Ouachita Stories

Ouachita Baptist University’s Instrumental Music Department will present “PRISM,” a concert featuring Ouachita’s instrumental ensembles, on April 20 at 7:30 p.m. in the Jones Performing Arts Center.

According to Dr. Craig Hamilton, OBU’s Lena Goodwin Trimble Professor of Music and director of bands, the name “PRISM” was chosen to represent “different aspects of the instrumental program on one program.” It also describes the “mixture of different types of instrumental music and ensembles” presented in the performance, Hamilton said.

The concert is “a break from our traditional end-of-the-year band concert and features more of our instrumental ensembles,” Hamilton said. “I am very proud of the work our instrumental students do throughout the year.”

The concert will feature Ouachita’s Wind Ensemble, Saxophone Quartet, Percussion Ensemble, Saxophone Orchestra, Trombone Choir, Flute Choir and Woodwind Quintet. There will also be featured soloists from various sections as well as a finale of Keith Brion and Loras Schissel’s arrangement of John Philip Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever” by the OBU combined band.

The OBU Wind Ensemble will begin the concert with the overture to Candide by Leonard Bernstein and transcribed by Clare Grundman. They will also perform Percy Aldridge Grainger’s “Irish Tune from the County Derry” and Andrew Boysen, Jr.’s “Kirkpatrick Fanfare” later in the program.

The OBU Saxophone Quartet will present “Oblivion and Libertango” by Astor Piazzola as well as “Introduction et Scherzo” by Robert Clerisse. The OBU Saxophone Orchestra will perform “Piazza Doble” by Charles Fernandez.

The OBU Percussion Ensemble will present Robert Damm’s “Hoo-Daiko.” Paul Hill, a sophomore instrumental music education major from San Marcos, Texas, will perform a marimba solo, “Etude in C Major, Opus 6, No. 10” by Clair Omar Musser.

The OBU Flute Choir will perform Frederic Chopin’s “Variations on a theme by Rossini,” featuring Elyse Senteney, a sophomore instrumental music education major from Plano, Texas. On flute, Aubrey Elliott and Kristin Penn will join pianist Carrie Brown for Ian Clarke’s “Maya for Two Flutes and Piano.” Elliott is a junior instrumental music education major from Bentonville, Ark.; Penn is a senior music and psychology double major from Sheridan, Ark; and Brown is a senior piano performance major from Knoxville, Ark.

Nathan Courtright, a junior music major from Rowlett, Texas, will present the guitar solo “Romance.”

The OBU Trombone Choir will contribute their performance of Bill Reichenbach’s arrangement of “Scarborough Fair,” and the OBU Woodwind Quintet will present August Klughardt’s “Wind Quintet, Opus 79, allegro non troppo.”

The concert is free and open to the public. For more information, contact the OBU School of Fine Arts at (870) 245-5129.

By Becca Watts