Everything Nac

The Stephen F. Austin State University School of Music will present Catharine Lysinger and Alex McDonald in a duo piano recital at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Sept. 20, in Cole Concert Hall in the Wright Music Building on the SFA campus.

Lysinger, who is senior lecturer in piano and pedagogy and piano at Southern Methodist University’s Meadows School of Art and artistic director of the piano preparatory department, and McDonald, who teaches piano at Texas Women’s University, will present “Twice the Impact: Music for Two Pianos.”

Among the pieces on the program are works by Johannes Brahams, Witold Lutoslawski, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Achille-Claude Debussy and Franz Liszt, according to Andrew Parr, professor of piano in the School of Music.

“Brahms’s Variations on a Theme by Haydn, Op. 56a is a perfect balance of the interplay of melodies between the pianos and the richness of resonance gained by adding the second instrument,” Parr said in describing what he called a “noble piece.”

Lutoslawski’s Variations on a Theme by Paganini uses a familiar violin theme made famous by Liszt’s variations for piano, Parr explained. The Lutoslawski piece is “written in an enjoyable and virtuosic 20th-century idiom,” he said.

Lysinger is a prizewinner in national and international piano competitions, including first prize in the Music Teacher National Association National Young Artist Competition and first prize in the Wideman International Piano Competition. She is an active soloist, chamber musician, and lecturer, and has performed as a soloist with the Filarmónica de Jalisco (Guadalajara, Mexico), the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra, The Houston Civic Symphony and the Clear Lake Orchestra. Recently selected as Teacher of the Year by the Dallas Music Teachers Association, Lysinger was also nominated for the SMU Provost’s Teaching Excellence Award. Many of her students have been awarded first prize in prestigious competitions across North Texas.

McDonald has soloed with the Orquesta Sinfónica del Estado de Mexico, the Louisiana Philharmonic, the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, and the Utah Symphony Orchestra, among others. He has performed across the United States as well as in Israel, Canada, South Korea, and Japan, where he has also organized relief concerts for displaced survivors from areas ravaged by the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. Additionally, he has been a featured performer on PBS, WRR, NPR, and WQXR. McDonald was the second prize winner of the 2007 New Orleans International Piano Competition and was the first Texas in more than 30 years to be accepted into the Van Cliburn Competition.

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 School of Theatre at Stephen F. Austin State University has produced its second radio play, an innovative original work by playwright and SFA faculty member Jackie Rosenfeld, entitled “spam: in all lower-case letters.”

The half-hour program, directed by Zach Hanks, assistant professor of acting/directing, will air on campus radio station KSAU (FM 90.1) at 9 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 25, with subsequent broadcasts at 7:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 26, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 29. It will also be available as a podcast at theatre.sfasu.edu from Sept. 26 through Dec. 14.

The production features characters voiced by a student cast. It was recorded in the School of Theatre’s recently renovated, state-of-the-art sound laboratory and features sound design and mixing by CC Conn, an SFA assistant professor who specializes in theatrical sound and lighting design. The original music is by School of Art graduate student Nancy Andrew.

Rosenfeld’s humorous script is drawn directly from the maddening and often absurd junk e-mail messages that clog in-boxes worldwide. The play centers on an exchange between a young woman and a “Nigerian barrister” promising romance and riches, and also includes surprising statistics and other background information about spam, as well as the texts of some of the most bizarre and ridiculous messages promulgated by producers of bulk e-mail, according to Scott Shattuck, director of the School of Theatre.

Stage plays by Rosenfeld can be seen this fall at Kingwood College in Houston and at The Secret Theatre in New York City. Hanks is a well known professional voice actor and director of voice actors who was until recently based in Los Angeles, Calif. He used the production opportunity to familiarize the students involved with microphone technique and other voice acting skills.
The barrister, Kube, is played by Pearland junior Nnamdi Nwankwo, and his correspondent, Kim, is portrayed by senior Valarie McLeckie of Longview. A computer voice named Factoid is played by Houston senior Sarah Wisterman. Sophomore James Bowling of Austin, juniors Sloan Frierson of Center Point and Ashe Vernon of The Woodlands, and senior Luke Norton of Sherman round out the cast. Senior John Lisi of Mesquite was the production coordinator.

“A large new audience responded enthusiastically to our first radio production in 2011-12, and I know they will enjoy this play just as much,” Shattuck said. “Including this medium in our production work provides an unusual range of learning opportunities for our students.

“The fact that they are working with professionals of the stature of Jackie Rosenfeld, Zach Hanks and CC Conn gives them an extraordinary chance to prepare for the exciting field of voice acting,” he added, “while providing a hilarious treat for the SFA and Nacogdoches communities.”
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Wayne Pianta, new products specialist with Ball Horticultural Company, will be the featured guest at the upcoming SFA Gardens Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture.

Pianta will present “Plant Breeding, Garden Performance and New Product Development: What Makes the Cut and Why? A Survey of Recent Introductions” at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 19, in Room 110 of the Agriculture Building on the Stephen F. Austin State University campus.

Pianta works for one of the largest breeders of ornamental plant products in the world, PanAmerican Seed Company. PanAmerican is a part of Ball Horticultural Company, which has plant breeding and development organizations around the world and is a leader in the global ornamental plant industry.

As a product technical specialist, Pianta works with many universities, trial gardens and botanical gardens to test and evaluate new products for their suitability and adaptation to regional environments throughout the United States. He works with a network of the largest wholesale producers and retailers of ornamental plants to introduce these products to consumers so they can enjoy success with the best new plants on the market. Pianta is a member of the Colorado State University Trial Gardens Committee and the Gardens and Grounds Committee for the Dallas Arboretum.

A native Texan currently living in Fort Worth, Pianta has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in horticultural science from Texas A&M University. For the last 30 years, beginning as rosarian in charge of the Tyler Rose Garden, he has made his living working with people and companies all over the country and in all segments of the ornamental horticulture industry to promote and teach about the plants and practices that make producers and gardeners successful.

The Theresa and Les Reeves Garden Lecture Series is usually held the third Thursday of each month at the Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture’s SFA Mast Arboretum. A plant raffle will be held after the program. The lecture is free and open to the public, but donations to the Theresa and Les Reeves lecture series endowed fund are always appreciated.

For more information, call (936) 468-1832 or email ggrantgardens@yahoo.com.