Category Archives: Music

The 2014-2015 Acxiom Pops Live Series of Arkansas Symphony Orchestra kicks off with Bill Conti’s Academy Awards Show

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ASO ContiThe Arkansas Symphony Orchestra (ASO), Philip Mann, Music Director and Conductor, opens the 2014-2015 Acxiom Pops Live! Series with Bill Conti’s Academy Awards Show. The concert is held at the Pulaski Academy Connor Performing Arts Center, 12701 Hinson Road, Little Rock, AR, on  Saturday, October 4, 2014 at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, October 5, 2014 at 3:00 p.m.

Oscar and five-time Emmy-winner Bill Conti – conductor of the Academy Awards Orchestra and composer of film scores “Karate Kid” and “Rocky”  – leads the ASO in a celebration of the big screen. In addition to the lush sounds of live symphonic orchestra, patrons will be treated to an exciting multimedia experience. Patrons of all ages are invited to get popcorn, find a seat, and settle in for an evening of movies, music, and silver screen glitz and glamour.

The Pops Live! Series is sponsored by Acxiom.

 

Tickets are $19, $35, $49, and $58; active duty military and student tickets are $10 are can be purchased online at http://www.ArkansasSymphony.org; at the Connor Performing Arts Center box office beginning 90 minutes prior to a concert; or by phone at 501-666-1761, ext. 100. All Arkansas students grades K-12 are admitted to Sunday’s matinee free of charge with the purchase of an adult ticket using the Entergy Kids’ Ticket, downloadable at the ASO website.

ARTISTS
Bill Conti, guest conductor

PROGRAM

  • CONTI: “Fanfare  –  “The  Final  Bell”  from  Rocky
  • CONTI:  “Television  Medley”  –  Olympics  ’88,  Falcon  Crest,  Lifestyles  of  the  Rich  and  Famous,  Dynasty,  Cagney  and  Lacey
  • CONTI:  “North  and  South”  –  Theme  from  the  TV  mini-series  North  and  South
  • CONTI:  “An  Unmarried  Woman”  –  Theme  from  An  Unmarried  Woman
  • CONTI  (Arr.): “Czardas”  –  Dueling  violins  from  Unfaithfully  Yours
  • CONTI  (Arr.): “Salute  to  the  Cinema”  –  Academy  Award  Show

INTERMISSION

  • CONTI  (Arr.): “A  Tribute  to  Walt  Disney”
  • CONTI:  “The Adventures of Huck Finn”  –  Theme  from  The Adventures of Huck  Finn
  • CONTI:  “For  Your  Eyes  Only”  –  Theme  from  For  Your  Eyes  Only
  • MORODER: “Oh  What  A  Feeling”  –  Theme  from  Flashdance
  • CONTI:  “The  Right  Stuff”  –  Music  from  The  Right  Stuff
  • CONTI:  “Gonna  Fly  Now”  –  Theme  from  Rocky

ABOUT THE ARKANSAS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 49th season in 2014-2015, under the leadership of Music Director Philip Mann. ASO is the resident orchestra of Robinson Center Music Hall, and performs more than sixty concerts each year for more than 165,000 people through its Stella Boyle Smith Masterworks Series, ACXIOM Pops LIVE! Series, River Rhapsodies Chamber Music Series, and numerous concerts performed around the state of Arkansas, in addition to serving central Arkansas through numerous community outreach programs and bringing live symphonic music education to over 26,000 school children and over 200 schools.

 

Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts to visit Little Rock

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NEA LRDr. Jane Chu, a former resident of Arkadelphia, is the new chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts.  On Tuesday, October 7, she will be in Little Rock.

At 1:30, she will be part of a presentation at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre.  Steve Luoni of the University of Arkansas Community Design Center, will lead a discussion of the Creative Corridor.  Dr. Chu will also make remarks.  Mayor Mark Stodola will be the host of the event.  The public is invited to attend.

During her visit in Little Rock, Dr. Chu will also take part in a variety of meetings and tours.

LR Cultural Touchstone: Virginia Bailey

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Bailey, Virginia MitchellVirginia Mitchell Bailey was an avid supporter and promoter of visual and performing arts.  A real estate developer, she was a wife, mother, grandmother, and tireless community volunteer as well.  She was a trailblazer in the area of balancing a business career with continued volunteerism.  While today that is common, in the 1960s and 1970s, it was very rare for women to do both.

Virginia served on the Advisory Board of the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. She was a member of the Fine Arts Club since 1960. She served for 17 years on the Arkansas Arts Center Board of Trustees and for 12 years on the Arts Center Foundation Board. She was Secretary of the Arts Center Board in 1974, President of the Board from 1976 to 1977, and Chairman of the Board from 1977 to 1978. In 1989, she received the Winthrop Rockefeller Annual Award for outstanding service to the Arts Center. In 2001, the Arts Center Board named the Virginia and Ted Bailey Gallery in her honor.

