Henderson State University’s Department of Music will present its annual President’s Concert at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 3 in the Russell Fine Arts Harwood Recital Hall. The program features student soloists selected as winners of a competition in November.
“The opportunity for some of our best students to perform solo works accompanied by an orchestra, including members of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, is one of the highlights of our entire year,” said Dr. Steve Becraft, coordinator of the competition.
The concert will also honor Wendell O. Evanson, professor of music emeritus at Henderson. Evanson was chair of the music department and director of bands for 30 years until his retirement in 1987.
Soloists include:
- Frednesha Whiting, a mezzosoprano from North Little Rock, who will perform “Non so piu cosa son” from Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro.
- Zaquary Hale, a flutist from Bryant, will perform Faure’s Fantasie for Flute.
- Ryan Whitley, a baritone from De Queen, will perform “Ein Madchen oder Weibchen: from Mozart’s The Magic Flute.
- Wesley Lamendola, a baritone from Searcy, will perform “bella siccome un angelo” from Donizetti’s Don Pasquale.
- Raven Morris, a euphoniumist from Texarkana, Texas, will perform the first movement from John Stevens’ Euphomium Concerto.
Competition judges also awarded honorable mentions to Kendall Gibson, a soprano from Cabot, and clarinetist John Platt of Princeton, Texas.
Evanson founded the Little Rock Wind Symphony shortly after his retirement and was the group’s conductor and musical director for many years. During this time, he was in great demand as a guest conductor, adjudicator and clinician at regional band clinics.
In 1991, he was awarded the “H” Award for meritorious service to Henderson State, and in 1998 the university’s Board of Trustees voted to name the band rehearsal hall in his honor.
Evanson, who is a member of the Arkansas Bandmasters Association Hall of Fame, holds a bachelor’s degree in music from Hendrix College and a master of music degree from the University of Michigan.
Tickets are $20 and can be purchased online at hsu.edu/rsvp. Proceeds will benefit the Maralyn Sommer President’s Concert Endowment.
For more information, contact Becraft at 230-5412 or becrafs@hsu.edu.