, one of the goals of SFA School of Music Director Dr. Manny Brand is for the school of to be more active on the international music scene.

“This recital is part of that strategy,” LaGraff said. “Dr. Chen is our guest of honor.”

Chen will perform songs by Fauré, “one of history’s greatest French song composers,” LaGraff said, singing several of his best-known pieces. She will also perform some lesser-known songs by Mendelssohn. She and Kimberly LaGraff will sing the famous duet from the opera “Lakmé,” “Sous le dome épais.”

Scott LaGraff will sing a set of sacred songs, which are part of his current CD recording project.

“These songs have a beauty and simplicity to them that makes them very accessible and moving,” he said.

He will also perform excerpts from Lias’ “Songs of a Sourdough.” Commissioned by LaGraff in 2007, “Sourdough” is a setting of texts by poet Robert Service celebrating the spirit of the adventurers who explored the Yukon.

Kimberly LaGraff will sing Lee Hoiby’s “Two Songs of Innocence.” Hoiby was an American composer commonly associated with neo-romanticism.

“These songs, though simple sounding, are deceptively complex – and beautiful – and are settings of William Blake’s poetry,” Scott LaGraff said.

Tickets for this Cole Performing Arts Series event 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.