Category Archives: Music

ASO Composer of Year at Clinton School

Posted on by

UACSThe Arkansas Symphony Orchestra works in partnership with the Clinton School of Public Service to participate in the UACS’s Distinguished Speaker Series, hosting special guests who are in Little Rock in conjunction with ASO performances. The latest in these takes place on Friday, February 22 at 12 noon at Sturgis Hall in Clinton Presidential Park.

jenniferhigdonJennifer Higdon is the 2012-2013 Arkansas Symphony Orchestra Composer of the Year.  She is one of the most performed living American composers. Her list of commissioners and performing organizations is extensive and includes the Cleveland Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, Tokyo String Quartet, the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the President’s Own Marine Band, among others.

Higdon received the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Music for her Violin Concerto, with the committee citing her work as a “deeply engaging piece that combines flowing lyricism with dazzling virtuosity.”

This weekend, Higdon’s Concerto for Orchestra will be on the ASO’s program.  In addition, she will be featured at the ASO River Rhapsodies Chamber Series on Tuesday, February 26.

LR Wind Symphony Concert Tonight

Posted on by

LRWSThe Little Rock Wind Symphony presents a concert tonight.  Entitled “An Organ Extravaganza” it features guest artist Adam Savacool on pipe organ as well as the musicians of the LRWS.  Under the direction of music director Dr. Karen Fannin the program includes:

Sigfried Karg-Elert: Praise the Lord with Drums and Cymbals
David Maslanka: Traveler
Haydn Wood: Mannin Veen
Eugene Gigout: Grand Choeur Dialogue
W. Francis McBeth: Canticle for Eleven Winds and Perucssion
J. S. Bach: Fugue in G minor, BWV 578
Camille Saint-Saëns: Finale from Symphony No. 3 in C minor, op. 78, “Organ Symphony”

Mr. Savacool’s appearance is underwritten by The Steve Dunnagan Family and Bob and Susan Morrow.

The concert is at 7:30pm at Second Presbyterian Church.  Tickets are available at the door.

The Wind Symphony performs concerts each fall, winter, and spring in addition to its vastly popular Christmas Concert in December. All concerts are held at Second Presbyterian Church. Another annual seasonal highlight is the “Stars and Stripes Celebration” in honor of Flag Day, held  outdoors in June in MacArthur Park.

The Wind Symphony has performed in cities throughout Arkansas. Out of town concerts are usually sponsored by arts and education groups. The LRWS is a participant of the Arkansas Arts Council’s Arts On Tour program.

The Wind Symphony is supported financially by donations received from concert attendees and from individuals’ and corporations’ concert sponsorships. The musicians donate their time, effort, and talent as a gift to the city and to the audiences who hear them play.

LANTERNS! this weekend at Wildwood

Posted on by

LANTERNS! Festival, Arkansas’ only deep-winter outdoor festival, will light up the night at Wildwood Park for a fifth year of family fun and illuminating entertainment! Travel paved paths illuminated with fire pits and thousands of luminaria to enjoy unique entertainment, authentic food and beverages for all ages at eight cultural vistas from around the globe!

LANTERNS! runs from 6pm to 10pm on Friday, February 22 and Saturday, February 23.  On Sunday, February 24 it runs from 6pm to 9pm.

Tickets are available at the gate during festival days:
$10 for Adults
$5 for Children (6-12 years old)
FREE for Children 5 and UnderSHUTTLE service will be provided to and from Kroger Marketplace at Chenal Parkway.This year’s cultural vistas include:

Asia – Asian New Year festivals inspire LANTERNS! Hosted by Northington Investment Group, this vista’s serene Asian Woodland Garden & Pavilion are bedecked with paper lanterns and a traditional Chinese dragon. Sushi rolls, warming teas and sips of Sake beckon patrons to immerse themselves in demonstrations and traditions of Asian culture where families explore Eastern artistic traditions. Discover why it’s the Year of the Snake!

Bavaria – Visit the Park’s beer garden and polka to the sounds of The Itinerant Locals! This lively duo will have you dancing yourself into a pretzel under the full moon. Refresh your palate with German fare beneath the Maibaum and enjoy a lakeside feast for the eyes in the winter woodlands.

The Caribbean Warm up next to the fire pits along the shoreline, enjoy a show by the Park’s famed pirates (Armadillo Rodeo Improv Troupe), walk the plank, and seek your treasure in Pirates Cove.

Greece Travel back in time to the mythical land of ancient Greece where you’ll be greeted by living statues. Don your laurel wreath and help reconstruct ancient glory with vista hostess Christen Bufford and her team from Little Rock Central High School. Try a taste of lighter fare, maybe some Ouzo.

New Orleans Hot jazz continues all night indoors on Bourbon Street, where guests will delight in Cajun fare, signature beverages, and a fortune-telling Voodoo Queen! Thoma Thoma hosts our high-spirited Café du Monde while the kings & queens of this party feast on beignets!

Rio de Janeiro Café Bossa Nova, Vivian Norman and Patti Stanley are teaming up to take you on an adventure to colorful South America! Learn to Samba the night away while dining on exquisite authentic cuisine and sipping on caipirinhas.

Shakespeare’s England Hosted by Elizabeth and Tom Small with performances by the Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre, this vista transports you to Elizabethan England, complete with street urchins, fresh-roasted turkey legs, ale and kidfriendly Shakesbeer.

Venice The Park’s iconic Gazebo awaits sailors and ladies with a monumental selection of sweet treats! Commedia dell Arte performances will have you silly with glee! Launch wishing lanterns at the gazebo; your hopes and dreams will glow bright throughout this enchanting evening!

