Everything Nac

The first event in the return of the University Series at Stephen F. Austin State University will be a performance by Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Ruthie Foster at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 12, in the newly renovated Turner Auditorium in Griffith Fine Arts Building.

With the completion of Griffith’s renovations and expansion, Micky Elliott College of Fine Arts revives its touring performance series, which was discontinued during the Covid pandemic, with four exciting shows for the 2023-24 Centennial Season. Performances include Foster on Oct. 12: Grammy and Dove award winners and Grand Ole Opry members Dailey and Vincent Dec. 14; comedian Joe Zimmerman Feb. 22; and acclaimed trombonist, composer and producer Delfeayo Marsalis performing with SFA’s Swingin’ Axes jazz band April 19.

Raised in a family of gospel singers, Foster performs blues, jazz, folk, soul and gospel, often being compared to Bonnie Raitt and Aretha Franklin. Touring extensively around the world, her ninth studio album represents a new high-water mark for the Austin-based veteran blues artist. “Healing Time” finds Foster pushing her boundaries as a singer and songwriter more than ever before.

Single event tickets are adult, $35; senior (62 or better), $30; SFA faculty/staff, $18; non-SFA student/youth, $15; SFA student, $3. To purchase tickets, call the Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or (888) 240-ARTS, or visit sfasu.edu/boxoffice. The Fine Arts Box Office is located in the second floor lobby, Griffith Fine Arts Building, SFA campus.

Award-winning pianist Dr. Martin Kesuma will perform works by Nikolai Kapustin, Alberto Ginastera, Manuel de Falla and other varied composers when he presents a solo recital at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 5, in Cole Concert Hall on the Stephen F. Austin State University campus.

A native of Jakarta, Indonesia, Kesuma has performed as a solo pianist and chamber musician throughout Indonesia, Canada and the United States. Prior to his recent move back to Texas, he worked as a collaborative pianist and a chamber music instructor at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Canada. He is currently pursuing a performance certificate degree at Texas State University.

For this recital, Kesuma said he chose pieces “from many different styles that are not performed too often, despite how effective or beautiful they are.”

“Several years ago, when I received an invitation to record a solo album, I started thinking about how I wanted to play pieces by more diverse composers,” he said. “‘Detours’ was released by Centaur Records in 2021, and it features pieces by composers from Spain, Russia, Argentina, Japan, Indonesia, Australia and the U.S. In some ways, this recital is a continuation of my previous album, showcasing pieces by composers of different backgrounds.”

Among the works are Kapustin’s Variations, Op. 41, which Kesuma describes as “a fun piece that sounds like a jazz improvisation that you would hear in a café – highly virtuosic. A lot of scholars believe that the theme comes from Stravinsky’s opening of ‘The Rite of Spring.'”

Ginastera’s Piano Sonata No. 1, Op. 22 is a four-movement piece, written by a prominent Argentinian composer. It incorporates many different Argentinian dances in the piece. “It is a highly challenging piece with lots of fast octaves,” Kesuma said,

Although de Falla’s “Fantasía Bética” is considered one of the Spanish masterpieces, it is not played very often. “A lot of the techniques used in this piece are quite unusual in piano playing,” Kesuma said, “and this is due to the use of the piano to imitate Southern Spanish folk styles, such as the use of castanets, guitars, heel stampings and cante jondo.”

Kesuma has won prizes in competitions including the Dickinson Piano Competition, PianoHouse International Piano Competition, New York International Music Concours, Canadian International Music Competition, the ASEAN International Concerto Competition and the Texas State International Piano Festival Concerto Competition.

Admission is free. Cole Concert Hall is located in Wright Music Building. For more information, contact the School of Music at (936) 468-4602 or visit sfasu.edu/music.

The Stephen F. Austin State University School of Art and the Friends of the Visual Arts will present a free, one-night screening of “The Good Exorcist,” a 2018 film cowritten by Josh Stifter and Daniel Degnan and directed by Stifter. The screening is at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 6, in The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House.

In this campy comedy, an eccentric wandering priest adventures to a ranch in Texas to dispel the darkness that has come over a peculiar family. As he digs deeper, the priest soon finds that he may be in over his head, according to imdb.com.

Director Stifter made the film as part of the “Rebel Without a Crew” television series, which followed a group of aspiring filmmakers as they each attempted to shoot a feature length film in just two weeks and with a budget of only $7,000.

Stifter will be available for a virtual question-and-answer session following the film screening.

The School of Art’s Friday Night Film Series is sponsored in part by filmmaking Professor William Arscott. The Cole Art Center, SFA’s historic downtown gallery, is located at 329 E. Main St. For more information, call (936) 468-1131.

Stephen F. Austin State University School of Theatre and Dance will present August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play “The Piano Lesson” Thursday through Sunday, Sept. 28 through Oct. 1, in the new Flex Theatre in Griffith Fine Arts Building on the SFA campus. Cast members include, front, from left, Olivia Wintz, Killeen senior, as Maretha; Joshua Jameson, Arlington freshman, as Doaker Charles; Xavier Sanchez, Houston sophomore, as Lymon; standing, from left, Grant Calloway, Gary junior, as Avery Brown; CJ Tate, Dallas junior, as Wining Boy; Kiya Green, Waxahachie senior, as Berniece; Erik Colbert Jr., Houston freshman, as Boy Willie; and Ashland Anderson, Houston freshman, as Grace. Directed by Cleo House Jr., “The Piano Lesson” will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. General admission ticket prices are: adult, $15; senior (62+), $10; youth (high school and younger), $8; SFA faculty/staff, $8; non-SFA student, $8; and SFA student, $5. For ticketing information or to purchase tickets, call the Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or (888) 240-ARTS, or visit sfasu.edu/boxoffice. For information about the play, call (936) 468-4003 or visit sfasu.edu/theatre-dance.