SFA’s Aria/Concerto Competition winners to perform with Orchestra of the Pines

The Orchestra of the Pines at Stephen F. Austin State University will present the program “Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue” at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 5, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

The concert will feature winners of the SFA School of Music’s 2015 Concerto/Aria Competition, including Ryan Brewer, SFA graduate student from North Richland Hills and guest trumpeter, and the Ethereal Quartet, a group of undergraduate saxophone students.

Brewer will perform Johann Nepomuk Hummel’s Concerto for trumpet and orchestra.

“While I consider this work something old, written in 1803, Ryan’s playing is new, refreshing and technically brilliant,” said Dr. Gene Moon, director of orchestras at SFA.

For “something new,” the program moves forward nearly 200 years when American composer William Bolcom completed his Concerto Grosso for saxophone quartet and orchestra in 2001.

“Borrowing a compositional form from the Baroque period, Bolcom infused new elements to the old by using a saxophone quartet for the concertino, which will be performed by the Ethereal Quartet,” Moon said.

The members of the Ethereal Quartet are Oswaldo Garza of Houston, soprano saxophone; Scott Augustine of Humble, alto saxophone; Rene Luna of Dallas, tenor saxophone; and Michael Chapa of The Colony, baritone saxophone.

“Bolcom’s work infuses the styles of jazz and rhythm and blues into a tapestry of musical interludes and idioms,” Moon explained. “The quartet captivated the audience in the final round of the competition back in April and will do the same in the October concert.”

Nestled in between the two solos, the orchestra will present “Vltava” from Má Vlast by Bedrich Smetana. The work is one of six movements from Smetana’s tone poem suite and portrays two streams of water originating in the Bohemian Forest, Moon said. The musical narration describes the flow of water as the streams merge, grow larger and pass through various landscapes as well as a peasant wedding and the Vysehrad Castle.

The concert is a joint presentation of the SFA College of Fine Arts and School of Music. 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.