FLORENCE – When the Shoals Symphony at UNA takes the Norton Auditorium stage on February 26 with Disney LIVE “Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl,” the audience will experience a concert the first of its kind in the Shoals.
“This concert will amaze audiences, with ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ showing on an extremely large screen while the Shoals Symphony at UNA underscores the entire movie LIVE,” said Dr. Daniel Stevens, music director and conductor for the Shoals Symphony at UNA.
On the Norton Auditorium stage, a 40-foot movie screen will be constructed to showcase the full-length PG-13 film. Along with the musicians of the Shoals Symphony at UNA, a men’s chorus made up of UNA vocal students (under the direction of Dr. Ian Loeppky), a dedicated keyboard with musical cues and an SFX sound effects package from Disney will provide a genuine, complete soundtrack.
This unique concert experience is coming to the Shoals in large part thanks to 1996 University of North Alabama graduate Royd Haston.
Haston, a commercial music major while at UNA, went to Los Angeles 20 years ago for a two-month internship with Leiber and Stoller Music Publishing. He has served the music industry in California ever since.
Haston is the music manager for the Disney Music Group, the music production arm of the Walt Disney Company. His job involves putting together major orchestral concerts that perform all over the world. His latest projects have traveled to major performing venues in Paris and London, and major orchestral halls around the U.S.
Now one of those concerts is coming to the Shoals, and Haston is returning with it to visit his alma mater.
“At UNA, I felt like I was able to get a top notch education without all the craziness that can come from a really big school,” Haston said. He’s thankful for the friendships, as well as the connections, he made while a student at UNA.
While Haston is visiting campus, the Department of Entertainment Industry, UNA Alumni and the UNA Foundation will host an evening in his honor on Thursday, February 25, at the Mane Room in downtown Florence. Hors d’oeuvres will be served at 5:30 p.m., and Haston and Stevens will give a presentation as part of the Seminar and Lecture Series from 6-7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.
The concert, which takes place at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, February 26, will be the main focus of Haston’s visit, and promises to be an exciting event for the entire Shoals community.
“The energy in the community is electric, and we are energized to share in this fulfilling production,” said Stevens. “It takes many moving parts to successfully perform this concert. The Shoals Symphony at UNA not only partners with the Walt Disney Music Company and Buena Vista Concerts, but a video engineer from iMusicImage, Inc, in California, Sutherland Sight and Sound from the Shoals, the great production team of UNA’s Norton Auditorium (under the direction of Alice Gross), the wonderful leadership of the Shoals Symphony Board of Directors and the generous underwriting of several community organizations.”
Tickets are on sale now at shoalssymphony.una.edu and at the Lindsey Theatre Box Office, UNA Campus, Florence, Monday–Friday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
“We are excited that ticket sales have been skyrocketing, and we are guaranteed to have the single largest audience ever seen for a Shoals Symphony at UNA concert,” said Stevens. “The Shoals Symphony at UNA would like to thank ONStage, the UNA University Programming Council and an anonymous donor for helping make this concert magical for the audience.”
For more information, visit shoalssymphony.una.edu or call (256)765-5122.
Media Release/University of North Alabama/Carole Maynard, UNA Department of Music
