Everything Nac

The Singin’ Axes and Kantorei choirs at Stephen F. Austin State University will present the program “A Bit of This, a Bit of That …” at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 17, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

The program theme reflects the diversity of styles to be performed for this concert by the ensembles, according to Dr. Tod Fish, associate director of choral activities at SFA and director of the choirs.

“The choirs will sing a variety of selections, such as Renaissance motets, a movement from a Baroque cantata, 20th century compositional techniques from both a musical and poetic standpoint, an American folk song, African folk music and a gospel selection,” Fish said. “Composers range from Orlando di Lasso and J.S. Bach to the likes of Vincent Persichetti, Emma Lou Diemer and Keith Hampton.”

The choirs will be joined by collaborative pianists Dr. Thomas Nixon and Maggie Hinchliffe. Herbert Midgley, music technology lecturer, will join Kantorei on either banjo or guitar for an American folk song performance. Dr. Scott LaGraff, baritone, will join the Singin’ Axes when the choir performs two movements from Charles Villiers Standford’s Opus 91 “Songs of the Sea” for solo baritone and tenor bass chorus.

The Kantorei treble choir will perform Diemer’s “Fragments from the Mass,” “which at one point was a staple in the treble choir repertory but has recently been fairly forgotten,” Fish said. “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to present this challenging work with our students.”

New faculty member Dr. Cody Hunter, assistant professor of bassoon and music theory, will join the choirs for a performance of Bach’s Den Tod from” Christ lag in Todesbanden.”

The concert will conclude with Hampton’s “This is the Day,” a gospel selection that will feature several soloists from the choirs.

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 finearts.sfasu.edu. For additional information, contact the SFA School of Music at (936) 468-4602.

The student-led Economics Reading Group in Stephen F. Austin State University’s Rusche College of Business is hosting a virtual discussion with Dr. John A. List, author of “The Voltage Effect: How to Make Good Ideas Great and Great Ideas Scale,” at 5:30 p.m. Nov. 15 in the McGee Business Building, Room 133, and via Zoom.

List, the Kenneth C. Griffin Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago, also co-authored the 2013 international bestseller “The Why Axis: Hidden Motives and the Undiscovered Economics of Everyday Life.” He is known for his extensive use of field experiments in his microeconomic research.

“It is an honor to get to hear from John,” said Dr. Ryan Phelps, associate professor of economics and finance at SFA as well as faculty advisor for the Economics Reading Group. “His consulting experience, including clients like Uber, Lyft and Walmart, is impressive.”

“The Voltage Effect” explores how scaling good ideas can drive change in a variety of arenas, including schools, workplaces, communities and society at large.

To prepare for the discussion with List, Phelps is hosting virtual Read Lunch Learn sessions on Zoom from noon to 1 p.m. every Wednesday from Oct. 19 through Nov. 9. The first session covers the introduction through Chapter 2 of the book.

“I am hoping that anyone working on great ideas will consider joining our Read Lunch Learn sessions on Zoom as well as the main discussion with the author,” Phelps said. “We will cover scheduled readings and discuss our own efforts to scale great ideas toward changing lives.”

For decades, List’s field experimental research has focused on issues related to the inner workings of markets, the effects of various incentives schemes on market equilibria and allocations, how behavioral economics can augment the standard economic model, early childhood education and interventions, and, most recently, the gender earnings gap in the gig economy (using evidence from rideshare drivers). His research includes over 200 peer-reviewed journal articles.

The Read Lunch Learn sessions and the Nov. 15 virtual discussion with List are free and open to the public. The Zoom link for both is gosfa.com/econ-reading-group.

For more information, email Phelps at phelpsrt@sfasu.edu.

Nacogdoches pianist Olivia Ajero, 14, was featured in a “Daily Joy” online video. “Daily Joy’ is an online video project curated by NPR’s “From The Top” radio program. Its aim is to serve as a reminder of music’s power to uplift, inspire and unite. “Daily Joy” began in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and continues today to offer a much-needed respite from the anxiety and worry that people encounter in the world.

Olivia, who studies piano with Linda Parr in the Music Preparatory Division of Stephen F. Austin State University’s School of Music, performed Frédéric Chopin’s Étude in C-Sharp Minor, Op. 10, No. 4, also known as the “Torrent Étude.” Her performance can be viewed at: https://www.daily-joy.org/video/fabulous-13-year-old-pianist/

Olivia will perform the “Torrent Étude” again for her birthday recital at 3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 9, at First United Methodist Church in Nacogdoches, along with works by J.S. Bach, Joseph Haydn, Franz Liszt, Sergei Rachmaninov and Sergei Prokofiev. Olivia attends McMichael Middle School in Nacogdoches. This past summer, she attended the Luzerne Music Center camp in New York. While there, Olivia won their concerto competition and performed as a featured soloist with the LMC Orchestra.

For more information about Sunday’s recital, email ajeromp@sfasu.edu or call (936) 205-1881. The recital is free and open to the public.

South American tubist Patricio Consentino will perform a recital at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 12, in the Music Recital Hall in Wright Music Building on the campus of Stephen F. Austin State University.

His performance is part of the 2022 Octubafest Celebrations being held at universities throughout the country. These events are showcasing the tuba and euphonium as solo instruments as opposed to their traditional place as supporting instruments in many ensembles.

Consentino will collaborate with Dr. Minhae Lee, assistant professor of piano at SFA, in performing Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Concerto for Bass Tuba, the first concerto written for tuba and orchestra; Astor Piazolla’s “Libertango,” one of Piazolla’s most popular tangos that has been transcribed for many instruments and showcases the soloist’s virtuosic abilities; and the Scottish folk song “The Water is Wide,” arranged by Joseph Green.

Consentino is one of the most active tubists in South America, having made a career as a soloist, chamber musician and conductor. After receiving his musical degree at the “Franz Liszt” Hochschule für Musik in Weimar, Germany, Consentino returned to Argentina to accept the principal tuba position with the National Symphony Orchestra. He will also present a masterclass while visiting the SFA campus.

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