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SFA Trombone Choir to perform music of Holst, Culver, Wagner


NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The Stephen F. Austin State University College of Fine Arts and School of Music will present the SFA Trombone Choir performing a program titled "Planets" at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 2, in Cole Concert Hall on the SFA campus.

Dr. Deb Scott, professor of trombone at SFA and the choir's director, selected the theme because the choir will perform the movement "Mars: The Bringer of War" from The Planets by Gustav Holst, arranged by Randall Malmstrom.

"This arrangement of 'Mars' is bombastic and exciting, particularly with our talented bass trombonists; it is very well-scored for the trombone choir," Scott said.

The Planets, Op. 32, is a seven-movement orchestral suite by the English composer Holst, written between 1914 and 1916. Each movement of the suite is named after a planet of the Solar System and its corresponding astrological character as defined by Holst, according to information at wikipedia.org.

The choir will also perform Quartet for Trombones by Chris Culver, former chairman of the music department at Long Island University. Culver was a friend of Scott's from graduate school where she was in the initial ensemble that played the piece for the composer. Culver died from cancer in 2007.

"The piece is now well-known and played often by trombonists," Scott said.

"Every Time I Feel the Spirit," a traditional hymn arranged for trombone choir by Irving L. Wagner, professor of trombone at the University of Oklahoma, will also be performed.

The concert is a feature of the Cole Performing Arts Series.

Cole Concert Hall is located in the Tom and Peggy Wright Music Building, 2210 Alumni Drive. 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.