As soon as you set foot on our campus you will know you’ve found the place you can call home.
Our students are engaged in a wide range of academic pursuits that include degree programs in 160 undergraduate and graduate fields delivered by 6 different colleges.
A-State offers unlimited possibilities for students to customize their experience while on campus.
Research engages intellectual curiosity, satisfies the thirst for discovery, and provides an outlet for creativity.
Marking its first hundred years, Arkansas State University continues to expand in exciting ways.
The Lecture-Concert Series serves Arkansas State University and the surrounding communities in bringing to the A-State campus notable guest speakers and performers of diverse backgrounds and wide appeal. Many of the Lecture-Concert Series events include additional activities on the A-State campus as well as community outreach projects that enhance the quality of life and culture within and beyond the bounds of our university. As in the past, all our events are free and open to the public.
| The Duo Tachoir | Friday, September 21, 2023, 7:30 PM |
Riceland Hall, Fowler Center
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| Brass Mammoth Recital | Tuesday, October 10, 2023, 7:30 PM |
Riceland Hall, Fowler Center
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| Colere Quartet Recital | Thursday, November 30, 2023, 7:30 PM |
Riceland Hall, Fowler Center
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Riceland Hall, Fowler Center
Formed in 2018, Lantana Trio consists of faculty members from the University of North Texas: Raquel Samayoa on trumpet, Stacie Mickens on horn, and Natalie Mannix on trombone. They have presented recitals at the 2022 International Trombone Festival, the 2022 and 2019 International Women’s Brass Conference (IWBC), the 2021 National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors Conference (NACWPI), the 2020 Big XII Trombone Conference, featured soloists with the UNT Wind Symphony and Lone Star Wind Orchestra, and recently performed and served as faculty at the 2023 PRIZM Music Camp & International Chamber Music Festival. Advocates for diversity in the arts, Lantana Trio’s new album, Crossing Barriers, features works by women and BIPOC composers, including five new commissions. Members of Lantana Trio were also the co-hosts of the International Women’s Brass Conference hosted at the University of North Texas in May of 2022.
Riceland Hall, Fowler Center
Brass Mammoth was founded in 2022 to pursue a high level of musicianship in a fun, flexible, and inventive way. The group seeks to perform and expand the standard euphonium-tuba quartet repertoire while branching out into world music, jazz, folk, and other styles. The members of Brass Mammoth bring a wealth of experience to the group as performers and educators. Collectively they have released 15 solo and chamber albums, won first place in dozens of solo competitions, appeared as soloists around the world, and have performed with leading ensembles including the Brass Band of Battle Creek, the River City Brass Band, and the symphony orchestras of Los Angeles, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Toledo, Grand Rapids, San Antonio, West Virginia, and Tulsa. Their diverse backgrounds include composing and arranging, jazz performing, conducting, studio work, and adjudicating. They each hold a doctorate in music performance and are active as university professors.
October 23-26
Riceland Hall, Fowler Center
Jake Runestad is an award-winning composer and conductor who believes in the power of music for positive change. Jake’s “highly imaginative” (Baltimore Sun) and “stirring and uplifting” (Miami Herald) musical works have been featured in thousands of performances worldwide and have earned a 2022 EMMY® Award for Musical Composition and a 2020 GRAMMY® Award nomination. Having collaborated with leading ensembles and organizations around the globe, Jake has a versatile and prolific career creating works for orchestra, wind band, chorus, chamber ensembles, and opera. His visceral music and charismatic personality have fostered a busy schedule of commissions, residencies, workshops, and speaking engagements, establishing him as “one of the best of the younger American composers” (Chicago Tribune).
Steeped in a belief that music has the power to initiate positive change, Jake creates musical works that are socially conscious and explore authentic human emotions and experiences. The Minneapolis Star Tribune noted that Jake has “…a particular knack for marrying powerful music to texts that speak to some of the most pressing and moving issues of our time.” Recent projects explore themes such as suicide awareness and prevention, immigration, gender equality, disabilities, loss, and the climate crisis — all presented through a widely-researched, inclusive, artistic, and imaginative lens. In a desire to make an impact beyond the music itself, Jake uses a portion of the proceeds from his music sales to donate to non-profit organizations connected with the themes of his works including: the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, the NAACP Empowerment Programs, the Clean Air Task Force, and Ka Joog (a Minnesota-based nonprofit that enriches the lives of Somali-American youth through education, mentoring, employment, and the arts).
