State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota (SCF) will host a Fall Festival of Music at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 4 at SCF’s Neel Performing Arts Center, 5840 26th St. W. The college music department’s fall debut concert will feature SCF’s Guitar Ensemble, Concert and Chamber Choirs, Big Band, Jazz Combo and Symphonic Band as a “Welcome to Our House.”
Get ready for a warm feeling as SCF’s Chamber Choir performs “The Star Spangled Banner” and Leonard Bernstein’s “Take Care of This House.” The Concert Choir will sing a traditional greeting song of the Kwangali and Sotho people of Africa with “Morokeni,” arranged by Bernard Kruger. You’ll also want to hear them sing out “Ain’t-A That Good News,” arranged by William Dawson.
The combined Concert and Chamber Choirs will perform Marta Keen’s “Homeward Bound.”
The Guitar Ensemble will play a medley mix, including “Take Five,” “Linus and Lucy,” and “Mission Impossible.” They will also take a turn toward the opera with “Neighbors Chorus” from the French comic opera “La Jolie Parfumeuse.”
SCF’s Jazz program will bring in the house party music with the SCF Jazz Passport Ensemble performing “St. James Infirmary” by Joe Primrose and “Big Bertha” by Duke Pearson. The SCF Jazz Messengers will play “Tenor Madness” by Sonny Rollins and “Listen Here” by Eddie Harris. The SCF Big Band will bring audiences “A Night in Tunisia” by Dizzy Gillespie.
The SCF Symphonic Band will perform an “American Salute,” a theme and variation on “When Johnny Comes Marching Home,” by composer Morton Gould. Guest artist George Nickson, principal percussionist with the Sarasota Orchestra, will be featured in a timpani solo for “Raise the Roof,” a piece written for the kettle drum and symphonic band.
General admission is $10; student and staff tickets are $5. For more information, contact SCF’s Neel box office at 941-752-5252 or visit SCF.edu/Neel.