Everything Nac

The Electric Guitar Ensemble at Stephen F. Austin State University will perform a varied program ranging from jazz standards to Christmas favorites when the student group performs at 6 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 7, in the Music Recital Hall, Wright Music Building, on the SFA campus.

Directed by School of Music faculty member Larry Greer, the ensemble will perform works by Duke Ellington, Jerome Kern, Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, Antônio Carlos Jobim and others, along with a Peruvian folk song and popular selections by Henry Mancini and Roy Orbison.

Wright Music Building is located at 2210 Alumni Drive.

Concert admission is free. For additional information, contact the SFA School of Music at (936) 468-4602.

The combined choirs at Stephen F. Austin State University will present the annual Seasonal Celebration concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 9, in W.M. Turner Auditorium on the SFA campus.

The annual holiday event features the Singin’ Axes and Kantorei choirs with Dr. Tod Fish, conductor; and the A Cappella Choir with Dr. Michael Murphy, conductor. Graduate student conductors are Tate Ashby of Lufkin and Ryan Herriage of Sulphur Springs.

The highlight of this year’s concert is a performance of Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Choral Fantasy,” op. 80, conducted by Murphy and featuring Dr. Minhae Lee, pianist; and soloists Professors Debbie Berry and Nita Hudson; Drs. Ric Berry and Scott LaGraff; guest Cole Jones and student Frankie Barraza, Borger senior.

The concert also features seasonal choral works of Camille Saint-Saëns, Felix Mendelssohn, Will Todd, André Thomas, Giuseppe Verdi, Benjamin Britten and more.

Griffith Fine Arts Building is located at 2222 Alumni Drive.

Tickets are $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and $3 for students and youth. To purchase tickets, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit sfasu.edu/boxoffice. For additional information, contact the SFA School of Music at (936) 468-4602.

The Symphony Orchestra at Stephen F. Austin State University will perform Dimitri Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 5, in W.M. Turner Auditorium, located on the SFA campus.

Arguably the most famous of Shostakovich’s works, his Symphony No. 5 came at a pivotal moment after Shostakovich had displeased Soviet Union Premier Joseph Stalin with his opera “Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District.”

Dr. Gregory Grabowski, director of orchestral activities for the SFA School of Music and the Symphony Orchestra’s conductor, considers Symphony No. 5 an “epic” work.

“I chose this piece because it is exciting, beautiful, incredibly challenging and fun to perform,” Grabowski said. “With a number of our senior music education students leaving to do their student teaching in the spring semester, this piece is my way of sending off our students and giving them one last epic performance as they complete their undergraduate degree. Shostakovich 5 is a bucket-list piece for so many of our students, and this performance will be one our students and our audience will remember.”

Turner Auditorium is located in the Griffith Fine Arts Building, 2222 Alumni Drive.

Tickets are $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and $3 for students and youth. To purchase tickets, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit sfasu.edu/boxoffice. For additional information, contact the SFA School of Music at (936) 468-4602.

The Stephen F. Austin State University School of Theatre and Dance will present the student-directed one-act play “Spanish for Estranged Latin Kids” by Carl(os) Roa at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 1, and at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 2, in the new Black Box Theatre in the Griffith Fine Arts Building, SFA campus.

Directed by senior theatre major Mariano Aguirre Jr. of Dallas, the play invites the audience to listen in on a lesson on Latin culture as defined by characters Destiny, played by Katy senior Astrid Maldonado, and Pancho, played by Splendora junior Dionysus Lopez.

Crew members include Michelle Guerrero, Magnolia sophomore, as stage manager; Evan Hamilton, Houston junior, assistant director; C.J. Tate, Dallas junior, costume coordinator; Jade Hushaw, Killeen sophomore, lighting designer; Turner Ring, Dallas freshman, sound designer; and Grace Goodman, Haslet senior, properties manager.

Aguirre is a Bachelor of Fine Arts candidate whose past directing credits include Jesse Cameron Alick’s “for colored boys who have considered colored girls when what was wasn’t enough,” “History of Mexicans in 10 Minutes,” “Listen to Your…” and more. He was artistic director for the Multicultural Ensemble from 2021 to 2023, producing play festivals and creating the Multicultural Ensemble’s New Works Development Project. For the SFA MainStage Series, he was assistant director for Robert O’Hara’s “Bootycandy” and August Wilson’s “The Piano Lesson.”

The play is recommended for mature audiences. Faculty production advisor is Cleo House-Keller.

Tickets are $5 for SFA students and faculty/staff and $8 for adult and youth not affiliated with SFA. To purchase tickets, visit the SFA Fine Arts Box Office online at sfasu.edu/boxoffice or call (936) 468-6407. Available tickets may be purchased at the door. For more information about the play, call the School of Theatre and Dance at (936) 468-4003 or visit sfasu.edu/theatre-dance.

The University Series at Stephen F. Austin State University will celebrate the return of a favorite entertainment duo and their world-class band when Dailey & Vincent performs a holiday show at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 14, in Turner Auditorium in Griffith Fine Arts Building on the SFA campus.

Ring in the festive season with the Micky Elliott College of Fine Arts and event sponsor Lehmann Eye Center as they host the Grammy and Dove award winners and Grand Ole Opry members Jamie Dailey and Darrin Vincent and fellow musicians performing some of the best country, bluegrass and gospel this side of heaven.

Dailey & Vincent are performing as part of the University Series’ 2023-24 Centennial Season. Other upcoming series performances include comedian Joe Zimmerman Feb. 22; and acclaimed trombonist, composer and producer Delfeayo Marsalis performing with SFA’s Swingin’ Axes jazz band April 19, a concert sponsored in part by Etech.

Single event tickets for Dailey & Vincent 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.

A reception to honor the event sponsor and the performers will be held in the second-floor lobby immediately following the concert.