From 1992 to 1995, Virginia served on the Advisory Board of the University of Arkansas School of Architecture. She served as the first President of the Friends of the Arts at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.  She was also a board member of Wildwood Park for the Performing Arts.

In recognition of their philanthropic support for so many charitable groups in the community and elsewhere, and by nomination from UALR, Virginia and her husband Dr. Ted Bailey received the Philanthropist of the Year Award from the Arkansas Chapter of the National Association of Fundraisers in 1994. In 1990, Virginia received one of the annual Outstanding Women of the Year Awards sponsored by Boatmen’s Bank. She was honored with the Little Rock Arts and Humanities Award (AHA!) in 1995.

Inaugural Jazz on Main concert tonight – The Bad Plus at South on Main

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the_bad_plus_cropped.jpg.1000x250_q80_crop_upscaleJoin the Oxford American magazine for the inaugural concert in their 2014-2015 jazz series at South on Main featuring The Bad Plus! The OA jazz series is sponsored by the University of Central Arkansas College of Fine Arts and Communication. Doors open at 6:00 PM with dinner and drinks available at that time. The concert begins at 8:00 PM.

Ticket packages for the jazz series went on sale June 20 at www.metrotix.com, ranging from$120 to $80 and include a discount on service charges. Single tickets go on sale September 1at $30 for reserved seats at tables and $20 for general admission. Purchasing a reserved seat assigns you to a specific guaranteed seat at a table. However, seating at tables is family-style, and unless you purchase the entire table, you will be seated with other patrons. General admission tickets are good for barstools and standing room, available on a first-come first-served basis. For ticketing questions, please contact Metrotix at (800) 293-5949.

The Bad Plus has spent almost fifteen years redefining what a piano-bass-drums trio can and should be. They’ve reached audiences of all demographic stripes with an uncompromising body of original music (plus some ingenious, genre-jumping covers) and dedicated touring around the globe. On their eighth studio album, Made Possible, bassist Reid Anderson, pianist Ethan Iverson, and drummer David King take their distinctive musical M.O. to captivating new heights, proving once again that the rules of musical convention are made to be broken.

“This band contains some of the most punk energy I’ve ever seen or felt as a musician — it just doesn’t need to do it so obviously,” King says. “That’s our statement. It’s a complex emotion.”

 Made Possible marks a palpable departure for The Bad Plus on a few fronts. Layers of synth and electronic drum sounds can be heard prowling amid the trio’s signature acoustic palette. Also, whereas the group’s new material typically gets a thorough road test before being recorded, these songs were brought in with looser expectations and even more potent possibilities. And for the first time since 2005’s Suspicious Activity?, the band chose to record far away from its Minnesota motherland, holing up instead at a remote studio in upstate New York.

“The Bad Plus are the Coen brothers of jazz: Midwesterners, both ironic and dead earnest, technically brilliant, beyond versatile, a little chilly sometimes, but funny, surprising, and pretty hard to pin down.”—The New Yorker 

LR Cultural Touchstone: Kay Kelley Arnold

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(Photo courtesy of Bill & Hillary Clinton National Airport)

(Photo courtesy of Bill & Hillary Clinton National Airport)

Little Rock’s rich cultural history has been influenced by many outstanding men and women.  This October, during Arts & Humanities Month 2014, the Culture Vulture is looking at 31 outstanding women who have shaped cultural life in Little Rock…and beyond.

Kay Kelley Arnold.  While attending law school, she worked at the Arkansas Arts Council.  As she relayed to Soiree, she helped artists who taught in schools. Through that job, she met many creative people “and developed a love of all types of artistic expression.”  During Bill Clinton’s first term in office as Governor, she was on his staff. In that capacity, she served as his liaison to what is now known as the Department of Arkansas Heritage.  When he left office in January 1981, so did she.

In 1986, Governor Clinton tapped Arnold to lead the Department of Arkansas Heritage.  In addition to supervising six cultural departments, she stepped into the job as plans were being made for Arkansas’ Sesquicentennial. She also oversaw those efforts which were heavily tilted toward artistic and historic events.

During the 1987 Arkansas General Assembly, Arnold led the successful effort for the legislators to approve a real estate transfer tax.  The legislation proved immensely beneficial to historic properties.  She entered the corporate world in 1988 joining Arkansas Power & Light. While serving in various capacities for AP&L and Entergy, Arnold split her time between Little Rock and Washington DC.  She maintained close ties to Little Rock’s cultural community including service on the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra Board.  She served as Chair of the ASO Board at a crucial time in the organization’s history.  In addition, she has served as a member of the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission.

