Yearly Archives: 2012

UALR to Honor Sotomoras at FINALE

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UALR will honor Eileen and Dr. Ricardo Sotomora at the seventh annual Finale at 6:30 p.m., Saturday, April 28 at the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall in the UALR Fine Arts Building.

Reservations to the black-tie optional event are $150 with $110 being deductible.

Finale celebrates the arts in Central Arkansas and is the premier fundraising event for UALR’s fine arts programs. The dinner gala features performances and artwork by students.

Dr. Sotomora is the only pediatric cardiologist in private practice in Arkansas. He is the exclusive provider of cardiology services for children at Baptist Health Medical Center and St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center, in Little Rock, and Baptist Health Medical Center in North Little Rock. His cardiology practice is managed by Eileen.

The Sotomoras were instrumental in founding the American Heart Association’s annual “Heart Ball,” in Arkansas, a debutante ball that not only raises proceeds for the organization but strives to teach girls about volunteerism and health. In 2006, Dr. Sotomora received the “Worthen Cornett Award,” the highest honor given to a person for work on behalf of the American Heart Association in Central Arkansas.

In 2008, they chaired the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra’s Opus XXIV. Currently, Dr. Sotomora is a trustee of the Arkansas Arts Center Board and a member of the development committee. Both of the Sotomoras are members of the Director’s Circle.  The Sotomoras are supporters of the Venezuelan “El Sistemia,” a government-funded program that currently assists nearly one million Venezuelan children in learning classical music.

“Eileen and Ricardo are amazing leaders in the Central Arkansas community,” said Deborah Baldwin, dean of the UALR College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. “We are honored that they would assist us in raising awareness about how arts programs enrich the communities in which we live.”

Finale 2012’s performance will feature UALR music students performing scenes from the Broadway musical, “Into the Woods,” with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. Craig O’Neill of Today’s THV will serve as master of ceremonies. This is his fourth year to host the event.

In the live auction, Finale will feature a designer jewelry piece created by Sissy’s Log Cabin.

Presenting sponsors of the 2012 event are Glazer’s Distributors of Arkansas and Sissy’s Log Cabin. Premier sponsors include Pediatrix, Terri and Chuck Erwin, and Chip and Cindy Murphy. Sustaining sponsors are Simmons First National Bank, Blue Cross Blue Shield, East-Harding, Inc., Entergy, US Bank, and HBO/Time Warner.

Arts organizations from around the region lend their support to Finale each year. This year’s participating arts partners are Accademia dell’Arte, Arkansas Arts Center, Arkansas Repertory Theatre, and the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra.
Reservations to Finale are $150 each. Call Rivka Kuperman at (501) 765-9636 or at rekuperman@ualr.edu for more information.

Architeaser – April 24

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Yesterday’s Architeaser was an archway on the facade of the Arkansas Repertory Theatre building.  It was posted on Shakespeare’s birthday; the Rep often produces the Bard including Henry V which will start next year’s season.  The building was originally built as a department store and was transformed into a theatre in the 1980s.  The archway is  no longer over a working doorway but continues as an ornamental decoration on the building.

Today’s Architeaser is below.

Free Arkansas Symphony Concert This Afternoon

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The Arkansas Symphony Brass Quintet will present a free concert this afternoon on the UAMS campus.
As a part of the Dr. Ruth Marie Allen Concert Series, it will start at 4:30pm in the music lobby.
Featuring the Arkansas Symphony Brass Quintet:
     Richard Jorgensen, trumpet
     Carl Mason, trumpet
     David Renfro, horn
     Michael Underwood, trombone
     Kevin Sanders, tuba
Johann Sebastian Bach
My Spirit Be Joyful (trans. Harry Herforth)
John Cheetham
Scherzo
Victor Ewald
Quintet No. 3 in D-flat Major, Op. 7
Samuel Scheidt
Canzona Bergamasca (arr. Conrad de Jong)
George Gershwin
Prelude No. 2 (arr. Norbert Carnovale)
Wilke Renwick
Dance
Directions

From Markham, turn south onto Hooper St.
Follow signs to Parking Lot 1.
Enter the lot, which goes underground.
Take the elevator to the “top” of the parking Lot 1, which immediately adjoins the back side of the lobby. The Music Room is at the west end of the lobby, behind the grand piano.

