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SOUTHEAST MUSICAL GROUPS TO PRESENT 'A TASTE OF AMERICANA'
The Southeast Missouri State University Symphonic Wind Ensemble, the University Concert Band and the Fredericktown High School Band will present a concert Dec. 7 featuring music by some of the country's most prominent composers, including Vincent Persichetti, Jack Stamp, Alfred Reed, Frank Ticheli and John Philip Sousa.
The concert will begin at 8 p.m. in Academic Auditorium on the Southeast campus.
In addition to seasonal selections, the concert will feature Vincent Persichetti's "Symphony No. 6," hailed by critics as "one of the best symphonies of the 20th Century." Frank Ticheli's brand new work, "Vesuvius," is a spirited and dramatic composition, possessing all of the qualities of one of nature's most unpredictable wonders. The concert will conclude with a march by America's most famous march composer, John Philip Sousa.
The guest appearance by one of the state's finest high school bands will add yet another dimension to the musical offerings on the Southeast campus. The Fredericktown High School Band under the leadership of John Howser has distinguished itself as one of the most advanced and capable high school bands in Missouri. The University Concert Band is comprised of students who have just completed another successful season as members of the Golden Eagles Marching Band, and this group will be conducted by Barry Bernhardt.
The numerous invitations that the Southeast Symphonic Wind Ensemble has received to perform at state and regional conferences are indicative of the respect that this group has received both for quality of performance and innovative programming. The group has presented seven world premieres and a dozen American premieres of works for the contemporary wind band and has performed for both the Missouri Music Educators and the College Band Directors National Association. The ensemble has just completed recording several CDs for Educational Programs Publications, which plans nationwide distribution of the CDs this year.
Parking will be available in lots 18 and TCD just across from the University Center. Handicapped parking will be available, with street-level elevator access.
General admission is $5. Tickets for senior citizens and students are $3. University faculty, staff and students will be admitted free with a valid I.D.
HANK O'NEAL PORTRAITS EXHIBIT OPENING IN UNIVERSITY MUSEUM
An exhibition featuring Hank O'Neal Portraits 1971-2000 will open in the University Museum a public reception in honor of the artist on Friday, Dec. 1, from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Museum in 122 Memorial Hall.
O'Neal will give a Gallery talk at 5 p.m.
Hank O'Neal has made his mark primarily in two fields, music and photography. Since 1968, he has produced hundreds of recording sessions, concerts, festivals and music-oriented ocean cruises featuring seasoned musicians from the swing-to-bop eras. In photography, O'Neal earned his reputation as a researcher, historian and biographer. He is best known for his study of the Farm Security Administration (FSA) photographers and a critical biography of Berenice Abbott.
This exhibition represents a cross section of O'Neal's formal portraiture and includes many individuals who have proven central to the culture of the United States in the second half of the 20th century. Among them are actors Clint Eastwood, Meryl Streep and Donald Sutherland; jazz musicians Cab Calloway, Dizzy Gillespie, Gerry Mulligan and Clark Terry; and writers Saul Bellow, William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg and Isaac Bashevis Singer.
SOUTHEAST CHAMBER PLAYERS TO PERFORM IN CONJUNCTION WITH CHILDREN'S ART FESTIVAL
A Dec. 3 performance of the Southeast Chamber Players will be the culminating event in a two-month long celebration of music and visual art that has taken place recently in the Cape Girardeau schools.
The Southeast Chamber Players provided recorded music for the teachers and children in grades three through six to use as inspiration for creating works of visual art. The artwork provided by the children will be displayed Nov. 20 to Dec. 11 in downtown merchants' windows.
The concert on Dec. 3 will feature the music, which the students used as their artistic inspiration, and audience members will have the opportunity to see selected childrens' artwork in a printed program booklet. The music to be performed will include three recently discovered marches composed by Felix Mendelssohn and excerpts from "The Marriage of Figaro" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
The ensemble, which was formed in 1990, is comprised of Southeast faculty and students as well as area music teachers and has distinguished itself not only with local performances and school workshops but also with a performance for the Missouri Music Educators Association in Tan-Tar-A.
Plan now to attend an exciting afternoon of wind chamber music presented in the beautiful surroundings of Old St. Vincent's Church and meet the young artists whose work was selected to be printed in the program booklet. Due to the generous sponsorship of the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri, the Missouri Arts Council, the Department of Music at Southeast Missouri State University, Dr. Shanon Kirchhoff and Goals 2000: Fine Arts, the concert is free to the public.
On Monday, Dec. 4, the Southeast Chamber Players will perform a concert in Academic Auditorium on the Southeast campus for all the third through sixth grade students in the Cape Girardeau Public Schools. This concert/clinic is sponsored by the Goals 2000: Fine Arts Grant and will include the display of students' works of art as the music is being performed.
CALVIN CHAPMAN SCHOLARSHIP FUND ESTABLISHED THROUGH SOUTHEAST MISSOURI STATE UNIVERSITY FOUNDATION
The Calvin Chapman Scholarship Fund has been established through the Southeast Missouri University Foundation.
Chapman's son, Chris L. Chapman of St. Charles, Mo., and daughter Karen Chapman of Cape Girardeau, Mo., made a gift of $215 to establish the scholarship.
The late Calvin Chapman, dedicated his life to education and community service. He received a bachelor's degree in education from Southeast Missouri State University, followed by a master's degree in education from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. For 31 years, he served in the Cape Girardeau Public Schools as a teacher, counselor and director of special services. In addition, he held positions on the boards of Southeast Missouri Hospital, the Cape Girardeau Public Library and Centenary Methodist Church. He also served the community as a member of numerous organizations including the Cape Girardeau Jaycees, the Boy Scouts of America, and the Girl Scouts of America. Chapman served as president of the Lions Club and PTA president and was an active Booster Club member.
Donations to the Calvin Chapman Scholarship Fund can be made to the Southeast Missouri University Foundation, One University Plaza, Cape Girardeau, Mo. 63701. For more information contact Susan Burton at (573) 651-2203.
EDUCATION, MUSIC CENTRAL TO CROW FAMILY
When Sheryl Crow takes center stage on Dec. 2 at the Show Me Center, students throughout Southeast Missouri will benefit.
Crow will be performing a concert to benefit education, a love near and dear to the heart of this Southeast Missouri celebrity. Proceeds from the concert will be divided equally to benefit endowed scholarships for students enrolled in the School of Visual and Performing Arts at Southeast Missouri State University and at the Kennett Area Higher Education Center.
As a former teacher, Crow knows the benefit of a good education. After receiving a degree in classical piano from the University of Missouri-Columbia, Crow went to work teaching music to K-6 and special education students at the Kellison Elementary School in Fenton, Mo., in the mid-1980s. There, she would work molding music students for some two years.
"It was a really delightful time for her," said Sheryl's mother Bernice Crow of Kennett, Mo. "She played and sang with the kids. She was a very traditional teacher."
Bernice Crow said Sheryl was delighted more than three years ago when, while performing in concert at The Fox in St. Louis, she heard a group of youths continually call out to her from the audience. By the end of the evening, she realized that several of her former Kellison students had come to see her perform. Now seniors in high school, the students were invited backstage to talk with their former music teacher after the performance.
On another occasion, Sheryl went back to Kellison School, while some of her former students were still studying there. Bernice Crow says it is interesting to watch Sheryl's immediate transformation back to her days as a school teacher when she meets young students.
"It is like she never left," her mother said.
The traditions of education and music began many years ago during Crow's growing up years in Kennett, Mo. Exposed to music all her life, Crow's parents, Bernice and Wendell, were amateur musicians who often played in big bands in the area. Her mother currently teaches private piano lessons and her father, a lawyer, plays trumpet.
Sheryl's sister Kathy Crow also was a teacher before turning her sights to music as well. Kathy Crow currently is employed by BMI in Nashville, Tenn., an agency that collects royalties for recording artists.
Sheryl's other sister, Karen Bowles, spent several years teaching in the classroom. Now she teaches private piano lessons and accompanies various music groups in Cape Girardeau.
"All of our family did performing," Bernice Crow said. "(Sheryl) always did a lot of performing. She enjoyed rock music." She started singing in rock groups at age 16 and, at the University of Missouri, played in a band called "Cashmere."
Following her stint in classroom teaching, Crow, in 1986, moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the music business. Her first big break was singing backup on Michael
Jackson's 1987-1988 "Bad Tour." She also was a backup singer for Don Henley, George Harrison, Joe Cocker, Stevie Wonder and Rod Stewart.
Her first album, "Tuesday Night Music Club," featured Crow's big hit, "All I Wanna Do." This became one of the major singles of 1994, reaching number two in the United States and number four in the United Kingdom.
A seven-time Grammy winner, Crow gained mass popularity as a solo artist almost a year after the release of her 1993 debut album, "Tuesday Night Music Club," which rose up the charts after Crow's appearance at Woodstock in 1994.
A 1996 follow-up album was equally as successful as the first. Crow spent much of 1997 and 1998 on the road, playing select dates on the Rolling Stones' Bridges to Babylon tour and performing with the 1998 Lilith Fair. She released her third album, "The Globe Sessions," in the fall of 1998. The album was awarded a Grammy for Best Rock Album.
Several of Sheryl's family members will be on hand Dec. 2 when she performs the benefit concert at the Show Me Center. Tickets currently are on sale for the concert scheduled for 7 p.m.
The concert is being sponsored by Southeast Missouri State. Media partners for the event are KFVS12, the Southeast Missourian and Zimmer Radio Group.
Concert tickets are $30 for lower level and floor seats and $25 for upper level seats. To order tickets or for ticket information, call the Show Me Center Box Office at (573) 651-5000 or go to http://www4.semo.edu/showmecenter.
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