Category Archives: Music

Little Rock Wind Symphony: CARMEN and Clarinet

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The Little Rock Wind Symphony kicks off the 2012-2013 season tonight with an evening entitled “Carmen and Clarinet.” Under the baton of musical director Dr. Karen Fannin, the LRWS will be joined by guest soloist Kelly Johnson, clarinet.

The program for tonight includes Shostakovich’s Festive Overture, Rodrigo’s Adagio para Orquesta de Instrumentos de Viento, McAllister’s Black Dog Rhapsody for Clarinet and Bizet’s Carmen Symphony.

The program begins at 7:30pm tonight at Second Presbyterian Church.

Dr. Fannin has been music director of LRWS since 2006. She is also Director of Bands and Assistant Professor of Music at Hendrix College, where she conducts the wind ensemble and teaches conducting, low brass, and courses in twentieth-century music and fundamentals of music.

The Little Rock Wind Symphony gave its first performance in February 1994.   It now 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.

Claude Bolling’s Suite for Violin and Jazz Piano Trio at The Afterthought

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Tonight, October 8th, 2012 there will be a special one-time performance of Claude Bolling’s Suite for Violin and Jazz Piano Trio at The Afterthought, the jazz club on Kavanaugh Blvd. in the Hillcrest section of Little Rock.

With music starting at 8pm, saxophonist Brandon Dorris will perform a trio set with bassist Joe Vick and drummer Brian Brown. The Bolling,which is about an hour of music, will feature violinist Geoffrey Robson,pianist Louis Menendez, bassist Joe Vick, and drummer Brian Brown.

The evening will conclude with more music from Brandon Dorris and the trio.

Sophisticated jazz piano stylings blend seamlessly with lyrical and virtuosic violin playing in the music of Claude Bolling. $5 cover only.

Geoffrey Robson, violinist, is the Associate Conductor of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and violinist in Trio Arkansas with pianist Louis Menendez. Louis Menendez, of Hot Springs, AR, is a fine concert pianist, opera coach, and conductor, and is a faculty member at
Ouachita Baptist University. Joe Vick is a member of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and a Little Rock jazz mainstay. He also teaches music at College Station Elementary and Fuller Middle School in Little Rock.

Brian Brown, also a local jazz mainstay, has performed on just about every stage in town, and appears four nights a week at the Capital Hotel with the Ted Ludwig Jazz Trio. Brandon Dorris is one of the more versatile musicians in town. Recent appearances include the Hot Springs Jazz Festival, the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Arkansas Repertory Theater, and Dugan’s Pub.

ASO This Weekend: Classical Mystery Tour: A Tribute to The Beatles

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The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra presents the first concert of the ACXIOM Pops Live! Series – Classical Mystery Tour: A Tribute to The Beatles – on October 6 at 8 p.m. and October 7 at 3 p.m. at the Robinson Center Music Hall, conducted by Geoffrey Robson, ASO Associate Conductor. This concert is sponsored in part by Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Hear The Beatles live in concert with YOUR Arkansas Symphony Orchestra! These four musicians look and sound just like the real thing. Hear Eleanor Rigby with a live string section; experience the peace anthem All You Need is Love full of brass fanfare; and enjoy the upbeat and optimistic tune Here Comes the Sun. From early Beatles music through the solo years, this concert is the best of The Beatles as you’ve never heard them.

All kids through 12th grade can attend the Sunday matinee performances for free (with purchase of an adult ticket) using the Entergy Kids Ticket – available for download at http://www.ArkansasSymphony.org. Adult single tickets range from $18-$58 and can be purchased online at http://www.ArkansasSymphony.org or over the phone at (501) 666-1761. Student and military tickets are $10.

Featuring

Program:
Beatles Medley Overture arrangement by Martin Herman

Classical Mystery Tour will perform selections from the following:
A Day In the Life
All You Need Is Love
Beatles Medley Overture
Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite
Come Together
Eleanor Rigby
Golden Slumbers
Got To Get You Into My Life
Here Comes the Sun
I Am the Walrus
I Saw Her Standing There
I Want to Hold Your Hand
Imagine
Live and Let Die
The Long and Winding Road
Ob-la-di, ob-la-da
Penny Lane
Sgt. Pepper /Little Help From My Friends
Strawberry Fields Forever
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Yellow Submarine
Yesterday

All songs written by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, or George Harrison.

ASO Chamber Series starts Tuesday, October 2

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The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra kicks off the 2012-2013 Parker Lexus River Rhapsodies Chamber Music series tomorrow night.  Violinist Augustin Hadelich joins ASO musicians on Tuesday, October 2 at 7:00 p.m. at the Clinton Presidential Center.

