For Immediate Release

Janice Christensen – April 15, 2004

SFA Wind Ensemble to present concert

            The Stephen F. Austin State University Wind Ensemble will present its spring concert at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 20, in W. M. Turner Auditorium.

            “Pictures at an Exhibition” by Russian composer Modest Moussorgsky will be the featured work on the program, according to Fred J. Allen, director of the ensemble. Moussorgsky wrote the piece in tribute to his friend, the artist Victor Hartmann. The suite musically describes 10 of the drawings that most impressed him from about 400 displayed in a memorial exhibition.

            “This orchestral masterwork was expertly transcribed for band by Mark Hindsley, who wrote for many years for the University of Illinois bands,” Allen said.

            Steven Parkman, associate director of bands at SFA, will conduct Arnold Schoenberg’s “Theme and Variations.” The band will also perform Camille Saint-Säens’ “Occident and Orient” and Vincent Persichetti’s “Divertimento.”

            The Wind Ensemble was one of three university bands that recently performed at the 2004 Texas Music Educators Association convention in San Antonio. The February performance marked the ensemble’s eighth time to be invited by the association, the largest of its kind in the world.

            The concert is a joint presentation of the SFA College of Fine Arts and the Department of Music.

            Tickets are $5 for adults, $4 for seniors and $2 for students. To order tickets or for more information, please call (936) 468-6407 or 1-888-240-ARTS or log on to www.finearts.sfasu.edu.

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