Category Archives: Music

Tonight on South on Main stage – Shamarr Allen

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Shamarr Allen Get a taste of “True Orleans” with Shamarr Allen’s blend of jazz, hip hop, funk, brass and soul. Shamarr is a full time member of Galactic and has collaborated with many renowned artists such as Willie Nelson, Patti Labelle, Harry Connick Jr. and more.

Show begins at 8 pm. Purchase advance tickets for $8 or pay $12 at the door. Tickets do not guarantee you a seat. To reserve a table please call (501) 244-9660.

“Many New Orleans musicians blend jazz and brass band music with bounce, hip-hop, funk, soul, R&B and more. Shamarr Allen has a name for his blend: True Orleans.” – Will Coviello, Gambit Weekly

Shamarr Allen is the definition of New Orleans Music! Hailing from the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans, Allen has influences in jazz, hip hop, rock, funk, funk blues and country. He is the lead vocalist and trumpeter of his band “Shamarr Allen and the Underdawgs”.
In addition to performing with his band, Allen has collaborated with many renowned artists such as Willie Nelson, Galactic, Mannie Fresh, Patti Labelle, Harry Connick Jr. and Lenny Kravitz to name a few. In addition to displaying his skills on the frontline as a lead performer, Allen is also a music composer, writer, producer and multi instrumentalist. With a scintillating and unique sound, look and examplary talents, Allen transcends musical boundaries. He is the True Orleans Experience!

The ASO River Rhapsodies series starts tonight with Beethoven and Milhaud

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The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra opens the 2019-2020 River Rhapsodies Chamber Music series with Beethoven and Milhaud, Tuesday, October 1st at 7:00 p.m. at the Clinton Presidential Center.

ASO’s Quapaw and Rockefeller String Quartets, along with other musicians are performing Milhaud’s Quartet No. 1, Roussel’s Serenade for Flute, String Trio, and Harp, and Beethoven’s String Quartet in A minor.

River Rhapsodies Chamber Music Concerts are held in the intimate setting of the Clinton Presidential Center’s Great Hall. A cash bar is open before the concert and at intermission, and patrons are invited to carry drinks into the concert. The Media Sponsor for the River Rhapsodies Chamber Music Series is UA Little Rock Public Radio.

General Admission tickets are $26; active duty military and student tickets are $10 and can be purchased online at www.ArkansasSymphony.org ; at the Clinton Center beginning 60 minutes prior to a concert; or by phone at 501-666-1761, ext. 1.

Artists

Quapaw String Quartet

  • Meredith Maddox Hicks, violin
  • Charlotte Crosmer, violin
  • Timothy MacDuff, viola
  • David Gerstein, cello

Rockefeller String Quartet

  • Trisha McGovern Freeney, violin
  • Linnaea Brophy, violin
  • Katherine Reynolds, viola
  • David Gerstein, cello

Gabriel Vega, flute

Alisa Coffey, harp

Diana Norwood, violin

Rafael León, cello

Artspace seeking input from Little Rock creatives and arts supporters

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Earlier in 2019, the Windgate Foundation invited Artspace, a national nonprofit leader in the field of affordable creative space development, to explore the feasibility of creating an affordable live/work community in the Little Rock metro region, a region they are calling “The Rocks.”

A series of meetings with the community and local leaders occurred in July and August, setting the stage for this next big step: A Creative Space Needs Survey of creative people, especially those interested in affordable space. Input will help the local stakeholder group and Artspace determine if there is ample need for new space, what type of space to create, what “affordable” means in the community, where to build, and if this idea should be taken to the next step.

Your input is critical to advancing plans for a new, affordable, creative space facility in the Little Rock metro area. A facility where creative people (artists, “creatives”, arts educators/administrators, people who make things, and those who keep alive cultural practices) can have affordable space in which to live and work, create, practice, connect and share with the public.

Please take the survey at https://www.artspace.org/ArtspaceRocks to have your voice heard in this process.

 

The ASO is hiring a new Music Director and needs Little Rock’s music lovers to help!

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This weekend starts ASO’s first year of guest conductors as they see and hear which ones might be the best fit for ASO, the orchestra and our audience.

As they begin their search, they do want audience involvement. Please let them know what you think of the concert experience. This search will be a little different than last time. They want only the best candidates on their podium, and they want to honor their desire for confidentiality.

This means, some of the conductors audiences will see and hear will be candidates for the Music Director position and some will not. All conductors will bring their unique strengths, gifts and experience to our concert stage. The orchestra will likely sound different with each conductor. Please let them know what you think of the sound of the orchestra with each conductor. They want to know if you liked it and if you would like to see this conductor again.

This is a unique opportunity for all of us. Once the ASO hires a Music Director, that person will craft the sound we hear each concert.

