Everything Nac

     Future college students will have the opportunity to experience a taste of campus life during two free, action-packed open-house Saturdays at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches on Feb. 26 and March 26.

     Prospective students will get to visit with university faculty and staff, tour the campus and residence halls, and preview academic programs during the two SFA Showcase Saturday events.

     “There is no better time than Showcase Saturday to visit the beautiful SFA campus and experience first-hand what it’s like to be a Lumberjack,” said Monique Cossich, executive director of enrollment management.

     “Guests are encouraged to visit one-on-one with our faculty to learn more about our quality, personalized academic programs, and our staff will be available to answer questions about everything from admission requirements to financial aid to residence life.”

     SFA is a comprehensive, residential university located in the heart of Texas Forest Country in Nacogdoches. More than 12,900 students attend SFA, which is within a few hours’ drive of Texas’ major metropolitan areas.

     Showcase Saturday event registration will begin at noon on the first floor of the Baker Pattillo Student Center and will remain open until 1 p.m. Each person who registers will receive an information packet. The opening program begins at 1 p.m. and will provide an overview of the day’s events.

     Guests will then be able to visit with representatives of the academic departments until 4 p.m. at the Academic and Student Services Fair in the Student Recreation Center. Student service department representatives also will be on hand to provide information on campus life.

     Campus and residence hall tours will begin at 1:45 p.m. and continue until 5 p.m. Campus tours will take students on a guided walk of the SFA campus, while the residence hall tour will showcase several halls on both the north and south ends of campus.

     Admissions counselors will be available to discuss admission procedures and requirements in the Rusk Building, Room 206, from 1:45 to 5 p.m.

     Financial aid information sessions will be held at 2:30, 3:15 and 4 p.m. in the Kennedy Auditorium. Residence Life information sessions will be held at 2:30, 3:15 and 4 p.m. in the Baker Pattillo Student Center movie theater on the second floor.

     Participating students will receive a free SFA T-shirt after turning in a completed evaluation form at the Student Center from 4 to 5 p.m.

     For more information about SFA’s Showcase Saturday, contact the SFA Office of Admissions at (936) 468-2504, or visit admissions@sfasu.edu.

     NACOGDOCHES, TEXAS – Winners of the Stephen F. Austin State University School of Music’s annual Concerto/Aria and Composition Contests will be featured during SFA’s Orchestra of the Pines’ “Center Stage” concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 19, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

     Flutist Megan Beard (Denton senior), tenor Josh Dennis (graduate student from McKinney), pianist Yuki Kumamoto (graduate student from Japan), and trombonist Ashley Scambray (Houston sophomore) will perform as soloists with the orchestra, directed by Gene H. Moon. The orchestra will also perform a three-movement work composed by Athens junior Lance Treviño.

     Beard will perform the third movement from Jacques Ibert’s “Flute Concerto,” and Dennis will sing “Quest e quella” from Guiseppe Verdi’s opera “Rigoletto.”

     Kumamoto will present the first movement from Sergei Prokofiev’s “Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 16,” and Scambray will perform Alexandre Guilmant’s “Morceau Symphonique, Op. 88.”

     The orchestra will also present Treviño’s “Three Compositions Adapted from Kandinsky.”

     Beard is a senior music education major who is scheduled to graduate in December 2011. While at SFA, she has been a member of SFA’s top performance groups, the SFA Wind Ensemble and Orchestra of the Pines. She is a student of Dr. Christina Guenther, SFA assistant professor of flute.

     Dennis, who also received his bachelor’s from SFA, has had roles in several of SFA’s operas. This spring, he is cast as Eisenstein in Johann Strauss II’s “Die Fledermaus.” He is a three-year finalist in the National Association of Teachers of Singing Competition, placing first in this year’s Graduate Division. This summer, he will be singing in the Apprentice Artist Program at the Des Moines Metropolitan Opera. He studies with Bruce Fowler, SFA assistant professor of voice.

     Kumamoto received her Bachelor of Music in performance at the Musashino Musicae Academia in Tokyo. She received third place in the 8th Petrov Piano Competition and was a prizewinner in the Young Artist Piano Competition in Japan and the 2009 Texas Music Teachers Association Performance Competition. She is a student of Dr. James Pitts, SFA staff accompanist.

     Scambray, who graduated from Cypress Woods High School in 2009, was a two-year All-State Band member and served as her high school’s drum major for three years. At SFA, she is pursuing a degree in music education and studies with Dr. Deb Scott, SFA associate professor of trombone.

     Treviño is a composition major studying under Dr. Stephen Lias, SFA professor of theory and composition. His “Ballade in the Romantic Style” was performed at the 2010 annual meeting of the Texas Chapter of the National Association of Composers/USA, and the Red Stick Saxophone Quartet premiered his “Sonatina for Saxophone Quartet” in 2009. Treviño is currently participating in a two-semester exchange program at the University of Tasmania where he is continuing his composition studies.

     The concert, which is a joint presentation of the SFA College of Fine Arts and School of Music, is sponsored in part by Nacogdoches Memorial Hospital and the Wedgeworth-Wright Endowment for the Arts.

     Tickets are $15 for adults, $12 for seniors and $5 for students. For tickets or more information, please visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu or call (936) 468-6407 or (888) 240-ARTS.