News release
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Contact: Christina Chapple
Date: 10/19/05
 
Eugene RousseauClick on image for publication quality photo 
RENOWNED CLASSICAL SAXOPHONIST TO PERFORM WITH SOUTHEASTERN WIND SYMPHONY
        HAMMOND – The Southeastern Louisiana University Wind Symphony will welcome an internationally renowned classical saxophonist as guest artist for “Rousseau!,” the symphony’s Fanfare 2005 concert.
        Conducted by Glen J. Hemberger, the symphony will perform Thursday, Oct. 27, at 7:30 p.m. at Southeastern’s Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts in downtown Hammond. 
        “The Wind Symphony is pleased to welcome Eugene Rousseau as guest artist,” said Hemberger. “Long considered one of the finest performers of his generation, he will join us in presenting the ‘Concertino for Saxophone’ by Jerry Bilik, Frank Bencriscutto’s ‘Serenade,’ and the beautiful and lyrical ‘Persuasion’ by Sammy Nestico.” 
        Hemberger said the Wind Symphony will also perform “Variations on ‘America’” by Charles Ives, Frank Ticheli’s stunning setting of Franz Schubert’s “Ave Maria,” and the popular “Finlandia” by Jean Sibelius.  
        The program, sponsored by the Department of Music and Dramatic Arts, will also feature the debut of the Southeastern Ragtime Ensemble, performing “The Sunflower Slow Drag” by Scott Joplin.
        Since his Carnegie Hall debut in 1965, Rousseau has performed across America and on five continents. He was among the first performers to give solo saxophone recitals in Paris, Berlin, Vienna, London, and Amsterdam.  
        A Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Indiana University, Rousseau joined the faculty at the University of Minnesota in 2000. Through the years he has served as guest professor and led saxophone master classes at renowned music schools such as Hochschule für Musik in Vienna and the Paris Conservatory, as well as a yearly course at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. In 1993, he was awarded the rank of Honorary Professor at the Prague Conservatory.  
        The catalogue of Eugene Rousseau recordings includes more than a dozen discs.  In addition to several compact discs with piano, he has recorded with the Budapest Strings, the Winds of Indiana, and the Haydn Trio of Vienna. In 1972, Yamaha Corporation appointed him chief consultant for saxophone research and development.  
        Rousseau also has studied and researched the artistic and acoustic characteristics of saxophone mouthpieces, developing and overseeing production of a line of classical and jazz saxophone mouthpieces that bear his name.  
        Admission for the concert is $5, adults, and $3, senior citizens and Southeastern faculty, and staff. Tickets are available from noon to 5 p.m., weekdays, at the Fanfare box office in the Columbia Theatre lobby, 220 E. Thomas St., 985-543-4371, and online at www.columbiatheatre.org. 
        Admission is free for students of all ages with I.D. Doors to the Columbia Theatre will open at 6:45 p.m. 
        For additional information about the concert and other Fanfare 2005 events, contact the Columbia Theatre at 985-543-4366 or visit www.columbiatheatre.org.