Everything Nac

The 20-piece Trombone Choir at Stephen F. Austin State University will perform a variety of music when ensemble director Dr. Deb Scott presents the students in concert at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 10, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

The performance is part of International Trombone Week in which musicians around the globe celebrate the trombone. Marking its 16th year, International Trombone Week features thousands of trombonists creating and participating in grassroots events and performances all over the world, according to Scott, professor of trombone in the SFA School of Music.

Dr. Danny Chapa, instructor of low brass at SFA, will conduct the choir in its performance of “6 Pieces for 4 Trombones” by Vaclav Nelhybel and “O’er the Deep Blue Sea” by Garry Wickliffe, who is a former SFA composition student of Dr. Stephen Lias, professor of composition.

“This piece was originally composed for the SFA Trombone Choir years ago,” Chapa said. “It is now published by Brassworks 4 Publishing Company.”

Chapa will also conduct “Washington Post” by John Philip Sousa, arranged by Mark Benson.

Scott will conduct the choir in Two Orchestral Fanfares arranged by David Mathie. The works in this selection include “Fanfare pour preceder ‘La Peri'” by Paul Dukas and “Fanfare to Act III, ‘Le Martyre de Saint Sebastien'” by Claude Debussy.

Scott will also conduct “Buonasera Trombone” by Nicola Ferro, a prominent composer of trombone music.

“‘Buonasera Trombone’ is composed in a fun Latin style that will include several other musicians helping out by clapping their parts,” Scott said. “It will close out the program.”

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 (888) 240-ARTS or visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu.

The Stephen F. Austin State University School of Theatre will present the one-act play “Nine” at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 6, and at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 7, in the Downstage Theatre on the SFA campus.

Written by Jane Shepard, “Nine” will be directed by Lewisville senior theatre major Marie Phillips. The play is about two women who are chained to a room by unseen forces. Exercise and discussing their memories help them get through the day. As they hang on to life, they explore truth, bonds and hope, according to Phillips.

The two-member cast features Grand Prairie senior Hope Kidd and Nacogdoches sophomore Alli Beck.

The production staff includes Gabriel Peñaloza-Hernandez, Austin senior, stage manager; Lexie Lundy, Malakoff freshman, scenic designer; Jessica Griffin, Brownsboro sophomore, costume designer; Mia Lindemann, Prosper junior, lighting designer; Skyler Moore, Plano senior, sound designer; Eryn English, Beaumont senior, makeup designer; and Kathleen McNamara, Irving sophomore, properties master.

Phillips is the treasurer of SFA’s chapter of Alpha Psi Omega National Theatre Honor Society, a past member of the Student Production Advisory Committee, and a player in Improv Strikes Back, the School of Theatre’s improvisation troupe. While at SFA, she has been involved in more than a dozen shows, either as an actor, designer, dramaturg or director. Her minor is in anthropology.

Dr. Slade Billew is faculty production advisor for “Nine.” The play is recommended for mature audiences.

Tickets are $4. For tickets or more information, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit theatre.sfasu.edu.

The Texas New Music Ensemble will make its first appearance on the Stephen F. Austin State University campus when the newly formed group performs at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 5, in Cole Concert Hall.

The Texas New Music Ensemble is a Houston-based, mixed chamber ensemble focused solely on the work of Texas composers, according to its artistic director, Dr. Chad Robinson. The ensemble is dedicated to the enrichment of Texas communities through the performance of contemporary art music created by Texas composers and performed by Texas musicians, according to the TNME website.

“We are happy to be bringing them to our campus for the first time,” said Dr. Stephen Lias, professor of composition in the SFA School of Music.

The SFA performance will feature TNME flutist Meg Griffith performing a set of intense and alluring works for flute, piccolo and electronics written by Texas composers from Fort Worth, Dallas, Austin and Houston. The program includes works by Panayiotis Kokoras, Joel Love, Neil Anderson-Himmelspach, Marcus Maroney, Joseph Kelin, Till Meyn, Andrew May, Russel Pinkston and Robinson.

“I have selected works that show the variety and talent of composers all over the great state of Texas,” Robinson said. “SFA is the third and final stop on our first Texas tour. We’ve already performed in Fort Worth and Austin and cannot be more excited to make our way to Nacogdoches.”

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.

Dr. Esther Teixeira, assistant professor of Spanish and Hispanic Studies at Texas Christian University, was the keynote speaker for the Women’s and Gender Studies Symposium sponsored by Stephen F. Austin State University’s Division of Multidisciplinary Programs and Women’s and Gender Studies on March 23 in Dugas Liberal Arts North. Teixeira’s presentation, “The (in) Visibility of Prostitution in Brazil,” was followed by student-led discussions and paper presentations on various topics, including feminism and religion.