Stephen F. Austin State University

NACOGDOCHES, TEXAS - Several East Texas students will be the featured soloists during the Orchestra of the Pines' concert at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 25, in Cole Concert Hall. The students are all winners of the Stephen F. Austin State University School of Music's annual concerto/aria contest and will be performing the pieces on which they auditioned.

Included on the program are Lufkin natives Erin and Kayla Roth. Erin, a graduate mezzo soprano, will sing "Mon coeur s'ouvre a ta voix" by Camille Saint-Saëns. Kayla, a sophomore, will perform a movement of Paul Creston's "Concertino for Marimba."

Nacogdoches senior Alex Aucoin will be featured on the xylophone playing "Fantasy on a Japanese Woodcut" by Alan Hovhaness.

Violinist Diana Hector Norwood, Tyler graduate student, will perform "Concerto No. 5" by Henry Vieuxtemps, and Wylie junior Ben Brown will play a movement of W.A. Mozart's "Horn Concerto No. 4."

Pianist Yu-Ching Hsu, a graduate student from Kaohsiung, Taiwan, will perform Sergei Rachmaninov's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini."

Jeff Jacobsen, SFA assistant professor of music and director of the Orchestra of the Pines, said the annual concert is always a popular concert since it features some of SFA's finest student musicians.

"And you couldn't ask for a more varied and delightful program," Jacobsen continued. "It has pieces from classical to modern eras and everything in between; local students as well as international students; undergraduates and graduates--a well deserving group of soloists."

The concert is a joint presentation of the SFA College of Fine Arts and the School of Music. It is sponsored in part by Nacogdoches Memorial Hospital, Ed and Gwen Cole and the Wedgeworth-Wright Endowment for the Arts.

Tickets are $15 for adults, $12 for seniors and $5 for students.

To purchase tickets or for more information, please visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu or call (936) 468-6407 or (888) 240-ARTS.