Stephen F. Austin State University

NACOGDOCHES, TEXAS - Four students from the Stephen F. Austin State University School of Music will take the spotlight during the Orchestra of the Pines' annual Concerto/Aria Winner concert to be presented in two venues.

The first concert will be at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 10, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus in Nacogdoches, and the second at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 11, in the Temple Theater on the Angelina College campus in Lufkin.

Each fall, SFA music students enter the School of Music's annual competition. Finalists have the unique opportunity of performing with a
full orchestra, explained Dr. Ron Anderson, director of the SFA School of Music. This year's winners include three instrumentalists and one vocalist.

Trevor Culp, Temple junior, will perform Edward Gregson's "Tuba Concerto." A music performance major and member of the SFA School of Honors, Culp is the principal tubist for the SFA Wind Ensemble and a member of the Lumberjack Marching Band and the SFA Tuba-Euphonium Ensemble. He has also performed with the Orchestra of the Pines and the Masterworks Orchestra. He is a student of J.D. Salas, SFA instructor of music.

Culp is an active member of Kappa Kappa Psi, the honorary band service fraternity, and is a recipient of the Young Artist Scholarship, the Charles Lee Hill Band Scholarship and the J.T. Cox Scholarship. He attended Groesbeck High School where his band director was John Canfield.

Soprano Shannon Morrison, a senior music education major from Spring, will sing "Vocalise" by Sergei Rachmaninoff. While at SFA, Morrison performed the role of the Second Cousin in "La Perichole" and was a chorus member in "The Magic Flute" and "Die Fledermaus." She has also been a soloist at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Nacogdoches.

For the past three years, Morrison has been a semi-finalist at the National Association of Teachers of Singing convention. She has recently moved to Houston to begin her student teaching and will be graduating in May. She is a student of Scott LaGraff, SFA assistant professor of music.

Christopher Reeves, Laird Hill senior, will perform "Piano Concerto in F" by George Gershwin. Reeves grew up in Kilgore where he began studying piano with Joyce Farrow at the age of 6. He later developed an interest in composition after writing a piece for the Kilgore High School Orchestra. He received the Friends of Music Scholarship for piano at Kilgore College where he studied piano under Sandra Siler and composition under Brandon Kreuze.

Reeves has been a student at SFA since 2005, pursuing a double major. He studies piano with Professor Andrew Parr and composition with Associate Professor Stephen Lias. He is a member of the National Association of Composers, USA, and enjoys computer programming and video game design.

A.C. Slate, Dallas junior, will perform "Horn Concerto No. 2 in E-flat Major" by Richard Strauss. While in high school, she was named to
All-Region and All-State bands and held a one-year spot with the Raleigh Symphony. She was also a member of the nationally recognized Triangle Youth Brass Band for three years, playing principal horn for two years.

A student of SFA Professor Charles Gavin, Slate has been a member of the Orchestra of the Pines, Chamber Winds, Chamber Orchestra and Wind Ensemble. She has also been a member of the SFA opera orchestras for "Die Fledermaus" and "La Perichole." Last spring, she participated in the Southeast Horn Workshop in Louisiana as a soloist for clinician Adam Unsworth.

Gene Moon, the orchestra's music director, has titled this concert "Center Stage" since it features some of SFA's finest student musicians.

"The orchestra's closing number, Paul Hindemith's 'Symphonic Metamorpheses' also relates to the concert's title since it is full of solos and spotlights different sections of the orchestra," Moon said.

The concerts are a joint presentation of the SFA College of Fine Arts, School of Music and Orchestra Series, and sponsored in part by Nacogdoches Memorial Hospital, the Wedgeworth-Wright Endowment for the Arts and Angelina College.

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

For tickets to the Nacogdoches concert, please call the Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or (888) 240-ARTS. Business hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

For tickets to the Lufkin concert, please call the Temple Theater Box Office at (936) 633-5454. Business hours are noon to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.