Annual SE JazzFest to be held at Sports City Cafe
DURANT, Okla. – The Southeastern Jazz Ensemble will be hosting the annual SE JazzFest on April 21st, 2012 at Sports City Café on Highway 75 in Durant, OK. This festival will be from 1-9pm and feature several high school and college age jazz groups from the southeastern region. Groups already slated to appear at this festival include: Durant High School Jazz Band I and II, McAlester High School Jazz Band, Dickson High School Jazz Band, SE High School Honor Jazz Band, Cat 5 Vocal Jazz Ensemble and the Southeastern Jazz Ensemble. The SE Jazz Ensemble will feature guest artists Micah Bell, trumpet and Sarah Roberts, saxophone. Admission is free of charge. Come out and enjoy an afternoon and early evening of jazz at Sports City Café!
Sarah Roberts, Saxophone Guest Artist/Micah Bell, Trumpet Guest Artist
McFadden Scholarship established at Southeastern
DURANT, Okla. – The Dr. Robert McFadden Scholarship has been established through the Southeastern Foundation to benefit students attending Southeastern Oklahoma State University.
The scholarship was established in 2009 by an initial gift from the Waples Memorial United Methodist Church in Denison, Texas, in recognition of McFadden’s 20 years of continuous service as pianist/organist.
The scholarship was endowed by McFadden and a ceremony was held Friday in the Welcome Center on the Southeastern campus.
Recipients of the McFadden Scholarship will be full-time students in good standing at Southeastern. The award is established as an educational scholarship for students who have declared music performance majors, pianist preferred, as their major field of study.
Students must have a minimum 3.5 grade point average and be juniors or above who have been admitted to the Bachelor of Music program.
McFadden is a native of Kansas and earned his Bachelor of Music (Piano) at Wichita State University. He received his M.M. degree at the University of Michigan and completed his Doctor of Musical Arts degree in piano performance at the University of Kansas.
He taught at Hesston College (Kansas) and South Carolina State University before joining the Southeastern faculty in 1984, where he teaches private piano, undergraduate music history, music literature and appreciation, and directed readings in music history. He also accompanies the Southeastern Chorale, Opera Theatre and vocal recitalists.
McFadden has received a number of Southeastern research grants to pursue the Suzuki method of piano study as it compares with traditional private teaching.
In 2000, he adjudicated at the Second Chinese Composers Competition in Hong Kong and has judged numerous other competitions.
His pre-college students have won several local and state competitions. He is active as a musician in Denison, at Waples Memorial United Methodist and the Christian Science churches.
He has held several offices in the Oklahoma Music Teachers Association, including a two-year term as state president in 2006-2007. In 2009, McFadden was chosen as a Foundation Fellow in the Music Teachers National Association (the eighth to be honored from Oklahoma).
The nomination was made because of the impact McFadden has made on the music profession through OMTA and MTNA membership and service, his exemplary career that has shaped and inspired others, and the high esteem that he is held in by his peers.
James Young Music Scholarship Established
DURANT, Okla. – The James O. Young Music Scholarship has been established through the Southeastern Foundation to benefit students attending Southeastern Oklahoma State University.
The endowment ceremony was held Thursday, March 8th, 2012 in the Welcome Center on the Southeastern campus.
This is established as an educational scholarship for students participating in Southeastern bands and specifically playing the euphonium. Students must have a minimum 2.5 grade-point average to qualify for the scholarship.
James Oliver Young is a Durant High School graduate who earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Southeastern in 1967 and his Doctor of Dental surgery degree from Baylor University in 1972.
His inspiration for endowing this scholarship is the gift of music he discovered while playing in the bands at Durant High and Southeastern. It has given him joy throughout his life and he wishes to share that joy with others.
Young married Virginia Koontz on May 27, 1967, and .they have three children, Amy, Jenny, and Thomas.
He established a private dental practice in Ardmore after graduation from Baylor and continued it until 1993, when he joined the Cherokee Telephone Company headquartered in Calera, Oklahoma.
Young was ordained a Deacon in the Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma in 2001 and was assigned to St. Philip’s Parish in Ardmore, where he established the Ardmore Soup Kitchen and entered the teaching and preaching rotation at St. Philip’s Church.
