MOBILE, Ala. – Steinway Artist and director of piano studies and professor of music at the University of Mobile, Dr. Kadisha Onalbayeva, and two Alabama School of the Arts students will perform at Pensacola ComposerFest XVI on Sept. 26 at 2:30 p.m.
Pensacola ComposerFest XVI will take place at Ashmore Fine Arts Auditorium at Pensacola State College. The event is free and provides the community an opportunity to hear new vocal and instrumental music written by contemporary composers.
Onalbayeva and the two piano students from the University of Mobile, Lauren Stanford and Rebecca Reed, will perform their original compositions on the piano.
Onalbayeva will perform Kazakh Variations “Desert.” This original work is dedicated to her parents and the colors, sound effects, rhythms and melodies of Kazakh dances.
Lauren Stanford, a sophomore at the University of Mobile from Pass Christian, Mississippi, will perform “Pirate’s Rend.”
Stanford said, “This piece is dedicated to the ups and downs of life. It reflects a pirate who has two sides and cannot decide who he is, hence the word rend, meaning to divide into two pieces. This song reflects the good and bad, the calm and confusion, the ebb and flow of life.”
Rebecca Reed, a junior at the University of Mobile from Chickasaw, Alabama, will perform “The Eagle,” “The Peacock” and “Canadian Geese.”
Reed said, “Each piece is inspired by each bird and their significance in my life: the regal and deadly eagles that lived in the forests of Missouri; the first peacock that I saw as a child which I thought was quite silly, but pretty all the same; and the freedom that the Canadian Geese migration always meant to me that left me in awe when I saw it every year.
For more information on Pensacola ComposerFest XVI and other events including Alabama School of the Arts students, please visit umobile.edu/asota or call 251.442.2383.
About the University of Mobile
The University of Mobile is a Christ-centered liberal arts and sciences institution with a vision of higher education for a higher purpose, founded to honor God by equipping students for their future professions through rigorous academic preparation and spiritual transformation. Core values are: Christ-Centered, Academically-Focused, Student-Devoted and Distinctively-Driven. The university offers on-campus and online bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in over 75 academic programs. Founded in 1961, the University of Mobile is affiliated with the Alabama Baptist State Convention and is located 10 miles north of Mobile, Alabama on a campus of over 880 acres.
For more information about the University of Mobile, visit the website at www.umobile.edu or call Enrollment Services at 1.800.WIN.RAMS or 251.442.2222.
Zac Douglas is the marketing communications specialist for the University of Mobile. He graduated from the University of Mississippi in 2019 with a Bachelor of Science in integrated marketing and communications. As marketing communications specialist, Zac is responsible for writing and strategizing content about the university, assisting with media relations, and handling other marketing and communications projects. He is an active member at Cottage Hill Baptist Church and enjoys spending his time surfing, skating and climbing.