Let Freedom Ring: Juilliard Joins Texas State for a Common Experience in the Arts

Texas State alumnus, graduate in the Honors College, and award-winning composer, pianist, and Juilliard faculty member, Dr. Wayne Oquin, will return for the sixth annual Juilliard Joins Texas State for a Common Experience in the Arts in Evans Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 8, 2012.

This year's performance focuses on the Texas State Common Experience theme of Freedoms: The First Amendment, and will feature two guest artists, actors Barbara Chisholm and Eugene Lee, who will portray Molly Ivins and Martin Luther King, Jr. respectively. In addition, Oquin will lead the award winning Texas State Wind Ensemble, now under the direction of Dr. Caroline Beatty, combined with musicians from The Juilliard School in a performance of his own Tower Ascending. Other highlights include an excerpt from Red-Hot Patriot: The Kick-ass Wit of Molly Ivins performed by Barbara Chisholm, actor, and an excerpt from I Have a Dream and I See the Promised Land performed by Eugene Lee, actor. The MLK speeches will be interspersed with two movements of Oquin's MLK song cycle, A Time to Break Silence: Songs Inspired by the Words and Writings of Martin Luther King, Jr. for baritone and piano.