Please take time to visit the street level Box Office before concert, at intermission, or after the concert to pick up a survey.

You can return the survey to the same location or mail it in to P.O. Box 7328, Little Rock, AR 72217.

2019-2020 ASO season kicks off this weekend

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The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra presents the first concert of the 2019-2020 Stella Boyle Smith Masterworks season: Scheherazade, Saturday, September 28th at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, September 29th at 3:00 p.m. at the Robinson Center.

The ASO collaborates with ACANSA Arts Festival of the South to present American trio, Time for Three, an ensemble that “defies any traditional genre classification,” and prestigious conductor, JoAnn Falletta. The concert will also feature Ravel’s La Valse, Higdon’s Concerto 4-3 and will conclude with Rimsky-Korsakov’s colorful musical telling of the Arabian Nights legends, Scheherazade. The Masterworks Series is sponsored by the Stella Boyle Smith Trust.

Interim Artistic Director, Geoffrey Robson gives these notes: “This program, led by distinguished conductor Joann Falletta, is vivid, lively, and bursting with character. Ravel’s La Valse was conceived as a ballet and a tribute to the Viennese waltz. Its relentless, adrenaline-soaked rhythmic drive pushes the orchestra to its limits and by design almost breaks apart at the finish. American composing phenom Jennifer Higdon wrote her Concerto 4-3 for the group performing it, Time for Three. The music is steeped in bluegrass, reflecting the eclectic tastes of the performers, who perform with an edgy and multicultural style. Last on the program is the great symphonic favorite Scheherazade, based on the Arabian Nights folk tales. Four movements of colorful music tell four stories, connected by themes for the dangerous king and the brilliant storyteller Scheherazade herself.”

Tickets are $16, $36, $57, and $70; active duty military and student tickets are $10 and can be purchased online at www.ArkansasSymphony.org; at the Robinson Center street-level box office beginning 90 minutes prior to a concert; or by phone at 501-666-1761, ext. 1. 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 https://www.arkansassymphony.org/freekids.

Bach Meets Bon Jovi as the Dallas String Quartet performs tonight as part of ACANSA Arts Festival of the South

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Dallas String Quartet

As the  ACANSA Arts Festival of the South winds down this weekend, the music is ramping up!  Tonight (September 27), the Dallas String Quartet performs at 8pm at the UA Pulaski Tech CHARTS Center.

The Dallas String Quartet (DSQ) provides a unique fusion of classical and contemporary music on both traditional and electric strings. In addition to four studio albums and international performances, DSQ has played “at home” for Presidents Obama and Bush, the College Football Playoff, NBA, and NFL organizations.

DSQ has sold out concert venues like the House of Blues and symphony halls alike, and has also played alongside such musicians and groups as Josh Groban, Chicago, and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. www.dallasstringquartet.com

Oxford American’s Archetypes and Troubadours kicks off with Rev. Sekou on South on Main stage

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Rev. Sekou [ARCHETYPES & TROUBADOURS SERIES]Tonight (9/26) at 8:00 PM – The Oxford American magazine is excited to welcome Rev. Sekou to the South on Main stage! This is the first show of their Archetypes & Troubadours Sub-Series. Doors open at 6:00 PM, with dinner and drinks available for purchase at that time. The series is made possible in part by presenting sponsors Chris & Jo Harkins and J. Mark & Christy Davis, as well as their season sponsor University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

Single tickets are $28 (General Admission), $34 (Reserved), and $36 (Premium Reserved). Please take a look at this very important ticketing and seating information before purchasing your tickets (view reserved seating chart).

Noted activist, theologian, author, documentary filmmaker, and musician, Reverend Osagyefo Sekou was born in St. Louis, Missouri, and raised in the rural Arkansas Delta. His music is a unique combination of North Mississippi Hill Country music, Arkansas Delta blues, Memphis boul, and Pentecostal steel guitar. In May 2017, he released In Times Like These, produced by the six-time GRAMMY nominated North Mississippi Allstars. AFROPUNK heralded the ”deep bone-marrow-level conviction” of his first album, The Revolution Has Come. The single, “We Comin,’” was named the new anthem for the modern Civil Rights movement by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Paste Studio celebrated this consummate entertainer’s barn-burning performance saying, “Rev. Sekou delivers the spiritual performance we need now.”

A leading public intellectual, Rev. Sekou has signed a five-book deal with Chalice Press—a publisher of progressive religious thought. The Press has republished Rev. Sekou’s Urbansouls: Meditations on Youth, Hip Hop, and Religion and Gods, Gays, and Guns: Essays on Religion and the Future of Democracy. His forthcoming work focuses on the contemporary civil rights movement, particularly Ferguson and Black Lives Matter.