Ouachita Stories

Ouachita Baptist University’s Division of Music will host saxophonist James Houlik in concert at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 25. The concert, which is free and open to the public, will be held in Mabee Fine Arts Center’s McBeth Recital Hall.

Houlik “is a world-class musician,” said Dr. Caroline Taylor, professor of music. “This will be an amazing opportunity for our students and community to hear a musician of this caliber.”

Called “the world’s great saxophone virtuoso” by The London Daily Mail, Houlik has performed in such venues as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Smithsonian Institution, London’s Barbican and President Bill Clinton’s White House. He has performed across North America, Europe and Africa with dozens of notable symphony orchestras such as the American Symphony Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra. Houlik has worked with numerous composers to foster the development of a repertoire for the tenor saxophone, work that has resulted in more than 80 new concert works for the instrument.

A native of Long Island, New York, Houlik has studied at the State University of New York at Fredonia, the University of Illinois and the Eastman School of Music. He has taught at East Carolina University and North Carolina School of the Arts and currently serves as professor of saxophone and chair of woodwinds at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh.

The Sept. 25 concert will include such works as: “Czardas” by Pedro Iturralde, “Sonate” by Cesar Franck, “And Everything Is Still” by Andy Scott, “Premier” by Jules Demersseman, “Barcarolle” by Sherwood Shaffer and “Fantasie” by Denis Bedard. Houlik will also perform “Hebraica” by various composers and arrangers including Joachim, Padova and Rippe and “Latin Roots” by such composers and arrangers as Meza, Piazzolla and Arnaud.

For more information, contact Dr. Caroline Taylor at [email protected] or (870) 245-5139.

By Brooke Zimny