WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHER TO LEAD WORKSHOP, PRESENTATION MARCH 10

HATTIESBURG - The nationally recognized Wind Ensemble, the top concert band at The University of Southern Mississippi, will present its spring concert April 29 at 7:30 p.m. in Bennett Auditorium. Special guest performers will include pianist Theresa Sanchez, soprano faculty artist Maryann Kyle, and the Southern Chorale, under the direction of Dr. Gregory Fuller.

Led by Thomas Fraschillo, director of bands at Southern Miss, the ensemble is widely known in music circles for its exceptionally gifted student performers and for its diverse and challenging repertoire.

"We are extremely proud of the continued accomplishments of this band," Fraschillo said. "The students continue to be a source of pride for us in the School of music for their dedication to the music and for striving to perform at their best."

Fraschillo also said this concert, a part of the 2002-2003 Symphony Season sponsored by BancorpSouth, was planned as a "celebration" of America. The ensemble plans to perform Dudley Buck's "Festival Overture on the Star Spangled Banner" and Southern Miss composer-in-residence Luigi Zaninelli's "Spacious Skies."

Making his directorial debut will be doctoral candidate Brad Snow, who leads the ensemble on Igor Stravinsky's "Piano Concerto." Sanchez joins him on stage as the featured soloist.

"Our graduate students over the years have been of high quality and have maintained the educational integrity that has been developed here over the years," Fraschillo said. "We have invited one of those deserving doctoral candidates to guest conduct during the concert."

Sanchez, a faculty member at Jones County Junior College and past president of the Mississippi Music Teachers Association, enjoys a varied performing career as a soloist and collaborative musician. She has recently performed with the Mississippi Symphony, the Southern Miss Symphony and the Meridian Symphony.

The program opens with Leos Janácek's "Sokol Fanfare," followed by Buck's "Festival Overture" and Stravinsky's concerto. After intermission, the ensemble will perform James Syler's "Symphony No. 1 'Blue,'" which will feature the Southern Chorale, the premier touring choir at Southern Miss. Kyle, assistant professor of music and director of the Southern Opera and Music Theatre program at Southern Miss, also joins Fuller and the Chorale.

Kyle, a native Mississippian and a longtime featured performer with the Southern Miss Wind Ensemble and the Symphony, has sung leading roles with the Chattanooga Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, the Southern Arts Festival Opera, the University of Illinois, the East Tennessee Opera and The Opera at Southern Miss. She has appeared as Micaela in "Carmen," opposite internationally known mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves, and as a guest soloist of the Miami Festival, opposite the late but legendary William Warfield.

"Blue" is a large five movement work for soprano soloist, wind ensemble and chorus that was commissioned by a consortium of 42 universities in the United States. Created in an oratorio-like form, it has the grandeur and long line needed to sustain itself. Zaninelli's "Spacious Skies" will close the program.

Tickets are $6 for general admission and $3 for Southern Miss faculty, staff and students, senior citizens and children under 12. Call the Southern Miss ticket office at 266-5418 for tickets or order online at www.tickets.usm.edu. For more information on the Southern Miss band program, call 266-4990.

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.

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