Composer, soprano in wind ensemble concert

Dr. Robert Fruehwald's new composition "A Farmington Divertimento" will be performed Thursday in a concert by the Southeast Symphonic Wind Ensemble.

Fruehwald is a professor of music at Southeast Missouri State University.

Also featured in the concert will be soprano Lori Shaffer, an adjunct voice professor at Southeast. She will perform American composer Bernard Gilmore's "Five Folk Songs for Soprano and Band."

His composition was inspired by the folk recordings of Theodore Bikel and groups such as the Limelighters. It includes the following songs, each to be sung in their original language: "Mrs. McGrath" (Irish), "All the Pretty Little Horses" (American), "Yerakina" (Greek), "El Burro (Spanish) and"A Fidler" (Yiddish).

Fruehwald's lighthearted composition was inspired by the melodies of 19th century composer Anthony Philip Heinrich, who was known for his own lighthearted approaches. Heinrich composed such works as "Barbecue Divertimento," "Yankee Doodleiad" and "There is No Da Capo in Death."

Dr. Robert Gifford is the director of the wind ensemble. He also has programmed Percy Grainger's "Colonial Song," John Philip Sousa's march "The Fairest of the Fair" and "Walking Angels," a musically emotive work by American composer David Gillingham. The last is based on the hymn "Softly and Tenderly, Jesus is Calling."

Gillingham's aim is to give the listener a better understanding of the pain and suffering wrought by AIDS.

The ensemble has presented 10 world premieres and more than a dozen American premieres of works for contemporary wind band.

The concert will begin at 8 p.m. at Academic Auditorium. Tickets are $6 general, $5 for senior citizens, university faculty and university students, and $4 for other students.

Shuttle buses will run from the lots at the Harrison College of Business.

Opera series on Maria Callas

Opera star Maria Callas will be the focus of a special four-part series to begin Sunday on KRCU 90.9 FM's "Sunday Night at the Opera."

Titled "Callas in Her Own Words," the series will present Callas discussing her art, her life and fellow singers. It will include excerpts from concerts.

Many consider Callas the greatest opera singer who ever lived. She died in 1977 at age 53.

The series will air at 7 p.m. on successive Sundays.

"Sunday Night at the Opera" is hosted by Barbara Herbert.

International films to be shown

A free International Film Festival will be held next week at Southeast Missouri State University. All films are in Japanese with English subtitles.

"Village of Dreams" will be shown at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the University Center. It is the story of identical twin brothers who recall their childhood in a Japanese village.

"Mabarosi," a movie about a woman who tries to move forward after the suicide of her husband, will be shown at 7 p.m. Thursday in the University Center Program Lounge.

The last film in the festival, "Fireworks," will be shown at 7 p.m. Friday, March 28, in the University Program Lounge. It won the Golden Lion Prize at the Venice Film Festival and has been described as a "masterpiece in violence."

-- From staff reports