Southeastern NEWS
Southeastern Louisiana University
Public Information Office
publicinfo@selu.edu
SLU 10880, Hammond, LA 70402
504/549-2341/fax 504-549-2061
Date: 10/14/99
Contact: Christina Chapple 52M
FANFARE'S WEEK FOUR FEATURES POPS PICNIC, KUMBUKA, DANCEWORKS
HAMMOND -- Fanfare, Southeastern Louisiana University's fall festival of the arts,
humanities and sciences, enters its fourth full week with a cultural line-up that includes a popular
pops "picnic," a dynamic ethnic dance and drum company, a lively French quartet, and a cool
clarinetist.
The week also boasts an extra helping of Southeastern talent as the university's own jazz
pianist stars with the Louisiana Philharmonic Symphony; its dance company, Danceworks,
presents an original ballet telling the romantic legend of the water nymph, and student writers
stage an evening of Halloween horror and hilarity.
Fanfare at night...
The week kicks off on Sunday, Oct. 24, with Fanfare's ever-popular Picnic 'n Pops, co-
sponsored by the Hammond Rotary Club. This year, the Fanfare favorite will offer "Classic
Pops" to tables of picnickers seated on the floor of the Southeastern University Center arena and
to the audience in the arena's seats. The popular evening of food, socializing and music, will
feature the Louisiana Philharmonic Symphony with Southeastern's own Willis Delony, renowned
jazz and classical pianist and head of the university's jazz program, at the keyboard.
Delony will join the symphony's program of popular tunes -- from Dixieland and
Broadway to Sousa and the Beatles -- in two Gershwin masterpieces, "Rhapsody in Blue" and "I
Got Rhythm."
Doors will open for picnickers who have obtained table seating from Hammond Rotary
Club members at 5 p.m. General admission arena tickets for the 7:30 p.m. performance are $5,
$3 for students age 13 and older. Children under 13 will be admitted free, if accompanied by an
adult.
The African drum and dance ensemble, Kumbuka -- the Swahili word means "to
remember" -- will present a stimulating and dynamic program of African movements, chants,
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FANFARE WEEK FOUR -- Add One
rhythms and traditional folklore at 7:30 p.m., Monday, Oct. 25, in Pottle Music Building
Auditorium. Founded in New Orleans 1980, Kumbuka is made up of performers who represent a
variety of professions -- a lawyer, a nurse, a cultural educator, an audio video technician, a
carpenter, a librarian. The members, however, have all have learned their authentic dances and
music from African artists and through visits to Africa. The colorful costuming is also authentic,
often made with fabric purchased in Africa. Kumbuka's goal is to preserve the rich African
heritage of music, dance and attire in America.
Tickets for the performance are $5 for adults and $3 for all students.
Fanfare continues its 1999 bow to FrancoFete, the statewide celebration of the 300th
anniversary of the arrival of the French in Louisiana, with the Francis Poulenc Quartet, scheduled
for 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 26, in Pottle Music Building Auditorium. A partnership between
musicians from the chamber orchestra "La Follia" and the teachers from the "Ecole Nationale de
Musique in Mulhouse, the lively quartet has presented more than 100 concerts in six years and
revel in sharing their joy in playing and listening to music.
Tickets for the Poulenc Quartet are $8 adults, $6 for senior citizens, Southeastern faculty,
staff and alumni. All students are admitted free.
The Southeastern Creative Writers Group, an informal group of Southeastern students
who like doing creative things with words and recently published its first anthology, "Outside the
Lines," will bring its collective talent to the first event in a Wednesday evening Fanfare series
called "Fanfare Cafe." At 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 27, in the Oak Grove Room in East Side
Cafeteria (Twelve Oaks), the students will stage a Halloween-inspired fun evening of ghost
stories, music and art culminating in a stage performance of their own dark comedy radio show,
"Forbidden Theatre." The event is free.
Danceworks, Southeastern's resident dance company, will contribute an original modern
ballet, "The Water Maiden," to the Fanfare schedule on Thursday and Friday, Oct. 28-29.
Choreographed by students Jennifer Buck, Alison Maraman, Carolyn Fulton and Lesley
Kernan with artistic direction by Southeastern dance professor Martie Fellom, "The Water
Maiden" tells in modern dance movement the legend of the water nymph. Legend says nymphs
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FANFARE WEEK FOUR -- Add Two
are not immortal beings and, after three centuries, must acquire souls or die and become the foam
on the water.
In Danceworks' "The Water Maiden," a nymph, Nala, in her 300th year ventures from the
water and encounters a handsome man with whom she falls in love. Tragically, it is her love's
soul that is destined to become hers, but the Water Maiden chooses to save his life instead.
Performances are scheduled at 7:30 p.m. in Vonnie Borden Theatre and reserved seat
tickets are $5 for adults, $3 for senior citizens, Southeastern faculty, staff and alumni and non-
SLU students. Southeastern students are admitted free with their university I.D.
Gregory Smith, clarinetist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and a Grammy
nominee, will present a Fanfare recital at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 28, Gregory Smith, Clarinet,
Pottle Music Building Auditorium. Smith is a founding member of the Chamber Soloists of
Chicago and is heard live on nationwide broadcasts from WFMT-FM in Chicago. Reserved seat
tickets for his performance are $8 for adults, $6 for senior citizens, Southeastern faculty, staff
and
alumni. All students are admitted free.
In addition to his performance, Smith also will offer a master class at 10 a.m., Friday,
Oct. 29, in Pottle Music Building Auditorium.
Fanfare by day ...
The Fanfare film series, continues at 3:30 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 26, in the Music Recital
Hall with "Mississippi Blues," which takes audiences on a musical journey to Oxford, Miss.,
where the legends of the Old South still live in the hearts of the people. Directed by award-
winning film maker Bertrand Tavenier, the brilliant and entertaining films presents look at one of
our more enduring music forms, the Blues.
At 2 p.m. recital on Thursday, Oct. 28, in Pottle Music Building Auditorium will feature
pianist Alan Gampel. Descendent of the legendary harpsichordist Wanda Landowska's family,
Gampel made his professional debut performing Beethoven at the age of seven at the Hollywood
Bowl. He received the Presidential Scholars Award at 16 from President Ronald Reagan and
graduated with honors from Stanford University at 19. In 1995, he won the coveted Chopin Prize
at the Artur Rubinstein International Piano Concerto in Israel. Gampel's recent performance
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FANFARE WEEK FOUR -- Add Three
venues have included the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and Lincoln Center in New York
City.
For information on Fanfare events, call the Southeastern Public Information Office for a
free brochure and ticket order form or visit the Fanfare web site at www.selu.edu/fanfare. Fanfare
tickets are available at the Fanfare Box Office, located at Gate 1 of the SLU University Center on
University Ave., 504-549-2323. Hours are 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m., weekdays.
- SLU -
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