RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. (April 30, 2008)--The annual end-of-year concert for the Arkansas Tech University Symphonic Band and Concert Band will have a special flair this year as the Tech Music Department celebrates the 40-year career of retiring faculty member Andy Anders.
Tech Music Department faculty, alumni and students, along with several of Anders’ colleagues from around the state, will be on hand to recognize the retiring department head beginning at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 4, in Witherspoon Auditorium.
Admission is free and open to the public. There will be a reception in the Chambers Cafeteria East Dining Hall following the concert.
Anders is a 1967 graduate of Arkansas Tech. He joined the Tech faculty as a low brass instructor in 1968. In 1998, Anders added the role of head of the music department.
For Sunday’s concert, Dr. Gary Barrow and Dr. Timothy Howe of the music faculty joined with Hal Cooper, director of bands, on a collaborative effort to produce a “Pops Concert” with performances of band music and smaller alumni performing groups, all of which will have what Cooper described as “an Anders link.”
Alumni guest conductors, performers and speakers will include Steve Kesner of Fort Smith Southside High School, Dewayne Dove of Russellville High School, Richard Niven of Dardanelle, Julia Reynolds of the School Band and Orchestra Association, Bill Spainhour of North Little Rock High School, Claude Smith of Searcy High School, Gordon Manly of Fort Smith Northside High School and Clay Hooten of Dardanelle High School.
Brass professors from other colleges in guest speaking and performing roles will include Robert Bright and Dr. Gerald Sloan of the University of Arkansas, Denis Winter from the University of Central Arkansas and Ed Owen from Arkansas State University, all of whom have had a long association with Anders.
The grand finale of the concert will be Anders guest conducting the Symphonic Band and approximately 40 other low brass players on the melody march “Them Basses.”
For more information, call (479) 968-0287 or send e-mail to hcooper@atu.edu.
