Everything Nac

Dr. Roberta Rust, professor and head of the piano department at the Lynn University Conservatory in Boca Raton, Florida, will present a guest recital at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 23, in Cole Concert Hall on the campus of Stephen F. Austin State University.

The program includes “a wide and interesting variety of piano music,” said Dr. Andrew Parr, professor of piano in the SFA School of Music, ranging from a familiar W.A. Mozart sonata and Claude Debussy’s “Clair de Lune,” to Brazilian tangos, to recently composed works by Ellen Taaffe Zwilich, Phillip Evans, Michael Anderson and Almeida Prado.

“There is something here for everyone,” Parr said.

In May 2019, Rust’s new CD, “Direct Contact,” was released on Navona Records and has garnered enthusiastic reviews. The American Record Guide praised the recording as follows: “Rust is a virtuoso of the highest order and the best possible advocate for this music. She has masterly control of tone … her technical control in difficult passage work is clean, the direction of each phrase clear and always musical. This is a memorable program.”
Rust has concertized to critical acclaim around the globe, with performances at such venues as Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, New York’s Merkin Concert Hall, Rio de Janeiro’s Sala Cecilia Meireles, Washington’s Corcoran Gallery, Havana’s Basilica and Seoul’s KNUA Hall. The 2019-20 season includes solo recitals in Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Oregon, Washington, Iowa, Arizona, Florida, Singapore and the Philippines. Her concerto appearances have included engagements with the Houston Symphony, Philippine Philharmonic, New Philharmonic, Redlands Symphony, Boca Raton Symphonia, Knox-Galesburg Symphony, New World Symphony, and orchestras in Latin America. For more information, visit www.robertarust.com.

Her performance at SFA is a feature of the 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.

Dr. Francisco Perez will present a guest percussion recital at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 22, in Cole Concert Hall on the campus of Stephen F. Austin State University.

Perez is a percussionist, composer and educator from Pflugerville. He currently serves as assistant professor of music (percussion) at Lamar University in Beaumont where he oversees all aspects of the percussion studio. His performance at SFA will feature the electro-acoustic repertoire of percussion, including works he has composed or commissioned.

The program features Russell Wharton’s “Deus Ex Metronome, ‘which the composer patterned after rapper Kendrick Lamar’s music.

“I found myself particularly drawn to the rhythmic structure of his verses, and in particular his use of odd groupings,” Wharton wrote. “A particularly interesting way to listen to Kendrick is to do so while following along with the lyrics – quite often, he moves between lines or rhymes in a way that is often in contrast with the beat. This piece also owes a lot to the Armenian jazz pianist Tigran Hamasyan, whose music has been a continuous source of inspiration for me.”

Perez’s own composition “Tesseract” is also on the program. It was written for solo vibraphone and pre-recorded mallet keyboards. “‘Tesseract’ is the result of my exploration between the multiple aural ‘dimensions’ unique to these instruments and the rhythmic capabilities they so naturally manifest,” he said. ‘Rather than leading the listener through a programmatic narrative, the soloist acts as a sort of constant between the evolving layers and textures throughout, much like the tesseract serves as a point of reference to the fourth dimension.”

Anna Ignatowicz-Glinska’s “Toccata” was written as a farewell to the composer’s father. Of the piece, she said: “When I was writing this work, I had to ‘go through my dad’s life,’ coming back to the times before my birth. A part of myself also changed into ashes at this moment. If there is any trace of this process in the score, it may only be the utlra-subjective narration, which individual performers may, however, understand in different ways. ‘Toccata’ is not a programmatic work and my personal comments do not relate to the details of interpretation.”

As an active performer, Perez has accepted international engagements in Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Spain and China and toured extensively throughout the U.S. including performances at prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall and the Percussive Arts Society International Convention. He has performed with various professional ensembles such as the Lexington Philharmonic and the Symphony of Southeast Texas, and he is a founding member of the Percussion Quartet. Dedicated to the expansion of chamber percussion music, he has performed throughout Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky and Tennessee.

Concert 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.

SFA Gardens and Resilient Nacogdoches welcome gardeners and seed savers to join in Nacogdoches’ fifth annual seed swap beginning at 1 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 26, at the Brundrett Conservation Education Building at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center.

“Seed swaps are a fun way to learn about seeds and gardening, build community, and increase food diversity and local resilience. You leave the seed swap with new seeds, new information and new friends,” said Vicki Lunell, a member of Resilient Nacogdoches who helped start the seed swap tradition in Nacogdoches five years ago.

Leftover seeds will be donated to the Judy B. McDonald Public Library’s seed library and shared with school and community gardens.

The seed swap is free and open to the public. Donations are gladly accepted and support Nacogdoches Naturally, the SFA Gardens afterschool gardening club. The Pineywoods Native Plant Center is located at 2900 Raguet St. For more information, contact Jocelyn Moore at (936) 468-1863 or moorejv@sfasu.edu.

How the Nacogdoches Seed Swap works

All viable flower, herb, vegetable and tree seeds may be swapped, whether purchased at a nursery or saved from your own garden. Viable seeds are typically not more than a few years old and have been stored in a dark, dry and cool environment. Saved seeds that thrive in the East Texas climate are highly encouraged.

Participants should bring their seeds labeled with the variety and year collected or bought. Seeds do not need to be individually packaged. They can be brought in their existing packets or containers. Envelopes will be provided for attendees to take home small samples of seeds.

Volunteers will help attendees display their seeds on appropriate tables — vegetable, herb, flower, tree, mystery, etc. After all the seeds are displayed, swapping begins. There is no limit to the number of seeds participants may take home, but generally, participants should bring home about as many seeds as they brought.

Are you new to gardening and don’t have any seeds to bring? That’s OK. There are always plenty of seeds to go around, and newcomers are welcome to take home what they need to begin their garden.