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SMU’s Meadows School of the Arts will present its 24th annual benefit concert, “,” at 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 12 in the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, 2301 Flora St. in Dallas. The event will feature works by Ravel, Fauré and Delibes, performed by the critically acclaimed Meadows Symphony Orchestra under the direction of conductor Paul Phillips. Also performing will be women of the Meadows choral ensembles, led by director Pamela Elrod Huffman, and operatic soloist and alumna Katrina Galka. The event supports talented Meadows students through the Meadows Scholars Program and the newly established Diane and Hal Brierley Endowed Scholarship.

The annual spring concert also honors a community leader. This year’s honoree is noted arts and civic patron Don Glendenning. The 2017 event chair is Nancy Carlson and the honorary chairs are Diane and Hal Brierley.

The program opens with Maurice Ravel’s La Valse. Composed just after World War I, the music conjures whirling crowds of waltzing couples in an imperial court with unmistakable brooding undertones. The composer called it his “choreographic poem for orchestra … the mad whirl of some fantastic and fateful carousel.” It will be followed by “L’Air des clochettes” (The Bell Song) from the opera Lakmé by French composer Leo Delibes, featuring award-winning soprano and Meadows alumna Katrina Galka as guest soloist. Galka is a studio artist with Arizona Opera and will be a Glimmerglass Festival Young Artist in summer 2017.

Two works by French composer Gabriel Fauré follow: the Prelude to Pénélope, his opera based on Homer’s Odyssey, and Pavane, Op. 50, an elegant, short work for orchestra and chorus based on the slow Spanish court dance of the same name. The women of the three principal choral ensembles of the Meadows School – the Meadows Chorale, Meadows Concert Choir and Diva Dolce – will join the MSO for Pavane.

The concert concludes with Ravel’s Suite No. 2 from Daphnis et Chloé, a lushly colorful work originally composed for Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes. Based on the pastoral romance written almost 2000 years ago by Greek poet Longus, the music depicts young lovers in a grove sacred to the god Pan; it is considered one of Ravel’s best works.

“Meadows at the Meyerson embodies our values as an arts organization in this community. Presenting the critically recognized Meadows Symphony Orchestra in Dallas’s Arts District, we seek to raise scholarship funds that will assist in bringing artistically and academically gifted students from around the world to Dallas,” said Sam Holland, dean of the Meadows School of the Arts. “We are especially delighted this year to honor Don Glendenning, long a champion for arts and cultural excellence in our city. We are deeply grateful for his longstanding support of the Meadows Scholars Program, which allows Meadows to compete successfully for the top arts and communications students in the country. These talented prospects might otherwise wind up in Boston, New York, Chicago or L.A. Many of them will choose to stay in Dallas after graduation, enriching our city’s intellectual capital and adding to its momentum as one of the most culturally dynamic cities in the U.S.”

Event honoree Don Glendenning is co-chair of the Corporate Department of Locke Lord LLP, where he has practiced since graduating from Stanford Law School. His inspirational leadership and dedication are invaluable to the many organizations he serves in social justice, public health, education, the environment and the arts. These organizations include the Human Rights Initiative of North Texas and the Dallas Holocaust Museum; the Parkland Foundation and the UT Southwestern Medical District; KERA and the SMU Tower Center; Texas Trees Foundation and Scenic Texas; and TACA, the Dallas Theater Center, the Dallas Opera and SMU Meadows School of the Arts.

The annual concert provides important funding for the Meadows Scholars Program, inaugurated in 2008 to recruit the brightest and most talented students nationwide to the Meadows School of the Arts. It is targeted to applicants who are accepted to Meadows and who meet both stringent academic and artistic/leadership criteria. While such high achievers often receive SMU academic scholarship awards, many of them are still unable to afford full tuition. The Meadows Scholars Program offers an additional annual scholarship, plus an exploration grant that can be used any time during their years at Meadows for a creative project, providing a significant incentive for them to choose SMU and Dallas.

This year, event honoree Don Glendenning has designated additional proceeds from Meadows at the Meyerson to create an endowed scholarship at SMU Meadows named for his friends and generous SMU and arts supporters Diane and Hal Brierley. The scholarship will support gifted Meadows students, with a preference for those who are engaged in study and research through the recently announced Brierley Institute for Customer Engagement at the SMU Cox School of Business.

Ticket and sponsorship information

Tickets to the Meadows at the Meyerson concert are $25 for adults, $20 for seniors, and $17 for students and SMU faculty and staff. A $10 discount is available for subscribers. For tickets, contact the Meadows Box Office at 214-768-2787.

For SMU alumni, a concert ticket that includes a post-concert dessert and champagne reception is available for $50; $25 of the ticket price supports the Meadows Scholars Program. Call the Meadows Development Office at 214-768-4189 for alumni ticket information.

Patron and corporate sponsorships with special benefits and seating packages are available from $2,000 to $30,000. In addition, the Meadows Scholars level recognizes those who either permanently endow a Meadows Scholar at $150,000 or who make a $30,000 commitment to fund an individual Meadows Scholarship over four years. For more information, call the Meadows Development Office at 214-768-4189.