The program will feature Haydn’s “String Quartet in C Major, Op. 54 No. 2,” Webern’s “Langsamer Satz,” Ysaye’s “Solo Violin Sonata in E Major, Op. 27 No. 6” and Tchaikovsky’s “Sextet, Op. 70 ‘Souvenir de Florence.’”

In addition to Mr. Hadelich, the musicians will include Kiril Laskarov, co-concertmaster of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra; the Quapaw Quartet – consisting of Eric Hayward, violin; Meredith Maddox Hicks, violin; Ryan Mooney, viola; David Gerstein, cello – and the Rockefeller Quartet – consisting of Christian Baker, violin; Darby BeDell, violin; Katherine Reynolds, viola; Daniel Cline, cello.

Sculpture Vulture: Bryan Massey Sr.’s “The Jazz Player”

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In recognition of the first annual Arkansas Sounds music festival taking place in Riverfront Park this weekend, today the Sculpture Vulture features Bryan Massey Sr.’s “The Jazz Player.”  It is located in the Vogelman-Schwarz Sculpture Garden.

The sculpture, cast in bronze, depicts a saxophone player jubilantly playing jazz.  It was donated to the Sculpture Garden by the Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce in recognition of the 5th anniversary of the Clinton Presidential Center and Park.  Massey was inspired to create this piece because of President Clinton’s sax playing.

Bryan Winfred Massey, Sr. is currently a Professor of Art/Sculptor at the University of Central Arkansas, Conway. He is primarily a stone carver working with a variation of stone from alabaster, soapstone, limestone, marble and granite. He also casts in iron, bronze, and aluminum as well as fabrication of steel sculptures. He was selected for the Governor’s Award for the Individual Artist of the Year, 2006.

ASO Kicks Off 2012-2013 with violinist Augustin Hadelich

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The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra kicks off the 2012/2013 concert season with the return of ASO and audience favorite, violinist Augustin Hadelich, performing Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole on Saturday, September 29 at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday, September 30 at 3:00 p.m.

Music Director Philip Mann begins his third season with the ASO at the Robinson Center Music Hall – the first of the Stella Boyle Smith Masterworks Series. The program kicks off with Strauss’s Don Juan and continues with Dohnányi’s Suite in F-sharp minor before Augustin takes the stage for the second half of the concert. Concert-goers can hear more about Augustin Hadelich and the performance at the American Airlines Concert Conversation. Informances are free and are located in Robinson Room 102 one hour prior to each Masterworks concert. This concert is sponsored in part by American Airlines.

Tickets range from $14-$52 and can be purchased online at http://www.ArkansasSymphony.org or over the phone at (501) 666-1761. Thanks to the Entergy Kids Ticket, all kids are free on Sundays with the purchase of an adult ticket. For more information, visit http://www.ArkansasSymphony.org.

Consistently cited in the press for his “gorgeous tone,” “poetic communication” and “fast-fingered brilliance,” Augustin Hadelich has confirmed his place in the top echelon of young violinists. After a stellar debut with the New York Philharmonic under Alan Gilbert at the Bravo! Vail Valley Festival in 2010, he was immediately re-engaged to play in Vail in 2011. He will return to Vail again in 2013. Mr. Hadelich just played a sensational debut with the Boston Symphony at the Tanglewood Music Festival, and will make his New York Philharmonic subscription debut in October.

Among his 2012/13 season highlights are debuts with the symphonies of Dallas, National/Washington, D.C., New Jersey, St. Louis, Buffalo, Milwaukee, Toronto, and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. Augustin Hadelich has also appeared with The Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, as well as the symphonies of Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati and Houston, to name a few. He has also performed extensively in Europe, South America and the Far East.

First Annual Arkansas Sounds

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Headliners for the Arkansas Sounds Music Festival will be Lucero, a country-punk rock band fronted by Little Rock native Ben Nichols; southern rock band Black Oak Arkansas; and rock and roll pioneers Sleepy LaBeef and Sonny Burgess (appearing with his band the Legendary Pacers). Arkansas Sounds is hosted by the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, a department of the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS), and will be held September 28-29, 2012, in the Riverfest Amphitheatre and the River Market Pavilions. Admission is free.

The Festival will feature a tribute to two Arkansas artists who died this year, Levon Helm and Michael Burks-featuring and hosted by Amy Garland Angel. Additional acts include the Cate Brothers Band, Runaway Planet, Rodney Block and the Real Music Lovers, Tyrannosaurus Chicken, the Salty Dogs, and Velvet Kente.

Focusing on Arkansas music and musicians both past and present, the Festival will also work to get musicians and songwriters involved in local schools, create songwriting workshops for kids and adults, and host related performances and events throughout the state.