Bradley Hunter Welch Organ Recital This Evening

Posted on by

The Central Arkansas Chapter of the American Guild of Organists presents a recital by Bradley Hunter Welch tonight.  The recital begins at 8pm tonight at Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church.

Hailed as “a world-class virtuoso” and “an expert at defining darks, lights, shadows and colors,” Bradley Hunter Welch is increasingly in demand as a recitalist, concerto soloist, and collaborative artist. A native of Knoxville, TN,  Dr. Welch holds the Doctor of Musical Arts, Master of Musical Arts, Master of Music degrees, and the Artist Diploma from Yale University where he studied with Thomas Murray and Martin Jean.

He also holds the Bachelor of Music degree magna cum laude from Baylor University where he studied with Joyce Jones. Dr. Welch has also continued his study of organ and piano technique with Sheila Paige.

Dr. Welch is the 2003 First Place winner of the Dallas International Organ Competition and was also awarded the Audience Prize for the second time, having previously won it in 2000. In 2005, he was a featured artist at three regional conventions of The American Guild of Organists, and he made his European debut in France performing in the Chartres Festival.

He has appeared as soloist with the Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra, the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. With the DSO, he gave the world premier of Stephen Paulus’ Grand Concerto for Organ and Orchestra, the piece written for Bradley as the winner of the Dallas International Organ Competition.

Additionally, he has taught at Southern Methodist University and Baylor University. He is Director of Music & Arts/Organist at Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas, TX. In addition to these duties, he performs approximately 20 concerts annually under the exclusive artistic management of Phillip Truckenbrod Concert Artists, Hartford, CT.

Chamber Music Society of LR presents Rachel Barton Pine

Posted on by

The Chamber Music Society of Little Rock presents Rachel Barton Pine in recital tonight at the Clinton Presidential Center.

Rachel Barton Pine’s classical music biography leads with the cities whose orchestras she’s soloed with, including Chicago, Philadelphia, Atlanta, St. Louis, Dallas, Montreal, Vienna, New Zealand and Budapest, among others. She was a child prodigy who made her solo debut at age seven and has worked with numerous famous conductors — Zubin Mehta, Erich Leinsdorf, Placido Domingo and Charles Dutoit to name a few.

Hailed as “the most charismatic, the most virtuosic, and the most compelling American violinist of her generation,” her instrument is one of the most important in the world, the “ex-Soldat” violin made in 1742 by Guarneri del Gesu.

Yet like any young woman who came of age in the Nineties, violinist Rachel Barton Pine is equally inclined to talk about the musical loves of her life far from the sonatas and concertos she practices and which constitute her current professional life. She may have intensely researched the musical relationship between Johannes Brahms and violinist Joseph Joachim for her GRAMMY-nominated 2003 Cedille recording “Brahms and Joachim Violin Concertos,” but when she says, “They jammed together all the time,” we can see her rock sensibility shine through. She can reel off a list of her favorite rock bands — AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Anthrax, Metallica, Pantera, Van Halen, Slayer and Megadeth — as readily as she can talk about these 19th-century composers.

Support for Chamber Music Society of Little Rock is provided, in part, by the Arkansas Arts Council, an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

To purchase tickets, visit the Chamber Music Society of Little Rock’s website.

A Night at the Movies courtesy of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra

Posted on by

20121020-054530.jpgFilm music is iconic. Imagine Jaws, Gone with the Wind, Star Wars, Lawrence of Arabia, Harry Potter, or The Sting without their scores.

This weekend the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra presents “A Night at the Movies” to pay tribute to the wide range of film scores which have enhanced our movie going experience.  Since the Oscars are later this month, it seems an incredibly appropriate time to do it.

The musicians of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Music Director Philip Mann will perform selections from favorite motion pictures such as The Wizard of Oz, West Side Story, Titanic, Romeo and Juliet, The Pink Panther and much, much more.

The concerts take place this evening at 8pm and tomorrow at 3pm at Robinson Center Music Hall.

All kids in Arkansas from Kindergarten through 12th grade can attend all Sunday performances for free using the Entergy Kids’ Ticket. Kids must be accompanied by an adult with a ticket.

Baltimore Consort in concert this Friday

Posted on by

World-renowned music group The Baltimore Consort returns to Little Rock for a performance this Friday evening.  The group will perform as part of the Arts at Christ Church series on Friday, February 8, 2012, 7:30 p.m.

Tickets are $25 for adults and $15 for students. Tickets may be purchased in advance through the Christ Church Bookstore (501)537-1698.

The Baltimore Consort has delighted audiences on both sides of the Atlantic and earned their CDs a place on the Billboard Magazine Top-Ten list. The Baltimore Consort’s arrangements of early music from England, Scotland, France, Italy, and Spain speak to the heart as well as the mind, and their love for the early music of English/Scottish heritage has led them to delve into the rich trove of traditional balladry and dance tunes preserved in the Appalachian mountains and Nova Scotia. More recently, the group has explored the extraordinary repertory from the Iberian peninsula awill in a program entitled “Cancionero: Early Music from Spain.”

The Consort tours all regions of the USA, has also appears frequently in Europe, and has held residencies at the Walters Art Gallery and the Peabody Conservatory of Music in Baltimore, and the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina. Its performances on such syndicated radio programs as Performance Today, St. Paul Sunday, Millennium of Music, Harmonia, and Onstage (CBC) have broadcast its music far and wide.

The Consort has recorded fourteen discs on the Dorian label (click on Recordings link above). The group also performs with orchestra, in a family-friendly show entitled O’er the Hills and Far Away, which is a set of symphonic arrangements created by Consort member and composer Larry Lipkis.