April 10, 2007



Soaring Arias Delight Wallace State Audience



HANCEVILLE, Ala.-Soprano Juli Wood delighted the audience with a
selection of nine arias that filled the Music Department Recital Hall at
Wallace State Community College in Hanceville Monday night. The Texas
State University Faculty Artist Series presentation of "A Night of Song"
was the first in a weeklong series of Cultural Arts Week events at
Wallace State this week.



Wood, a voice faculty member at Texas State University, was accompanied
by Dr. Joey Martin, TSU Director of Choral Studies in a 50-minute
performance that provided an introduction to the operatic spectrum from
the classic arias of George Frideric Handel's "Semele," and three
selections by Richard Strauss, to more modern pieces by Dmitri
Shostakovich and John Kander. The final selection of the evening was a
duet with Wallace State voice instructor Tiffany Richter titled "Duetto
buffo di due Gatti," a lighthearted piece about cats, which drew a
standing ovation.

L-R: TSU's Judi Wood performs "Duetto buffo di due Gatti" with
Wallace State voice instructor Tiffany Richter.

"It was an absolutely superb performance," said Mike Sparks, Wallace
State music instructor and director of the concert choir. "The
extraordinary range, color and sensitivity conveyed in Judi Wood's
performance was accompanied by a deep sense of text that conveyed such
meaning."



On Tuesday, Wood and fellow TSU voice faculty member Cheryl Parrish will
conduct a Master Class for the college's vocal students at 10 a.m. At 1
p.m. the public is invited to attend an open rehearsal of the college's
concert choir with Martin. Admission is free to both events, which will
be held in the recital hall.



On Wednesday, the Wallace State drama department will present the
classic whodunit "Clue" in the Student Center Theatre at 9:30 a.m.
Admission is $5. The cast will give two other performances Friday and
Saturday night at 7 p.m. in the Student Center Theater.



On Thursday, April 12, the English department will present renowned
storyteller Kathryn Tucker Windham at 9:30 a.m. in the Student Center
Theatre. Admission is free.



On Friday, April 13, the music department will present "Swing into
Spring," an evening of dancing and dining to the big band sound of the
Wallace State Jazz Show Band at 7 p.m. in the banquet hall. A $15
donation is requested.



On Saturday, April 14, the art department will present a juried visual
art exhibition in the James C. Bailey Center foyer from 9 a.m. to noon.
Admission is free. The art exhibition will be open for public viewing
April 10-14.



To close out the week, the Wallace State concert choir will perform its
spring tour bon voyage concert at 3 p.m. on Sunday in the music
department's recital hall for a $5 donation. The group will perform
Franz Josef Haydn's "Missa Sancti Johannes de Deo: Psalms, Hymns and
Spiritual Songs."

Soprano Judi Wood performs a selection of arias during "A Night
of Song," the first in a series of Cultural Arts Week events at Wallace
State. Wood, a Texas State University faculty member is accompanies by
Dr. Joey Martin, TSU Director of Choral Studies.

For more information about any of the events scheduled for Cultural Arts
Week, call (256) 352-8128 or visit www.wallacestate.edu/events/caw.

  Kristen Holmes
  Director, Communications and Marketing
  Wallace State Community College
  P.O. Box 2000
  Hanceville, AL 35077
  256/352-8118
  E-mail: Kristen.Holmes@WallaceState.edu