Axe ’Em, Jacks!
NACOGDOCHES, TEXAS – The Orchestra of the Pines at Stephen F. Austin State University will present “Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony!” in a concert at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 12, in W.M. Turner Auditorium on the SFA campus.
Dr. Pierre-Alain Chevalier, the orchestra’s music director, has selected a program that not only showcases the work of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky but also pieces by Johannes Brahms and Lars Erik Larsson.
The program highlights are Brahms: “Academic Festival Overture,” op. 80 (composed 1880) with Gary Jones, graduate conductor; Larsson: Concerto for saxophone and string orchestra, op. 14 (1934) with Jack Thorpe, saxophone; and Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 in F minor, op. 36 (1877–78).
The director of bands at St. Cyprian’s Episcopal School in Lufkin, Jones is currently earning a master’s degree in wind conducting and an artist diploma in clarinet performance at SFA. He earned a Bachelor of Music Education with a focus on multi-woodwind pedagogy and a minor in piano from SFA. Jones is active as a conductor and recitalist. He has performed throughout the United States, notably in New York and Oregon. He is the principal clarinetist of the SFA Wind Ensemble and Orchestra of the Pines. He has also presented master classes and has been an adjudicator throughout Texas and Louisiana. Jones also maintains a private teaching studio compromised of all woodwind students. This year, he founded the Nacogdoches Winds, which promotes music education in schools. He serves as the graduate teaching assistant for the Lumberjack Marching Band, conducts the University Band and serves as the director of music at Johnson Chapel CME Church in Nacogdoches.
Thorpe holds a Bachelor of Music degree in saxophone performance from Georgia State University (summa cum laude) where he was the recipient of the Presser Undergraduate Scholar Award. As a soloist and chamber musician, Thorpe has performed throughout the United States and Japan and has been featured as a concerto soloist with the Georgia State University Symphonic Wind Ensemble. In 2018, Thorpe was named one of the winners of the SFA Concerto Competition, and he has recently competed as a semi-finalist in the 2018 North American Saxophone Alliance Collegiate Soloist and Quartet competitions. As the alto chair in the Akira Saxophone Quartet, Thorpe has recorded music by composers Stephen Wood and Matthew Quayle. He is the teaching assistant for saxophones at SFA where he is currently pursuing his Master of Music degree in saxophone performance. Thorpe’s main teachers include Jan Berry Baker and Nathan Nabb with additional study under Frederick L. Hemke.
The concert is a joint presentation of the College of Fine Arts and School of Music. 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.