Arnold has recently completed two terms on the Little Rock Airport Commission.  During her time on that body, the airport purchased and installed several pieces of public art.

Now retired from Entergy, she is often seen around Little Rock enjoying cultural events.

Death and the Maiden highlights ASO River Rhapsodies Chamber Music Series 2014-2015 start

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ASO_revThe Arkansas Symphony Orchestra (ASO), Philip Mann, Music Director and Conductor, presents the opening concert of the 2014-2015 Landers FIAT River Rhapsodies Chamber Music Series: Quartet for the End of Time. ASO musicians present the music of Haydn and Messiaen in the beautiful Grand Hall of the Clinton Presidential Center, 1200 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock, AR, on October 21st at 7 PM. A cash bar is open at 6 PM and at intermission, and patrons are invited to carry drinks into the hall. Media sponsor for the Landers FIAT River Rhapsodies Chamber Music Series is KUAR/KLRE.

Tickets are $23; active duty military and student tickets are $10 are can be purchased online at http://www.ArkansasSymphony.org; at the Clinton Presidential Center box office beginning 60 minutes prior to a concert; or by phone at 501-666-1761, ext. 100.

ARTISTS:
Quapaw Quartet
Eric Hayward, violin
Meredith Maddox Hicks, violin
Kate Weeks, viola
David Gerstein, cello

Rockefeller Quartet
Katherine Williamson, violin
Tricia McGovern, violin
Katherine Reynolds, viola
Daniel Cline, cello

David Renfro, horn
Geoffrey Robson, violin
May Tsao-Lim, piano

 

PROGRAM:

BRIDGE – 3 Idylls
BRAHMS – Trio in Eb for horn, violin and piano
SCHUBERT – String Quartet in D minor “Death and the Maiden”

Philip Mann, Music Director and Conductor

ABOUT THE ARKANSAS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA:
The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 49th season in 2014-2015, under the leadership of Music Director Philip Mann. ASO is the resident orchestra of Robinson Center Music Hall, and performs more than sixty concerts each year for more than 165,000 people through its Stella Boyle Smith Masterworks Series, ACXIOM Pops LIVE! Series, River Rhapsodies Chamber Music Series, and numerous concerts performed around the state of Arkansas, in addition to serving central Arkansas through numerous community outreach programs and bringing live symphonic music education to over 26,000 school children and over 200 schools.

 

Tonight – The 78 Project Movie Screening

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Tonight, the Oxford American and CALS Ron Robinson Theater are excited to present The 78 Project Movie at the Ron Robinson Theater! Inspired by the field recordings of legendary folklorist Alan Lomax, director Alex Steyermark and recordist Lavinia Jones Wright created The 78 Project, an ongoing documentary journey to record today’s musicians with yesterday’s technology. Doors open at 7:00 P.M. day of show, and the film starts at 7:30 pm.

All pre-sale tickets are $10 each and available via www.metrotix.com or by calling (800) 293-5949 until noon on September 30. Tickets will also be available at the venue on September 30 at 7:00 P.M. All seating is general admission and available on a first-come basis.

ABOUT THE PROJECT – With just one microphone, an authentic 1930s PRESTO direct-to-disc recorder, and a blank shellac disc, the members of the 78 project invite musicians to cut a record anywhere they choose. The result is an artifact—a 78rpm record—and a new connection to our cultural legacy. 78 Project participant Rosanne Cash called the experience “time-travel.” In March, author William Gibson, writing for the Oxford American, called The 78 Project “one of the most intriguing contemporary approaches to technology I know of, and one that bodes well for its century and our future.” Participants of the 78 Project have included Loudon Wainwright III, Rosanne Cash & John Leventhal, Richard Thompson and others. You can watch them cut their records here: http://the78project.com/watch/

ABOUT THE FILM – This year, Steyermark and Wright have released a feature-length film showcasing their work and the singular performances the on-site 78rpm recording process inspires in the musicians they encounter. The 78 Project Movie includes performances by a variety of musicians and appearances from a kaleidoscopic cast of technologists, historians, and craftsmen from every facet of field recording—Grammy-winning producers, 78 collectors, curators from the Library of Congress and Smithsonian. In Tennessee, Mississippi, California, Louisiana, the folk singers, punk rockers, Gospel and Cajun singers in the film share their lives through intimate performances, and find in that adventure a new connection to our cultural legacy.

During the night, a Little Rock musician will play live for the audience and Steyermark and Jones will cut the performance into a 78, so anyone in attendance will be able to become a part of The 78 Project’s ongoing journey! And in addition to the screening, Oxford American Associate Editor, Maxwell George, will introduce the film and moderate a Q&A with the filmmakers after the screening.