For Immediate Release

Janice Christensen – April 23, 2004

SFA Percussion Ensemble to perform

            The Stephen F. Austin State University Percussion Ensemble’s annual spring concert will be held at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 29, in Cole Concert Hall. The 14-member ensemble is composed of music majors and non-majors and is directed by Dr. Scott Harris, assistant professor and director of percussion studies at SFA.

            The program includes works from a wide variety of percussion and musical styles, according to Harris.

Four ensemble members will present Christopher Rouse’s “Ku-Ka-Ilimoku,” a piece based on Hawaiian mythology that musically represents a savage, propulsive war dance, Harris said.

Soloist Dustin Sheffield, senior percussion major from Katy, will perform selections from Ney Rosauro’s “Concerto for Marimba.” Keyboard instruments will also be used in a large ensemble jazz work by Billy Barber titled “Invention.”

Other large ensemble works include David Gillingham’s “Stained Glass, ” a three-movement piece inspired by the beauty and color of stained glass; a theater piece written entirely for drum heads; and Michael Hennagin’s “Duo Chopinesque.”

            “Hennagin’s work is an amazing collage of 20^th century percussion techniques interwoven with the romantic elegance of Frederick Chopin’s romantic E minor prelude (Op. 28, No. 4),” Harris said.

            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.

            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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