Axe ’Em, Jacks!
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – The Heterodyne Duo at Stephen F. Austin State University will open the all-new Calliope Concert Series for the SFA School of Music at the start of the fall semester.
The faculty duo, featuring Dr. Brad Meyer, director of percussion studies at SFA, and Dr. Nathan Nabb, professor of saxophone, will perform at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 28, in Cole Concert Hall in the Wright Music Building on the SFA campus.
The program will feature compositions by Nathan Daughtrey, Alex Mincek, Marc Mellits and Iannis Xenakis.
Daughtrey's "Burn" was commissioned for a performance at the 2016 North American Saxophone Alliance Biennial Conference at Texas Tech University where it received its premiere. The title "conjures images of overlapping, quick figures rising and falling, weaving into and out of one another, just as flames do," Daughtrey wrote about the piece.
Mellits explains his "Escape" as the definition of the word: to break free from confinement or control.
"The music to my 'Escape' does much the same thing," he wrote. "The alto saxophone and marimba in this work are often treated as two halves of the same musical machine. Their rhythmic and melodic patterns intertwine and play off of each other in order to create a musical entity that relies on each other and that, in effect, controls one another."
Xenakis is considered to be a pioneer in the area of computer music and algorithmic composition. He also developed an approach to digital synthesis based on random generation and variation of the waveform itself. In addition, he designed a computer system utilizing a graphic interface, according to a description written by composer, writer and digital music specialist James Harley, who authored a book on Xenakis. "Dmaathen" was originally scored for oboe and percussion; the oboe part has since been adapted, with the composer's endorsement, for flute and for soprano saxophone.
The Calliope Concert Series is made possible by the Wedgeworth-Wright Endowment for the Arts, the James E. and Beth Kingham Performance Fund and the Kennedy Recital Fund.
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.