Everything Nac

The Orchestra of the Pines at Stephen F. Austin State University will spotlight this year’s concerto winners in a concert at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 3, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

Each work in the program, which is titled “A Musical Homage,” pays homage to another work, according to Dr. Gene H. Moon, director of orchestras at SFA. The program opens with “Le Tombeau de Couperin,” a work by Maurice Ravel, who pays homage to the Baroque master, François Couperin, Moon said.

“Written originally as a piano suite, Ravel conveys the subtle nuance of French Baroque music through his work, well-crafted for chamber orchestra two years after the completion of the piano suite,” Moon explained.

The orchestra will present its first concerto winner, Claire Salli, a senior music education major from Arlington, who joins the orchestra in performing the first two movements of Paul Creston’s Concerto for saxophone and orchestra.

“While being an American composer, Creston attributes his compositional influences to composers of the Baroque era – Bach and Scarlatti, two composers who lived in the same time as Couperin, as well as Debussy and Ravel, the masters of Impressionistic music,” Moon said.

Salli has been a member of SFA’s Wind Ensemble, Wind Symphony and Lumberjack Marching Band. Last year, she was the tenor saxophonist in the Zephyr saxophone quartet, which advanced as semi-finalists in the 2016 North American Saxophone Alliance quartet competition. Salli has taught private lessons, marching band and music sectionals in Denton, Nacogdoches and the Houston area. She has been a camp counselor for the SFA summer band camps as well as a unit counselor at the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. In 2014, Salli was a conductor for the Blue Stars Drum and Bugle Corps. She plans to pursue a master’s degree in saxophone performance after she graduates this spring.

The second half of the concert features works by Czech composer Antonín Dvořák. Graduate student Kelsey Quinn of San Antonio, the second concerto winner, will join the orchestra in performing “Song to the Moon” from Dvořák’s most famous opera, “Rusalka.”

“One could perhaps interpret Dvořák’s opera as a clairvoyant homage, inspiring the story of a famous Disney movie,” Moon said. “The orchestra concludes the evening with Dvořák’s mighty Symphony No. 8 in G major, a monumental work in its own right.”

Quinn recently received her bachelor’s degree from SFA and is continuing her education here as a graduate student. She graduated magna cum laude and is a member of the music honor society Pi Kappa Lambda. She has performed such roles as Marie in “The Most Happy Fella” and Marenka in “The Bartered Bride.” She was a semi-finalist in regional competitions in 2012, 2014 and 2015.

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.

A blue cap with protruding wires maps the brain activity of Stephen F. Austin State University graduate student T.J. Swift as he demonstrates neuro-feedback equipment in the university’s Human Neuroscience Lab.

During the demonstration, a monitor displays a digital version of T.J.’s brain with reds, greens and yellows illustrating the electrical signals, while T.J.’s wife and fellow graduate student, Rebecca Recio-Swift, administers a study to track T.J.’s attention.

“Working in the lab is probably one of the best experiences I will ever have,” Rebecca said. “I think we all share a passion for what we do here, and I think that makes it even better.”

SFA’s Human Neuroscience Lab is tucked away on the first floor of the Human Services Building, Room 105, on the university campus, where Dr. Luis Aguerrevere serves as the lab’s director.

“The lab gives a practical, hands-on understanding of brain-based research. For example, in classes like human neuroscience, students visit the lab to see their own brainwaves and areas of the brain. They are not only seeing this information on a PowerPoint, but they also are becoming part of the research,” Aguerrevere said.

The lab has an open-house policy, meaning students and faculty members are welcome to use the facility and equipment for research. Lab equipment includes a Tobii eye-tracking system, which allows researchers to measure eye movement focusing on fixation and regression; quantitative electroencephalography equipment, which measures electrical brainwaves by assigning numerical components to brain activity; biofeedback technology, which analyzes physical attributes such as muscle contractions, temperature and breathing patterns; and neuropsychological tests for attention, executive function, language, visual perception and memory.

Graduate and undergraduate students use the lab on a daily basis conducting research and working on their assignments, including their theses and doctoral dissertations.

“We have a really big team effort here,” Rebecca said. “If an undergraduate has an idea, we encourage it, and we try to provide the resources and help that we can.”

Graduate students who work in the lab typically attend three conferences: the American Psychological Association, International Neuropsychological Society and the Association for Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback. Students also have the opportunity to publish their research. Aguerrevere said students often send their research to the Journal of Psychological Assessment, Journal of Psychological Injury and Law, and the Archive of Neuropsychology.

For more information, contact Aguerrevere at (936) 468-1153.

The East Texas Historical Association has announced Texas Secretary of State Carlos H. Cascos as its 2016 Georgiana and Max S. Lale Lecture featured speaker.

The 20th annual Lale Lecture will begin at 7 p.m. Oct. 13 in the Baker Pattillo Student Center Grand Ballroom on the Stephen F. Austin State University campus. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Appointed the 110th Texas Secretary of State, Cascos follows such luminaries in his position as J. Pinckney Henderson, Nacogdoches resident Robert A. Irion, Anson Jones, John Ben Shepperd, Tom Reavley, Bob Bullock and Mark White.

“It is only appropriate that Secretary Cascos speak at this university since the first Texas secretary of state appointed by an elected officer of Texas was Stephen F. Austin,” said Dr. Scott Sosebee, SFA associate professor of history and executive director of the ETHA. “The East Texas Historical Association is honored to host Mr. Cascos.”

A native of Brownsville, Texas, Cascos was born in Mexico and became a U.S. citizen in his adolescence. After his education in Brownsville public schools, he attended college and received a degree in accounting. After becoming a certified public accountant, he embarked on a distinguished career in the private sector.

Cascos is a partner in the Waco-based accounting firm Pattillo, Brown & Hill, as well as a member of the American Institute, Texas Society and Rio Grande Valley Chapter of Certified Public Accountants. In addition, he is a past member of the Association of Government Accountants and the American College of Forensic Examiners.

Cascos entered public service as a member of the Texas Public Safety Commission. He then served as a Cameron County commissioner from 1991 to 2002 before being elected Cameron County judge in 2006. He was re-elected to that position in 2010 and 2014. He became the Texas secretary of state in 2015.

Past Lale Lecture featured speakers include Texana author T.R. Fehrenbach, legendary journalist and former presidential aide Bill Moyers, U.S. Rep. Charlie Wilson, best-selling author Jeff Guinn, former Houston Mayor Annise Parker, and prominent historians Quintard Taylor and Paul H. Carlson. The 2015 speaker was former U.S. Sen. and Ambassador Robert Krueger.

Sponsored by the ETHA, the Georgiana and Max S. Lale Lecture Series is made possible through a generous grant from Max Sims Lale, a notable East Texas journalist, author and historian.

For more information, contact the ETHA at (936) 468-2407 or gillci@sfasu.edu.