Everything Nac

Stephen F. Austin State University theatre students have a busy rehearsal schedule ahead of opening night of Thornton Wilders’ “The Skin of Our Teeth.” The story of the Antrobus family narrowly escaping one disaster after another, from ancient times to the present, will be presented at 7:30 nightly Tuesday through Saturday, April 25 through 29, in W.M. Turner Auditorium on the SFA campus. Ensemble members, from left, Logan Richard, Highlands junior, and Logan Jennings, Longview freshman, rehearse with Port Aransas junior Maggie Strain in the role of Sabina as other cast members watch. Single tickets are $15 for adult, $10 for senior and $7.50 for student/youth. For tickets or more information, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit www.theatre.sfasu.edu.

A dedication ceremony celebrating the naming of the Robert and Kathy Lehmann Chemistry Building will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday, April 25, in the Baker Pattillo Student Center Plaza, located at the front entrance to the Chemistry Building.

SFA’s Board of Regents voted to name the building in the Lehmanns’ honor in January.

“Dr. Robert and Kathy Lehmann are a part of this university,” said Dr. Baker Pattillo, SFA president. “They have dedicated time, expertise and financial resources to SFA, and we are honored to express our admiration and gratitude to them with this recognition.”

Dr. Lehmann established Lehmann Eye Center in Nacogdoches 40 years ago. As an ophthalmologist, he is recognized for his contributions in the advancement of surgical techniques in the management of eye diseases and has been instrumental in bringing new technology to the field of ophthalmology.

His wife, Kathy, attended SFA and serves as the administrator of Lehmann Eye Center and also as an SFASU Foundation trustee. She holds a Bachelor of Science in nursing.

The Lehmanns have contributed to SFA student scholarships and to the advancement of university programs, including fine arts, modern languages, hospitality, athletics, nursing, the College of Sciences and Mathematics, and the Women in STEM initiative.

“Kathy and I are extremely honored for this recognition and feel SFA has been a tremendous blessing to us, to our community, to all of East Texas and beyond,” Dr. Lehmann said.

The Robert and Kathy Lehmann Chemistry Building houses the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

For more information about the dedication ceremony, contact April Smith, associate director of development, at (936) 468-5406.

The Stephen F. Austin State University School of Music has announced that SFA alumnus Doice Grant, owner of Tatum Music Company and a former band director, is the newest inductee into the SFA Band Directors’ Hall of Fame.

The ceremony will take place during this year’s Concert in the Park, which gets underway at 2 p.m. Sunday, April 30, on the lawn along Vista Drive and in front of the Wright Music Building on the SFA campus.

Grant earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from SFA in 1982. While attending the university, he was treasurer and president of Kappa Kappa Psi honorary band fraternity. Under his leadership as president, the chapter won the Founder’s Award designating it as the outstanding chapter in the nation. Grant was also selected the “Outstanding Bandsman” of the Lumberjack Marching Band. Grant was a member of Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society and Alpha Chi National College Honor Society. As a KKY active and officer, Grant helped form the SFA Band Alumni Association and the SFA Band Directors’ Hall of Fame.

“His contributions toward forming both of these entities makes the presentation this year all the more meaningful,” said Fred J. Allen, director of bands at SFA.

The selection of Grant for Hall of Fame honors continues a family tradition. While a member of KKY, Grant had the privilege of presenting his father, Neil Grant, the Band Directors’ Hall of Fame award. Now, Doice Grant’s daughter, Rachel Grant, a member of the SFA band, will see her father receive the Hall of Fame honor. He is a life member of both the SFA Band Alumni Association and the SFA Alumni Association.

Grant was the director of the middle school band in Carthage from 1983-1985, during which time the band won sweepstakes awards each of those years. He went on to direct the Center High School Band from 1985-1993, where his bands also received the sweepstakes award each year. The Center band was a three-time honor band finalist and two-time winner of the Outstanding Band in their class at the National Association of Military Marching Bands (NAMMB) contest held at Texas A&M University. Grant served as the NAMMB president for two years, as the SFA Band Alumni Association president, and the TMEA Region 21 chairman. Grant was selected as a member of Phi Beta Mu International Bandmasters Fraternity in 1992.

