Everything Nac

Members of the music faculty at Stephen F. Austin State University will highlight works by American composer Daron Hagen in a voice and piano recital at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 4, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

Dr. Ron Petti, professor and director of collaborative piano for the School of Music, annually performs a concert with members of the voice faculty that features different composers’ music for voice and piano.

“This year’s composer is Daron Hagen, who has written more than 400 art songs, several operas and other works,” Petti said, adding that the NATS Journal of Singing calls him “the finest American composer of vocal music in his generation.”

“His songs are often very lush harmonically with Italianate vocal lines,” Petti said. “His compositional style is very appealing to a wide variety of listeners.”

Hagen began his education at the Curtis Institute of Music and was one of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ned Rorem’s first students. Hagen continued his studies at Juilliard under classical composer David Diamond and later studied with the acclaimed Leonard Bernstein. Hagen’s works have been premiered by the New York Philharmonic, The Philadelphia Orchestra and others. He recently completed a book, “Duet with the Past: A Composer’s Memoir.”

Petti will collaborate with faculty vocalists Debbie Berry, soprano; Ric Berry, tenor; James Held, baritone; Nita Hudson, mezzo soprano; Scott LaGraff, baritone; and Chris Turner, baritone. Jamie Weaver, associate professor of music history, will present a pre-performance talk about the composer and his music.

Hagen will be in attendance for the Feb. 4 concert and will also present vocal/collaborative piano and composition masterclasses with SFA music students. He will also do a dramatic reading from his memoirs at 6:30 p.m. prior to the concert.

“The Songs of Daron Hagen” recital is a feature of the School of Music’s Friends of Music Concert Series. 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.

Soprano Cristina Castaldi will perform works by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Claude Debussy and Richard Strauss in a guest recital at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 2, in Cole Concert Hall on the campus of Stephen F. Austin State University.

Castaldi is an assistant professor of voice at Wichita State University. Her husband, Gene Philley, who is a former member of the music faculty at Angelina College in Lufkin, is her collaborative pianist. Her SFA program includes Vier Lieder des Abschieds, Op. 14 by Korngold; Proses lyriques, L. 84 by Debussy; and Strauss’ Vier letzte Lieder, Op. 31.

“This is a tour de force recital program,” she said. “The Strauss, in particular, is usually performed with orchestra. The recital is centered around three composers, four songs per cycle. There is a common thread throughout the recital of the journey of life and the realities of death.”

She described the program as “unique,” in that the Korngold and Debussy works are “special and not regularly performed.”

“Those who know the Strauss (songs) will enjoy hearing them again,” she said.

Castaldi’s recent vocal performances include soprano soloist in” Carmina Burana” in Prague, Czech Republic; soprano soloist in Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 for Wichita Symphony Orchestra and the East Texas Symphony Orchestra; as well as the soprano soloist for Wichita Symphony Orchestra in Joseph Haydn’s “The Creation.”

Among her operatic roles are Alice Ford in “Falstaff” and Le Prince Charmant in “Cendrillon” (both award-winning productions) as well as Mimí in a concert performance of “La Bohème” with the Rutgers Symphony Orchestra. Another role of note is the title role of Giovanna d’Arco with Sarasota Opera. The Longboat Observer wrote: “Cristina Castaldi, as Giovanna, has a lovely bearing on stage … got our attention … in the final scene … she became radiant as an actress and singer.”

Recital 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.

The planetarium in Stephen F. Austin State University’s Cole STEM Building will offer new shows on Saturdays starting Feb. 1.

The planetarium has public shows every Saturday with group shows available throughout the week upon reservation.

“Molecularium” is a matinee show that takes audiences on an adventure into the world of atoms and molecules. Geared toward children but open to all ages, the show will be presented at 3 p.m. Tickets are $3.

“Secrets of Stars” will be presented at 4:30 and 7 p.m. Tickets are $6 for adults and $4 for children, students, and faculty and staff with ID.

“Join narrator Patrick Stewart as we explore the inner workings of stars, their life cycles and many other secrets of these distant suns,” said Ed Michaels, planetarium director.

The shows will be offered Feb. 1 through 29 and on March 21.

For more information, to make a group reservation or view the schedule, visit planetarium.sfasu.edu.

By Joanna Armstrong, marketing communications specialist at Stephen F. Austin State University.