The James O. Young Music Scholarship was commemorated Thursday with an endowment ceremony at Southeastern Oklahoma State University. Young is a 1967 graduate of Southeastern, where he was a member of the band. From left: Southeastern president Larry Minks, James Young, Zhakery Bradford, and Kyle Stafford, Executive Director of University Advancement. Bradford is a 2011 graduate of Durant High School and a freshman member of the Southeastern band. He is the first recipient of the James O. Young Music Scholarship.
Dr. Suzanne Tirk from OU to present Clarinet and Chamber Music Class and Recital
DURANT, Okla. – The SE Department of Music will host Dr. Suzanne Tirk, Professor of Clarinet from OU, on Wednesday, March 14th, from 4:00pm to 6:30pm in the Fine Arts Recital Hall. She will be presenting a chamber music and clarinet masterclass, as well as a recital. All events are free and open to the public.
BIO: Dr. Suzanne Tirk joined the University of Oklahoma’s School of Music faculty as Assistant Professor of Clarinet in the fall of 2011. Her duties include teaching undergraduate and graduate applied clarinet and performing with the woodwind-quintet-in-residence, Oklahoma Woodwind Quintet.
A dynamic performer and teacher, Dr. Tirk has taught at several universities including Wichita State University, Bemidji State University, Lawrence University, Central Michigan University, Eastern Michigan University, and Montana State University. During her tenure at Wichita State University Dr. Tirk performed with the Lieurance Woodwind Quintet and was Principal Clarinet with the Wichita Symphony Orchestra. Dr. Tirk holds a Bachelor of Music degree in clarinet performance from Lawrence University (WI), and a Master of Music degree and Doctorate of Musical Arts degree from Michigan State University. Her teachers have included Elsa Ludewig Verdehr, Charles Neidich, Theodore Oien, Colin Lawson, Fan Lei, and Richard Faria.
Dr. Tirk has presented numerous performances and masterclasses throughout the United States and abroad. In January 2011 she performed as a concerto soloist in collaboration with clarinetist David Shifrin and the Wichita Symphony Orchestra, and in May 2011 performed a concerto with the Wichita State University Symphonic Wind Ensemble at their performance in Carnegie Hall. Dr. Tirk has performed at the 2004, 2007, 2010 and 2011 International Clarinet Association Conferences, the 2010 Potsdam Clarinet Summit, the 2009 Southern Mississippi University Clarinet Symposium, the 2007 University of Oklahoma Clarinet Symposium, and the 2002 Xi’an International Clarinet and Saxophone Festival in Xi’an, China. In 2006, she was a guest soloist with the Astana Filharmonia and Karaganda Symphony Orchestra both of Kazakhstan. She has also performed recitals and presented masterclasses at the Zhubanova Music College (Almaty, Kazakhstan), the Kazakhstan National Conservatory Kurmangazi (Astana, Kazakhstan), the National Academy and National Conservatory of Panama (Panama City, Panama), Royal Northern College of Music (Manchester, England), the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (Glasgow, Scotland), and the Xi’an Conservatory (Xi’an, China).
A committed proponent of new music, Dr. Tirk has commissioned and premiered several works for clarinet. She has been invited to perform a recital at the 2011 International Clarinet Association Conference in Los Angeles, CA featuring a co-commissioned work, Bright Angel (2009) by Roshanne Etezady and a new trio for clarinet, viola, and piano, Scarlattiana (2010), by Walter Mays. In summer 2010, she and her husband, Dr. Richard Tirk, were invited to perform the world premier of a work they commissioned for clarinet and trumpet by Robert Levy at the 2010 International Trumpet Guild Conference in Sydney, Australia. They performed the U.S. premier at the 2010 International Clarinet Association Conference in Austin, TX. Dr. Tirk was a distinguished guest at the 2002 Xi’an International Clarinet and Saxophone Festival in Xi’an, China, performing a recital including the world premier of William Averitt’s Nightscapes (2002), and in 2004, was invited to perform the world premier of Charles Ruggiero’s Fantasy on a Theme by Ravel (2004) at the International Clarinet Association Conference in College Park, Maryland. In February 2005 she performed the world premier of Katherine Murdock’s Aria Bel Canto for Clarinet and Wind Ensemble (2005) at the Kansas Music Educators Association conference and was invited to perform the work again in May 2011 at Carnegie Hall.
Dr. Tirk is active in several professional organizations including the International Clarinet Association, the National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors, Phi Kappa Phi, the College Music Society, MENC, and OMEA. Dr. Tirk has been invited to present clinics for the Midwest Clinic: An International Band and Orchestra Clinic, the Montana Music Educators Association, the Iowa Bandmasters Association Conference, the Kansas Music Educators Association, the Kansas Bandmasters Association, the Senseney Music Total Band Director Workshop, and the Wichita Metropolitan Music Teacher’s Association.