Grant is currently the owner of Tatum Music Company in both Longview and Tyler, working for the last 23 years with bands in the East Texas just as his father, Neil Grant, did before him. Many of these bands have gone on to experience great success.

Grant and his wife, Beth, reside in Longview while their daughter, Rachel, is earning her music education degree at SFA and their son, Levi, completes his junior year at Longview High School. He said he is grateful for the wonderful students he’s had the opportunity to mentor over the years.

“You have blessed me with the gift of music for the last 35 years,” he said.

Concert in the Park admission is free. For more information, call the School of Music band office at (936) 468-4702 or visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu.

The Steel Band at Stephen F. Austin State University will present “Blasts From the Past” when the ensemble performs at 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 26, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

Featuring arrangements of songs from the 1960s through 2016, “Blasts From the Past” will showcase the music of popular recording artists throughout the decades, including The Spice Girls, Tom Petty, Twenty One Pilots, Adele, One Direction, Santana, The Beatles, Cyndi Lauper, Aqua and more. The program will also include more traditional steel band tunes, according to Dr. Brad Meyer, director of percussion studies at SFA and of the Steel Band.

“This concert is going to be great for all ages,” Meyer said. “Come and sing along with your favorites songs from your childhood.”

Among the featured tunes is “Barbie Girl” by Aqua, which was a hit single in the late ’90s.

“The lyrics are probably still stuck in listeners’ heads from 20 years ago,” Meyer said.

The program also includes The Spice Girls’ “Wannabe,” which Meyer describes as “a fun, energetic tune that is sure to get the audience out of their seats as they dance and sing along with this infectious song that was an international smash hit.”

The SFA Steel Band will also perform an arrangement of “Heathens” by Twenty One Pilots. The song peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. and was the feature track for the 2016 movie “Suicide Squad.”

Cole Concert Hall is located in the Tom and Peggy Wright Music Building, 2210 Alumni Drive.

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 Symphonic Band and University Band at Stephen F. Austin State University will perform their final concert of the spring semester at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 25, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

The program, titled “Songs of the Earth,” will include selections by composers ranging in style from Ralph Vaughan Williams to Ryan George.

The University Band, directed by Dr. David Campo, associate director of bands at SFA, and graduate student and associate conductor Teresa Powell, will begin the concert with a work by Austin composer George entitled “Autobahn,” followed by Samuel Hazo’s “Our Yesterdays Lengthen Like Shadows” in which the composer’s unique approach has the performers beginning with one note and ending with the same note. The listener becomes unaware of the presence of this note. The single note symbolizes the life of the listener – always present but constantly awash in the music of life, Campo explained.

Franco Cesarini’s charming “Greek Folk Song Suite” features three ancient Greek songs for wind band. All three movements bring to life the spirit of the Greek people through song and dance.

Lastly, the University Band will perform Karl King’s well-known march “Coast Guards.” King enjoyed a long career as a circus musician, spending time playing for Robinson’s Famous Circus, Yankee Robinson Circus, Sells Floto Circus and the Barnum and Bailey “Greatest Show On Earth.” He wrote music while a member of these bands, and in 1913 wrote what would become his masterpiece, “Barnum and Bailey’s Favorite.” King was one of the most prolific and popular composers in the history of band music, writing at least 291 works. “Coast Guards” is one of his most popular marches.

The SFA Symphonic Band, directed by Dr. Tamey Anglley, assistant director of bands, will open the second half of the concert with Williams’ “Sea Songs” conducted by graduate student Brandon Beavers. Williams composed “Sea Songs” the same year as “English Folk Song Suite” (1923).

The second selection by Symphonic Band will be “Cajun Folk Songs” by popular band composer Frank Ticheli.

Symphonic Band will conclude the concert with Robert Russell Bennett’s three-movement work “Symphonic Songs for Band.” The piece was commissioned by the national band honorary organizations Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma in 1957. Bennett wrote the following program note: “‘Symphonic Songs’ are as much a suite of dances or scenes as songs, deriving their name from the tendency of the principal parts to sing out a fairly diatonic tune against whatever rhythm develops in the middle instruments.”

Cole Concert Hall is located in the Tom and Peggy Wright Music Building, 2210 Alumni Drive.

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.