NATCHITOCHES – The Natchitoches-Northwestern Symphony Orchestra will present a concert on Tuesday, Feb. 8 at 7:30 p.m. in Magale Recital Hall. Tickets are $15 and free for Northwestern State, BPCC@NSU and Louisiana School for Math, Science, and the Arts students with a current student I.D. University COVID protocols will be in effect. Those attending are asked to wear a mask. A livestream of the concert will be available at capa.nsula.edu/livestream. Douglas Bakenhus is music director of the Natchitoches-Northwestern Symphony Orchestra and Juan Pablo Paternina Paez is graduate assistant conductor.
The concert will be highlighted by NSU student Edgardo David Paz, the 2021 NSU Concerto winner and the performance of Florence Price’s “Ethiopia’s Shadow in America.” Paz will be featured on Gershwin’s “Concerto for Piano in F.” Price’s “Ethiopia’s Shadow in America” was discovered, along with several other works, in her summer home in 2009. She passed away in 1953 and probably never heard it. The work was premiered in her home state in 2015 by the University of Arkansas Symphony.
Originally from Honduras, Paz started piano lessons with Sergio Suazo at the age of nine at the Escuela Primaria de Aplicación Musical. In 2012, he graduated from the Escuela de Música Victoriano Lopez with musical performance diploma concentrating in piano. In 2017, he studied with Dr. Ellen Elder at the University of Southern Mississippi. Paz has gained experience by participating in various piano festivals and master classes. He has worked with Misa Ito from Japan, Carl Blake of Oakland, California, and Ezequiel Barrera from Mexico. In the spring of 2019, he started his bachelor’s degree at Northwestern State. Paz is a senior majoring in music business and music performance. He is a student of Dr. Francis Yang.
The program will also include Mozart’s “Symphony No. 38 in D Major,” Verdi’s “Overture to Nabucco” and “Conga del Fuego Nuevo for Orchestra” by Arturo Márquez.
