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Annual ‘Coleidoscope’ to showcase ‘Works for Clarinet, Piano and Strings’


NACOGDOCHES, Texas – The annual “Coleidoscope” chamber music concert at Stephen F. Austin State University will be at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, March 25, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

The event is presented each year in honor of SFA School of Music benefactor Ed Cole and his late wife, Gwen. Cole Concert Hall is named in their honor in recognition of their support for the School of Music and its students.

“This concert is dedicated to them and their support of the arts in Nacogdoches,” said Dr. Jennifer Dalmas, professor of violin and viola at SFA.

This year’s “Coleidoscope” program is “Works for Clarinet, Piano and Strings” and features performances by guest artist Kae Hosoda-Ayer. Selections to be performed are by Canadian composer Stephen Chatman, Bohuslav Martinu and Lowell Liebermann.

“Each year for ‘Coleidoscope,’ we enjoy collaborating with our colleagues featuring various instruments,” Dalmas said. “In recent years, this has included diverse instruments such as the harp, oboe and saxophone. This year will actually feature both the clarinet and the piano, with our own clarinet professor, Chris Ayer, and his wife, Kae Hosoda-Ayer, performing with us, as well.”

Dalmas describes Chatman’s Trio for Clarinet, Violin and Piano as “an engaging and entertaining work, composed in three movements.”

“The outer movements are energetic and technically challenging, while the slow middle movement explores some lovely blues timbres and harmonies,” she said.

Martinu’s Serenade No. 2 also features an unusual instrumentation; it is composed for two clarinets and string trio.

“This work, which has four movements, has wonderful interplay between the textures of winds and strings,” Dalmas said. “It contains beautiful lyrical writing in the slow movement.”

The Chelsea Chamber Ensemble premiered Liebermann’s work in 1988. Scored for clarinet, string trio and piano, the piece explores interesting textures between the various instruments and shows effective emotional contrasts within each movement, Dalmas explained.

Another music faculty member, Melissa Nabb, instructor of music theory, viola and violin, will perform (viola) in two of the three pieces, and SFA graduate student and clarinetist Gary Jones will join the ensemble on one piece (the Martinu), as well.  

The recital is part of the School of Music’s Calliope Concert Series.

Tickets are $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and $3 for students and youth. For tickets or more information, call the SFA Fine Arts Box Office at (936) 468-6407 or visit www.finearts.sfasu.edu.