Everything Nac

Stephen F. Austin State University’s SFA Gardens will host the monthly Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series at 7 p.m. May 9 in the Brundrett Conservation Education Building at the Pineywoods Native Plant Center, located at 2900 Raguet St.

Marc Pastorek, prairie activist and horticulturist from Covington, Louisiana, will present “The Prairie Inspired Garden: Fun with Seed!”

Pastorek is an environmentalist with a deep interest in natural systems and their restoration and management. He is a co-founder of Pastorek Habitats, a landscape design and consulting firm that specializes in restoring native grassland habitats. He and his wife, Candi, operate the business as partners and live and garden in Covington, Louisiana.

Additionally, Pastorek had an article published in the book, “Southeastern Grasslands: Biodiversity, Ecology and Management,” which was released last year.

The Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series is held the second Thursday of each month and includes a rare plant raffle after the program. The lecture is free and open to the public, but donations to the Theresa and Les Reeves Lecture Series fund are always appreciated.

Parking is available at the PNPC and Raguet Elementary School, located at 2428 Raguet St.

For more information, call (936) 468-4129, or email sfagardens@sfasu.edu.

The Steel Band at Stephen F. Austin State University will present its annual spring concert when the student ensemble performs at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 8, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

The Steel Band, directed by Dr. Ben Tomlinson, percussion adjunct faculty, will perform traditional calypso selections from Trinidad and Tobago as well as additional tunes from around the world.

Among the selections will be “Morning Dance” by Spyro Gyra. The piece takes the band outside of its traditional soca and calypso roots, according to Tomlinson.

“The tune ‘Morning Dance’ was one of the breakout hits of the jazz fusion band Spyro Gyra in 1979,” Tomlinson said. “This is one of the more technically challenging pieces for the band as there are many complicated melodies and interesting harmonies.”

The band will also perform the crowd-pleaser “Don’t You Worry ’bout a Thing” by Stevie Wonder from his 1973 hit album “Innervisions.”

Another program favorite will be “Mambo Mindoro” by Cal Tjader.

“Fast and upbeat, ‘Mambo Mindoro’ is a Latin chart that features our ‘Engine Room’ section,” Tomlinson said. “The ‘Engine Room’ includes drumset and a percussionist playing ‘irons,’ and it is the rhythmic force that propels the band forward.”

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.

Receiving their framed certificates and other gifts as the 2019 College of Fine Arts Dean’s Circle award recipients are, from left, Travis Wattigney, music major from Fort Worth, receiving the Naioma Shannon Dean’s Award in Music; Sarah Bone, art major from Richmond, receiving the Ed and Gwen Cole Dean’s Award in Art; Piero Fenci, professor of art, receiving the Dean’s Circle Endowed Professor award for 2019-2022; Aubrey Moore, theatre major from Frisco, receiving the George and Peggy Schmidbauer Dean’s Award in Theatre; and Matthew Mitchell, music education major from Huffman, receiving the Dr. Robert G. Sidnell Memorial Dean’s Award in Music Education. The ceremony was held at The Cole Art Center @ The Old Opera House, Stephen F. Austin State University’s historic downtown art center.

Tickets are still available to the May 9 concert of the Villalobos Brothers at Stephen F. Austin State University. The final show of the 2018-19 College of Fine Arts’ University Series, this concert features today’s leading contemporary Mexican group performing music that blends intricate jazz and classical harmonies and rock-and-roll energy with the traditional sounds of the brothers’ native country. Single event ticket prices for the University Series are $25 for adults, $20 for seniors and $10 for non-SFA students/youth. Tickets for SFA students are $3. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit finearts.sfasu.edu, stop by the Fine Arts Box Office in Room 211 of the Griffith Fine Arts Building, or call (936) 468-6407 or (888) 240-ARTS. This 7:30 p.m. performance is sponsored in part by BancorpSouth.

The School of Music at Stephen F. Austin State University will present the program “I Won’t Dance: An Evening of Great American Song” at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 7, in the Music Recital Hall on the SFA campus.

“I Won’t Dance: An Evening of Great American Song” is a program of all early 20th century popular music and will feature songs from George and Ira Gershwin, Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter and others.

The performers are sisters Kayla Roth, music theory and ear-training faculty in the School of Music, and Erin Roth Thomas, a mezzo-soprano who performs regularly in the Dallas area (https://erinroth.webs.com/). Both are SFA graduates.

Among the selections, “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” by Cole Porter was nominated for an Academy Award for best original song in 1936 and later became a signature tune for Frank Sinatra.

“You’ll Never Walk Alone” by Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein is originally from the musical “Carousel.” “This song has been covered by numerous artists, including Judy Garland, the punk rock band Dropkick Murphies and, most memorably, Elvis Presley,” Roth said.

“By Strauss” by George and Ira Gershwin contains some of Ira’s wittiest lyrics, according to Roth. “The singer proclaims that the popular Broadway tunes of Berlin, Kern, Porter, and – in an inspired bit of self-deprecation – even Gershwin, don’t compare to the grand waltzes of Johann Strauss and his son,” Roth said, “with lyrical references to some of Strauss Jr.’s best-known works, such as ‘On the Beautiful Blue Danube,’ ‘Wine, Women, and Song,’ and ‘Die Fledermaus.'”

All pieces will feature Thomas on vocals and Roth on piano. All arrangements are by Kayla Roth.

The Music Recital Hall is located in the 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 visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu.

The Orchestra of the Pines at Stephen F. Austin State University will present “Musical Landscapes” when the student ensemble performs at 7:30 pm. Tuesday, May 7, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

Among the highlights of the concert will be a performance of Fort Worth music composition student Travis Wattigney’s “The Awakening Valley.” The work was the winning entry in the 2018 Tennessee Valley Music Festival for Scores and was selected as winner in the most recent SFA School of Music’s Composition Competition, earning it a performance by the orchestra.

The concert will also feature a performance by Dr. Jennifer Dalmas, professor of violin, on Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “The Lark Ascending,” according to Dr. Pierre-Alain Chevalier, visiting director of orchestral activities at SFA and musical director of the orchestra.

Other program selections include “Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage” by Felix Mendelssohn; “On the Beautiful Blue Danube” by Johann Strauss Jr.; “In the Steppes of Central Asia” by Alexander Borodin; “The Walk to Paradise Garden” by Frederick Delius; and “Finlandia” by Jean Sibelius.

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 visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu.