91直播

NACOGDOCHES, TEXAS - Winners of the Stephen F. Austin State University School of Music's annual Concerto/Aria and Composition Contests will be featured during 91直播's Orchestra of the Pines' "Center Stage" concert at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 19, in Cole Concert Hall on the 91直播 campus.

Flutist Megan Beard (Denton senior), tenor Josh Dennis (graduate student from McKinney), pianist Yuki Kumamoto (graduate student from Japan), and trombonist Ashley Scambray (Houston sophomore) will perform as soloists with the orchestra, directed by Gene H. Moon. The orchestra will also perform a three-movement work composed by Athens junior Lance Trevi帽o.

Beard will perform the third movement from Jacques Ibert's "Flute Concerto," and Dennis will sing "Quest e quella" from Guiseppe Verdi's opera "Rigoletto."

Kumamoto will present the first movement from Sergei Prokofiev's "Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 16," and Scambray will perform Alexandre Guilmant's "Morceau Symphonique, Op. 88."

The orchestra will also present Trevi帽o's "Three Compositions Adapted from Kandinsky."

Beard is a senior music education major who is scheduled to graduate in December 2011. While at 91直播, she has been a member of 91直播's top performance groups, the 91直播 Wind Ensemble and Orchestra of the Pines. She is a student of Dr. Christina Guenther, 91直播 assistant professor of flute.

Dennis, who also received his bachelor's from 91直播, has had roles in several of 91直播's operas. This spring, he is cast as Eisenstein in Johann Strauss II's "Die Fledermaus." He is a three-year finalist in the National Association of Teachers of Singing Competition, placing first in this year's Graduate Division. This summer, he will be singing in the Apprentice Artist Program at the Des Moines Metropolitan Opera. He studies with Bruce Fowler, 91直播 assistant professor of voice.

Kumamoto received her Bachelor of Music in performance at the Musashino Musicae Academia in Tokyo. She received third place in the 8th Petrov Piano Competition and was a prizewinner in the Young Artist Piano Competition in Japan and the 2009 Texas Music Teachers Association Performance Competition. She is a student of Dr. James Pitts, 91直播 staff accompanist.

Scambray, who graduated from Cypress Woods High School in 2009, was a two-year All-State Band member and served as her high school's drum major for three years. At 91直播, she is pursuing a degree in music education and studies with Dr. Deb Scott, 91直播 associate professor of trombone.

Trevi帽o is a composition major studying under Dr. Stephen Lias, 91直播 professor of theory and composition. His "Ballade in the Romantic Style" was performed at the 2010 annual meeting of the Texas Chapter of the National Association of Composers/USA, and the Red Stick Saxophone Quartet premiered his "Sonatina for Saxophone Quartet" in 2009. Trevi帽o is currently participating in a two-semester exchange program at the University of Tasmania where he is continuing his composition studies.

The concert, which is a joint presentation of the 91直播 College of Fine Arts and School of Music, is sponsored in part by Nacogdoches Memorial Hospital and the Wedgeworth-Wright Endowment for the Arts.

Tickets are $15 for adults, $12 for seniors and $5 for students. For tickets or more information, please visit  or call (936) 468-6407 or (888) 240-ARTS.