Conductors, performers, and audiences continue to praise his music for its originality and expressivity, and its ability to connect with the head and the heart. As a result, Jake was one of the youngest composers ever awarded the coveted Raymond W. Brock Commission from the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) in 2018 — the foremost commission available to composers of choral music in the USA. For this honor, Jake wrote the ground-breaking, dramatic choral work A Silence Haunts Me which conducting legend Dale Warland hailed “a masterpiece.” Considered a “choral rockstar” by American Public Media, Runestad has also received a 2020 Outstanding Graduate Award from Johns Hopkins University, a 2017 McKnight Fellowship, a 2016 Morton Gould Young Composer Award from the ASCAP Foundation, as well as awards from the American Composers Forum, ASCAP, the Peabody Conservatory, New Music USA, VocalEssence, the Virginia Arts Festival, the National Association for Music Education.
The first full album dedicated to Jake’s choral music, “The Hope of Loving,”was released in 2019 by Craig Hella Johnson and Conspirare and subsequently received a GRAMMY® Award nomination. Jake’s monumental choral symphony Earth Symphony garnered a 2022 EMMY® Award for Musical Composition and is being performed by choirs and orchestras around the globe. In his relatively short career, Jake has already worked with leading ensembles such as VOCES8, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the Swedish Radio Symphony, the National Chorus of Korea, Seraphic Fire, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, the Phoenix Chorale, the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Pro Coro Canada, the Taipei Philharmonic Choir, the Netherlands Radio Choir, the Philippine Madrigal Singers, and many more. Jake’s music is often featured at national and regional conferences of the American Choral Director’s Association (ACDA), Chorus America, Podium (Canada), and the Association of British Choral Directors. Reaching audiences around the world, his compositions have been heard in thousands of performances from Taiwan to Finland to Argentina to Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, Los Angeles’ Disney Hall, the Sydney Opera House, and New York City’s Carnegie Hall.
In-demand as a guest conductor, Jake Runestad has collaborated with student, community, and professional ensembles around the world. His dynamic presence on the podium, focus on building community, and attention to expressivity and meaning engage performers and audiences in compelling musical experiences. Recent and upcoming engagements include New York City’s famed Carnegie Hall, Los Angeles’ Disney Hall, St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, the Sydney Opera House, as well as residencies with ensembles and institutions across six continents.
A rising star in the national opera scene, Jake was commissioned by Washington National Opera for his third opera, Daughters of the Bloody Duke— a collaboration with award-winning librettist David Johnston. Daughters of the Bloody Duke had its premiere performance at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and was met with rave reviews from critics including Anne Midgette of the Washington Post. One of the few comedy operas written in recent years, this new work was “as much fun for the singers as it was for the audience” (Washington Post).
Jake Runestad holds a Master’s degree in composition from the Peabody Conservatory of the Johns Hopkins University where he studied with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Kevin Puts, in addition to formative mentoring from acclaimed composer Libby Larsen. Originally from Rockford, IL, Jake is currently based in Minneapolis, MN. For more information and to purchase scores, please visit JakeRunestad.com
Thursday, November 30 7:30 pm
Riceland Hall, Fowler Center
Founded in 2017 at the University of Iowa, the Colere Quartet is an Iowa-City based ensemble comprised of saxophonists John Cummins, Elissa Kana, Greg Rife, and Dennis Kwok. Colere presents engaging programs consisting of a wide range of classical as well as contemporary repertoire. Recent performances include recitals at the University of Iowa, Augustana College, and Monmouth College, performances at North American Saxophone Alliance conferences, and appearances at a variety of community engagement concerts.
Honors awarded to Colere include a Gold Medal at the 2020 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and First Prize at the 2019 Plowman Chamber Music Competition.
Colere is a Latin word meaning “to cultivate.” This name was inspired by Iowa’s expansive farmland and the group’s commitment to cultivating musical life in the Midwest and beyond.
"Inclusive Excellence: Belonging in the Arkansas State University Context"
April 19, 2023
Student Auditorium, Reng Student Union
Dr. Fred A. Bonner, II is Professor and Endowed Chair in Educational Leadership and Counseling and Founding Executive Director and Chief Scientist of the Minority Achievement, Creativity and High-Ability (MACH-III) Center at Prairie View A&M University. He is formerly the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Endowed Chair in Education in the Graduate School of Education at Rutgers University and an esteemed expert in the field of diversity in education. Prior to joining Rutgers, he was Professor of Higher Education Administration and Dean of Faculties at Texas A&M University-College Station. He earned a B.A. in Chemistry from the University of North Texas, an M.S. Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction from Baylor University, and an Ed.D. in Higher Education Administration & College Teaching from the University of Arkansas. Bonner has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the American Association for Higher Education Black Caucus Dissertation Award and the Educational Leadership, Counseling and Foundation’s Dissertation of the Year Award from the University of Arkansas College of Education. His work has been featured nationally and internationally. He is the author of the recently released book, Building on Resilience: Models and Frameworks of Black Male Success Across the P-20 Pipeline.
