Southeastern music instructor named LMTA commissioned composer
Wednesday, October 11, 2017 
by: Rene Abadie
Photo credit: Livewell Photography
HAMMOND – Southeastern Louisiana University Music Instructor Philip Schuessler has
been selected to be the 2017 commissioned composer for the Louisiana Music Teachers
Association annual conference.
Drawing on the innate curiosity of his young son, Schuessler wrote the new piece,
titled “Sunburst Carousel,” for the Southeastern saxophone quartet Quartetto Obrigado,
consisting of musicians Brina Bourliea Faciane, Jennifer Foret, Taylor Assad and Griffin
Campbell.
The premier performance is scheduled Friday (Oct. 13) at the University of New Orleans,
and will be performed at Southeastern on Monday, Oct. 16, at the free Faculty Showcase
concert in Pottle Music Auditorium at 7:30 p.m.
“The composition is a brisk, high-energy, single-movement work inspired by the
voracious curiosity of my 17-month-old son, who is constantly fascinated by new discoveries,”
explained Schuessler. “I wanted to instill in the piece the same sense of and appetite
for ever-present newness and freshness of the world in which we live daily.”
The commissioned work was funded by the Music Teachers National Association and
the Louisiana Music Teachers Association.
Schuessler teaches music theory and composition and is a recipient of the 2016
Southeastern President’s Award for Excellence in Artistic Activity, one of the highest
honors bestowed on university faculty and staff.
