WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER TO LEAD WORKSHOP, PRESENTATION MARCH 10

HATTIESBURG - The School of Music at The University of Southern Mississippi will present back-to-back concerts by two of its three concert bands in Bennett Auditorium. Opening the concerts on April 22, the Symphonic Winds will perform an eclectic mix of wind-band favorites, under the direction of associate director of bands, Steven Moser.

Moving from Malcolm Arnold's "Tam O'Shanter," a work based on Irish folk songs, to the rhythmic intensity of Paul Hindemith's "March from Symphonic Metamorphosis," the ensemble of student performers will present a concert of dazzling technical demands and beautiful wind sonorities.

Moser is in his 12th year as band conductor and member of the School of Music conducting faculty. He will share the podium with graduate and undergraduate conductors who have been recognized by their teachers as the next generation of conducting "stars" in the wind-band medium.

The Concert Band, under the direction of the assistant director of bands, Dr. Gary Adam, will perform April 24. Joining Adam for podium duties will be guest conductor John Stroube and Terence Gorton. Misty Rondeau, a senior music education major from Fairhope, Ala., will be featured as flute soloist on Chaminade's "Concertino for Flute."

The evening's concert program will include Robert Jager's "Esprit de Corps,"

Gordon Jacob's "An Original Suite," John Barnes Chance's "Variations on a Korean Folk Song," Ron Nelson's "Courtly Airs and Dances" and Henry Fillmore's "Rolling Thunder March."

The first band of the concert band trilogy is the nationally recognized Southern Miss Wind Ensemble, under the direction of Dr. Thomas Fraschillo. The ensemble will give its final concert of the academic year April 29.

Both concerts begin at 7:30 p.m. in Bennett Auditorium. Tickets are $6 for adult admission and $3 for Southern Miss faculty, staff, and students, senior citizens (65-plus) and children under 12. Call the Southern Miss Ticket Office at (601) 266-5418 or 800-844-8425 for tickets. Order online at www.ticket.usm.edu.

OCEAN SPRINGS -- Award-winning wildlife photographer Tom Ulrich will lead two photographic events at the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory on Wednesday, March 10.

He will present a nature photography workshop from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and then a talk and slide show called "Wildlife Images 2003" at 7 p.m., both at The University of Southern Mississippi GCRL.

Admission to the evening event is free and will be held in the Caylor Auditorium at GCRL. The veteran photographer will feature photos from his 2003 photographic safaris abroad and in North America. He will answer questions and sign his books during the reception following his slide show.

The registration fee for the all-day workshop is $50 per person, payable to GCRL. Registration includes a continental breakfast, light lunch and snacks. Participation is limited to 20. Though the workshop is geared toward beginners, Ulrich tailors the experience to meet needs for all degrees of skill.

"The beginners will definitely benefit from the workshop, but I always help the more advanced get something out of it also," Ulrich said. "I lead many photo trips and always find a wide range of levels."

Ulrich said participants do not need to bring their photographic equipment unless they need an explanation about some aspect of their equipment.

Topics include a brief review of the principles of photography, relationships between shutter and aperture settings, fundamental elements of composition, use and timing of fill-in flash, digital versus film photography, techniques of close-up photography, and a brief discussion of slide etiquette, the photography business and marketing.

Ulrich grew up in South Chicago, graduated with a degree in biology from Southern Illinois University and taught for four years before launching his career as a freelance photographer. He has supported himself with nature photography for the past 29 years.

His library of more than 300,000 transparencies includes birds and mammals from all over the world. His photographs have been featured in publications such as National Wildlife, Audubon, National Geographic, Montana Outdoors and Life.

He has published six nature books, including Mammals of the Rockies, Birds of the Northern Rockies, Once Upon a Frame and his 2002 release, Photo Pantanal. Dr. William E. Hawkins, GCRL executive director, said Ulrich brings the scientific and artistic worlds together.

"Tom earns his living photographing wildlife all over the world," Hawkins sad. "He is an outstanding observer and a biologist. His approach to photography is to capture his subjects exhibiting their natural behavior."

The GCRL is home to the university's Department of Coastal Sciences, the Center for Fisheries Research and Development, and the Gulf Coast Geospatial Center. The J.L. Scott Marine Education Center and Aquarium is also a unit of the laboratory. The GCRL is part of the Southern Miss College of Science and Technology. For more information, call the laboratory at (228) 872-4200.

-30-