Architeaser – April 23

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Yesterday’s Architeaser featured a section of the roof of the Cathedral of St. Andrew.

Here is today’s Architeaser, which is related to an event connected to today’s date.

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Shakespeare on Trial at Clinton School

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The Quality of Mercy Is Not Strained – The Merchant of Venice

For centuries, controversy has raged over whether William Shakespeare is the true author of the plays attributed to him. Was it Shakespeare himself, or some nobleman such as the Earl of Oxford, merely using Shakespeare as his front man?

The Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre in conjunction with Clinton School for Public Service explores this controversy in an imaginative and entertaining format in a program at Sturgis Hall tonight at 6pm.

Tonight’s program sets out to answer these questions by giving Shakespeare himself an opportunity to bring suit in front of U.S. Judge Joe Volpe, with the help of top Arkansas attorneys serving as the prosecution and defense.

Other Elizabethan luminaries may make appearances as witnesses to add their two cents as AST celebrates Shakespeare’s (traditionally held) birthday in the courtroom. Birthday cake will be provided, whether or not Shakespeare wins his case.

Reserve your seats by emailing publicprograms@clintonschool.uasys.edu, or calling 501-683-5239.

Architeaser – April 22

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Yesterday’s Architeaser featured one of the two-headed griffins which stand guard outside of the Albert Pike Masonic Temple.

Today’s Architeaser shows that shingles can be used for artistic expression.

Sculpture Vulture: Mount Holly Cameos

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Today’s Sculpture Vulture returns to Mt. Holly Cemetery.  There are quite a few sculptures of angels and religious figures throughout the cemetery.   There are a few very unique sculptural ornamentations in the cemetery. These are carvings to represent the faces of the deceased which are mounted on grave markers.  Though this does not purport to be an exhaustive list of the carvings, it does showcase the ones the Culture Vulture noticed on a recent visit to Mt. Holly.

Hornibrook

James H. Hornibrook was born on July 8, 1840 and died on May 24, 1890.  He came to Little Rock from Toronto following the Civil War and ran a very successful saloon business.  He died of an “apoplectic stroke” just shy of his 50th birthday.  His house is now the Empress of Little Rock Bed & Breakfast located near the Governor’s Mansion.   He had feared his death and had commissioned a death mask to be made.

Johnson

Sydney J. Johnson was born February 12, 1866 and died on March 17, 1899.  He was a banker, Little Rock City Treasurer, and Pulaski County Deputy Circuit Clerk. He died from complications of a broken leg, an injury sustained while sledding.

Fones

Daniel Gilbert Fones was born on August 19, 1837 and died on May 28, 1912.  He was a hardware merchant who served as president of the German National Bank, the Arkansas Building & Loan Association, and the Equitable Building & Loan Association.  He served on the Little Rock School Board from 1883 to 1893.  Together with his brother James, he founded the Fones Brothers Hardware Company.  The final location of their warehouse, 100 Rock Street, opened in 1921. In 1997, after extensive renovation and repurposing the building reopened as the main branch of the Central Arkansas Library System.

LeFevre

Leon LeFevre was a farmer who owned a great deal of land north of the Arkansas River. He was born on April 19, 1808 and died on February 26, 1892. The house that he built in 1842 existed in what later became North Little Rock until 1966.  He was born on his family’s property prior to the establishment of Little Rock over a decade later. As Little Rock became formalized and grew to include both sides of the Arkansas River, he became a civic leader.

Peyton

Dr. Craven Peyton was born on November 30, 1823 and died on November 7, 1872.  He was a physician in Little Rock.  During the Civil War, he held the rank of Colonel and was commander of the 13th Regiment, Arkansas Militia.  He was Kentucky native who moved to Little Rock after graduating from Medical School. During the Mexican War he was commissioned as a surgeon in the Arkansas Regiment of Volunteers. He was one of the founders of Arkansas’s Medical School.