Southeastern Symphonic Winds presents “quotations” on March 8
DURANT, Okla. – The Southeastern Symphonic Winds – Southeastern Oklahoma State University’s premier instrumental ensemble – continues its 2011-2012 concert season with its fourth program, entitled “quotations” on Thursday, March 8 in Montgomery Auditorium. Start time for the event is 7:30 p.m.
The program features musical works that contain references to other music from a variety of sources, both classical and popular.
“Each piece on this concert has at least some small piece of someone else’s composition, in a sort of tribute,” said Southeastern’s Director of Bands, Dr. Jacob Wallace. “Many composers are influenced strongly by music that they grew up with, or fell in love with while studying to develop their own voice. I think in many cases this is their way of thanking those who have had an impact upon them.”
The performance will feature Southeastern’s adjunct instructor of clarinet, Dr. Rachel Yoder, in a performance of Scott McAllister’s “Black Dog.” This is a piece that is based on the Led Zeppelin song of the same name, but instead of electric guitars, the composer uses a clarinet and a host of unorthodox techniques.
The ensemble will also memorialize the legendary band composer and conductor Francis McBeth – who passed away earlier this year at age 78 – with a performance of his elegiac “Kaddish.’’
Other works on the program include Timothy Mahr’s “Fantasia in G”, based on Beethoven’s setting of “Ode to Joy,” Kathryn Salfelder’s “Cathedrals,” which uses antiphonal brass choirs in tribute to the works of Giovanni Gabrieli, and William Schuman’s epic, “New England Triptych, “which arranges the choral anthems and hymns of the Revolutionary War-era American composer William Billings.
“Fantasia in G” will be conducted by Dr. Colin McKenzie, Associate Director of Bands at Georgia Southern University.
“Dr. McKenzie is an outstanding conductor, musician, and friend,” said Wallace. “He’s a delight to work with. He has an exuberant charisma and draws inspiring efforts out of his students. We are fortunate to have him here on campus.”
The Southeastern Symphonic Winds is a performing ensemble consisting of Southeastern students and is open to qualified students in all disciplines pending competitive audition. Admission is free and open to the public. For more information, please contact the Department of Music at 580-745-2088, or Wallace at 580-745-2084.
Musical Arts Series presents Texas Boys Choir in concert
DURANT, Okla. – The highly acclaimed Texas Boys Choir will appear in concert at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23, in Durant’s First Baptist Church sanctuary as part of Southeastern Oklahoma State University’s Musical Arts Series.
Artistic director Bryan Priddy will direct the 52-voice choir through a full and varied concert. Highlights include Bach’s motet Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden, movements from Ramirez’s Argentinean Folk Mass Mass Misa Criolla, and two settings of John McCrae’s World War I poem In Flanders Fields.
On the lighter side, the evening will include world, folk and popular music traditions including a Texas-style Old West Medley, complete with Stetson hats; Star Wars, a parody using famous themes from Jurassic Park, Superman, E.T. and other John Williams movie scores, plus the fully choreographed a cappella version of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody.
The Texas Boys Choir was founded in 1946 to provide any boy, regardless of socio-economic or ethnic background, a structured environment for the development of a world-class performing choir. The Choir has performed for Popes, Presidents of the United States and for Kings and Heads of State.
The group has made multiple appearances on national television and radio broadcasts, won numerous awards, including two Grammys, and produced more than 40 professional recordings with Columbia, Decca and other independent labels.
The Musical Arts Series is appreciative of the helpfulness and generosity of the First Baptist Church choir and director Ken Bartholomew for hosting the day’s events, which include a workshop from 3:30-4:30 p.m., where the director of the Texas Boys Choir will discuss the boys’ singing voices and rehearsal strategies for children’s choirs.
There is no admission charge and the concert is open to the public. The Musical Arts Series gratefully acknowledges the following sponsors: Southeastern, the National Endowment for the Arts, Mid-America Arts Alliance, Oklahoma Arts Council, the Red River Arts Council, the Donna Massey Music Education Support Fund, Cherokee Telephone, and other individual donors and supporters.
The Red River Arts Council appreciates the First United Bank and acknowledges its generous support as a major sponsor.