Everything Nac

    As part of its monthly independent film series, the Stephen F. Austin State University School of Art will present a free, one-night screening of “Renaissance of Mata Ortiz” at 7 p.m. Friday, May 4, at The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House in downtown Nacogdoches.

    The 74-minute documentary traces the efforts of one self-taught artist and an American anthropologist through the eventual resurgence of pottery making by an entire village in Chihuahua, Mexico. Directed by Scott Peterson, the film received the Director’s Choice Award for Best Arts Film at the Sedona International Film Festival.

    The screening is sponsored in part by the SFA Department of Social and Cultural Analysis, SFA Friends of the Visual Arts and Nacogdoches Junior Forum.

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

    For their final concert of the season at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, May 3, the three choirs of Stephen F. Austin State University will each present a sacred choral masterwork. To complement the works’ religious subject matter, the concert will be held in Sacred Heart Church in Nacogdoches.

    “Traditionally, at the end of each semester, the SFA choirs and orchestra combine to present one composer’s single masterwork,” said Dr. Tim King, SFA director of choral activities. “But this May we’re making quite a change with three masterfully constructed compositions.”

    The Women’s Choir will open the concert with “Litanies a la Vierge Noire,” which composer Francis Poulenc wrote in 1936, shortly after the tragic death of a friend and a subsequent pilgrimage to the popular shrine of Our Lady of Rocamadour, where stands a black stone carved statue of the Virgin Mary, explained David Howard, SFA associate director of choral activities and the ensemble’s director.

    The organ accompaniment will be provided by Jeremy Bruns, member of the SFA music faculty.

    The Choral Union, a 70-member mixed chorus also directed by Howard, will present Leonard Bernstein’s “Chichester Psalms,” a three-movement setting of selected Psalms, in Hebrew, originally scored for a choir of men and boys and boy soprano.

    For the Choral Union’s presentation, females will sing the treble and male alto parts, and Howard’s 11-year-old son, Stuart, will sing the boy soprano part. SFA music faculty members Bruns (organ), Emily Mitchell (harp) and Scott Harris (percussion) will provide the accompaniment.

    Under King’s direction, the A Cappella Choir will present “Mass” by Frank Martin, a Swiss composer who wrote the work in 1922 but locked it away in his desk for 40 years until he finally consented to have it performed in the Netherlands.

    “Since its premier, the work has become a pillar of the choral repertoire due in part to its superb artistic craftsmanship and emotional content,” said Dr. Tim King, and the choir’s director. “It’s a work I’ve always wanted to direct!”

    “All three choirs will combine to close the concert with an anthem of unity, ‘The Hour Has Come’ by Srul Irving Glick,” King continued. “This will be an evening the community won’t want to miss.”

    Admission to the concert is free. Sacred Heart Church is located at 2508 Appleby Sand Rd. For more information about the concert, please call (936) 468-6407.

    Students enrolled in private and group lessons offered by the Music Preparatory Division of the Stephen F. Austin State University School of Music will perform in a series of end-of-the-semester recitals in May.

    At 4 p.m. Saturday, May 5, SFA student teachers will present their students in recital in conjunction with piano students studying with Dr. Mario Ajero. The joint recital will be in Cole Concert Hall, located in the Wright Music Building, 2210 Alumni Drive on the SFA campus.

    The SFA Children’s Chorus and SFA Junior Chorale, directed by Nicole Stewart and her assistant Marissa Maddoux, will present a joint concert at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 6, in Cole Concert Hall.

    At 7 p.m. Monday, May 7, director Dr. Evgeni Raychev will lead the Piney Woods Youth Orchestra in its end-of-the-semester concert in Cole Concert Hall.

    Raychev’s cello students, Dr. Jennifer Dalmas’ violin students and Eric Fisher’s bass students will perform at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 8, in the Music Recital Hall, Room 160 of the Wright Music Building.

    In the same venue, Emily Mitchell’s harp students will present a recital at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 10.

    Suzuki violin students of Brenda Josephsen will perform at either 6:30 p.m. Friday, May 11, or at 1 p.m. Saturday, May 12. Both recitals will be held in the Music Recital Hall.

    At 4 p.m. Saturday, May 12, Dr. Ping-Ting Lan’s piano students will perform in Cole Concert Hall.

    Two separate piano recitals will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday, May 13. Mary Cooper’s students will play in Cole Concert Hall, and students of Stephen Adams and Missy Leppert will perform in the Music Recital Hall.

    At 2 p.m. Saturday, May 19, piano students of Linda Parr will present “May Madness” in Cole Concert Hall.

    In the same venue, violin and viola students of Melissa Nabb will perform at 4 p.m. Sunday, May 20.

    All of the recitals are free and open to the public.

    Registrations for summer classes offered through the Music Preparatory Division are now being accepted. For a complete listing of classes and types of instruction available, please visit www.music.sfasu.edu/prep or call Pat Barnett, the division’s director, at pbarnett@sfasu.edu or (936) 468-1291.

    A collection of wind band pieces based on the color blue will be presented during the Stephen F. Austin State University Wind Symphony’s concert, “Blue!” at 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 30, in W.M. Turner Auditorium.

    “The program includes pieces such as John Mackey’s ‘Hymn to a Blue Hour’ and ‘Blue Shades’ by Frank Ticheli, one of the most widely performed composers of wind band music in the world,” said David W. Campo, SFA associate director of bands and the Wind Symphony’s conductor.

    SFA Professor Gary Wurtz will be the guest soloist on Paul Yoder’s “Bobby Blues,” which Campo described as a “jazzy blues piece that is a crowd favorite.”

    “We’ll conclude the concert with John Philip Sousa’s perennial favorite, ‘Who’s Who in Navy Blue,’” Campo said.

    The concert is a joint presentation of the SFA College of Fine Arts and School of Music. W.M. Turner Auditorium is located in the Griffith Fine Arts Building, 2222 Alumni Drive.

    Tickets are $5 for adults, $4 for seniors and $2 for students. For tickets or more information, please go to www.finearts.sfasu.edu or call (936) 468-6407 or (888) 240-ARTS.