Contact: Sasha Steinberg

STARKVILLE, Miss.—The Starkville-Mississippi State University Symphony Orchestra will present a “Fauré’s Finest” concert Saturday [Feb. 27] in historic Lee Hall’s Bettersworth Auditorium.

Free to all, the 7:30 p.m. program will feature three of French composer and musician Gabriel Fauré’s (1845-1924) greatest works.

Under the direction of SSO music director Michael Brown, the group’s selections will include Fauré’s ever-popular “Pavane” (1887), along with “Fantaisie” (1898) for flute and orchestra.

Joining the SSO on Fauré’s “Requiem” (1887-90) will be a mass choir of more than 250 singers under the direction of associate professor and choral activities director Gary Packwood. They include MSU student soloists Bailey Mckenzie Wright, soprano, and Michael W. Becher, baritone. Wright is a senior accounting major from Pascagoula; Becher, a senior kinesiology/clinical exercise physiology major from Huntsville, Alabama.

For additional concert information, contact Brown at 662-325-3070 or mbrown@colled.msstate.edu.

Founded in 1969, the Starkville-MSU Symphony Association is a non-profit volunteer organization whose members work to educate, enlighten and share classical music with the city, university campus and other communities in the Golden Triangle region. Producing high-quality musical events and increasing awareness for the arts are its primary missions. For more, visit www.starkvillesymphony.org and facebook.com/StarkvilleSymphony.

In addition to MSU and the City of Starkville, major association contributors include the J.W. Criss Foundation, Mississippi Arts Commission, National Endowment for the Arts, Renasant Bank, Starkville Convention and Visitors Bureau and Columbus-based Gildea Foundation.

The association accepts tax-deductible donations via the MSU Foundation. To contribute, contact Lynn Durr at 662-325-8918 or ldurr@advservices.msstate.edu.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.