The Symphony of the Hills will present well-known Western balladeer Don Edwards in a concert to benefit the orchestra’s new music scholarship for students who want to study music at Schreiner University. The concert will be at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 2, at the Kathleen C. Cailloux Theater.

Symphony of the Hills is based at Schreiner and Dr. Jay Dunnahoo, who teaches music at Schreiner, is the orchestra’s conductor and artistic director. Five Schreiner students will be part of the orchestra for the upcoming season: Ryan Guerra, bass; Elizabeth Hitzfeld, violin; Ashley Moore, cello; Brett Rosek, French horn; and Cody Welch, percussion. Several University faculty members also play with the orchestra, including Dr. Donald Crandall, Dr. David Byrne, Charles Sander, Jim Abietello, Jan Schmidt, Long Zhou, Brad Lee; Chris DeArmond and Basel Sarweh.

“A significant part of the mission of the Symphony of the Hills involves education and learning,” Dunnahoo said. “By establishing a strong and viable scholarship program, we hope to attract many more gifted young musicians to Schreiner University and to the Symphony of the Hills.”

Don Edwards is a performer, musicologist, composer and historian. He received the Wrangler Award from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame for Outstanding Traditional Western Music in 1992 and 1996, and two of his albums are included in the folklore archives at the Library of Congress. He recently recorded a CD with the Fort Worth Symphony. In 2000, Edwards was inducted into the Walk of Western Stars in 2000 and has been in the Western Music Association Hall of Fame since 2005. Many will remember him as Smokey in Robert Redford’s film “The Horse Whisperer.”

Tickets for the event are $40 and are available now from the theater box office at 830-896-9393. There also are different levels of scholarship sponsorships available. For more information, go to the orchestra’s Web site at www.symphonyofthehills.org. For more information about Don Edwards, visit www.donedwardsmusic.com. More information about Schreiner University and its music programs can be found at www.schreiner.edu.