Arts & Culture
Guest saxophonist classes up the night
The Pointer
bhaig870@uwsp.edu
Famed concert saxophonist Eugene Rousseau will be performing and teaching at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point campus Feb. 1-2 as part of the Willett Lecture series.
Rousseau will be presenting a lecture and concert on Sunday, Feb. 1, beginning at 7 p.m. in Michelsen Hall in the Noel Fine Arts Center. The event will be free to both students and the community alike.
The concert will include “Sonata” by Robert Mucynski, “Rapsodie” by Claude Debussy, several pieces by Jindrich Feld, “Sonata in G Major” by Giovanni Platti, “Sonata” by UW-SP music professor Charles Rochester Young and “Sonata, Opus 166” by Camille Saint-Saens.
The first half of the concert, Rousseau will perform on alto saxophone, and for the second he will switch to soprano saxophone.
“He’s one of the prominent figures in the development of classical saxophone,” said David Hastings, professor of saxophone and music theory at UW-SP.
Hastings refers to Rousseau as one of the most accomplished classical saxophonists ever, along with Donald Sinta and Fred Hemke, Hastings’ mentor.
All three musicians are above the age of 70 and are still very active in the saxophone world.
When asked if he would continue teaching until he was 70, Hastings replied that, “I’m definitely inspired to do so, so I don’t know why I would stop.”
Rousseau will also speak with UW-SP saxophone students involved in classic quartet and solo acts, as well in a master’s class in Michelsen Hall from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Monday, Feb. 2.
The Willett Lectureship Endowment is handled through the Office of Academic Affairs and rotates each year between UW-SP’s four colleges.
The program brings distinguished scholars, speakers and persons of renown in various fields of endeavor such as this to the campus each year.
