The Lamar University Wind Ensemble and Concert Band will bring the curtain up tonight (Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2009) on the Lamarissimo! concert series’ 20th Anniversary Season. The performance, sponsored by ExxonMobil, will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Julie Rogers Theatre, with Scott Deppe, director of bands, on the podium.
Barry Johnson, now vice president for student affairs, conducted the first Lamarissimo! concert on Oct. 2. 1990. as well as the bands concert marking its 10th anniversary in 1999. Lamarissimo! is the creation of Lamar President Jimmy Simmons, then chair of the Department of Music, and the late Brock Brentlinger, who was dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication. Lamarissimo! ushered in a new era for the music program, designed to better share Lamar’s wealth of student and faculty talent. The series reached out to the community in an off-campus setting – one that would enable students to perform in a world-class performing showplace while enriching the region’s cultural climate by providing affordable, top-quality entertainment.
Among highlights of the concert Tuesday, the Wind Ensemble will perform “Four Scottish Dances,” featuring dancers from the Department of Theatre and Dance. Other Wind Ensemble selections include “Easter Monday on the White House Lawn” and “Oliver’s Birthday,” the latter marking the Lamarissimo! debut of Brian Shook, visiting assistant professor of trumpet. Deppe will welcome Nelson Nolden, retired fine arts director of the Goose Creek school district in Baytown, as guest conductor for “America the Beautiful.” Michelle Melancon, a graduate assistant from Nederland, will be guest conductor for the Concert Band’s performance of “On the Edge of Tomorrow.”
Season tickets, $40 for adults and $20 for students, include admission to all five concerts in the series’ 20th season. The season tickets, as well as Lamarissimo! gift certificates, will be available Tuesday night at the theatre box office, beginning at 6:45 p.m. Individual tickets, $15 for adults and $10 for students, will be available in the box office. Admission is free to students of Lamar University in Beaumont with valid LU identification.
