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Music lovers are invited to a series of splendid fall concerts celebrating Mississippi College’s 190th anniversary.
It’s never too early to order tickets for these special events at America’s second oldest Baptist college.
Members of the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra get things started on the Clinton campus with an October 28th program featuring the music and composers of 1826. That’s the year of MC’s birth as Hampstead Academy. The school was located on a handful of acres in rural Central Mississippi. Today, nearly 5,200 MC students are enrolled.
The memorable concert at the Jean Pittman Williams Recital Hall is part of the annual Sclater Chamber Music Series that Friday evening at 7:30 p.m. The four-concert series is named in tribute to the award-winning Clinton composer and retired MC music professor James Sclater.
Some of metro Jackson’s finest musicians will perform Beethoven’s favorite String Quartet No 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 131 at the Sclater concert in late October.
There’s something extra for members of the audience. They will also receive lessons from Mississippi College instructor Edward Dacus about how music of this period would be heard, including songs such as “Oh, Shenandoah” and “Old Oaken Bucket.” Mendelssohn’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream” is another on the agenda that night.
Ticket prices for adults are $20 for the single concert. Tickets cost $60 for the entire Sclater series for 2016-17.
Mississippi College’s 190-year birthday bash will again be highlighted at Mississippi Singers concerts at Provine Chapel on December 1-3.
The MC Singers’ 31st annual Christmas production will be taped by Mississippi Public Broadcasting stations for the first time. The show will be aired to viewers statewide about two weeks after the performance. The December 2 concert inside the MC landmark will be the only program filmed by PBS camera crews.
The wonderful programs at the historic chapel (it opened amid the Civil War in 1860) are usually packed each night. Patrons are advised to arrive early for Festival of Lights productions beginning at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets to Festival of Lights concerts are $15 for adults, $10 for faculty, staff & senior citizens and $5 for students from any school.
There’s plenty more in store for arts patrons this fall at the Christian university.
Other key upcoming programs include the Symphonic Winds Tour featuring Sclater’s “The Christmas Gift.” Performances will be November 17-20 at the Aven Fine Arts Building. Concerts begin at 7:30 p.m.
The first concert in MC’s Sclater Chamber Music Series this fall will be Friday September 16 at Aven Fine Arts. Performers are The Deciduous Trio. The show begins at 7:30 p.m.
The group consists of Amulet Strange on flute, Stephanie Mientka on viola and Hope Cowan on harp. The trio formed in 2013 when the three women were graduate students at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University in Texas. Recently, the performers were booked as an ensemble-in-residence at the inaugural season of Connecticut Summerfest.
For more information on the MC Music Department concerts this year, call Dottie Serio at 601-925-3440 or go to mc.edu/marketplace for details on tickets.
Photo: Celebrating Mississippi College’s 190th Birthday This Fall
