ASO Ode to Beethoven

On the heels of this past weekend’s Arkansas Symphony Orchestra of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, the ASO River Rhapsodies chamber music series presents Ode to Beethoven.  It will take place this evening at 7pm at the Clinton Presidential Center.  Tickets are $22.

The program will feature Lutoslawski’s String Quartet and Grandjany’s Rhapsodie.  Michael Torke, the ASO Composer of the Year, will be represented with Chalk.  The evening will conclude with Beethoven’s String Quartet in F-minor Op. 95 “Serioso.”

Torke will also be highlighted at the ASO on April 14 and 15 with Desert and Sea. Funding from the National Endowment for the Arts is, in part, responsible for the ASO to host Torke this year.

Chamber Music Recital at UALR

Tonight at UALR, Felice Magendanz-Farrell, Naoki Hakutani and David Renfro will present a chamber music recital.  The program begins at 7:30 in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall on the UALR campus.

Cellist Felice Magendanz-Farrell was born in Utica, N.Y., and educated at Indiana University under artists, Janos Starker, Josef Gingold and Gyorgy Sebok. Chamber music and teaching have been her enduring pursuits throughout her life from Indiana University to Minnesota University, Eastman School of Music, University of Central Arkansas, to concerts in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Europe and Eastern Europe.

Japanese American pianist Naoki Hakutani, a native of Kent, Ohio, has performed as a soloist and collaborator across the U.S. as well as Mexico, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. Hakutani is currently serving as assistant professor of piano at The University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He received degrees from Northwestern University and Indiana University in Bloomington prior to receiving the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin.

A native of Kingsport, Tenn., hornist David Renfro received his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in horn performance from the Indiana University Jacob’s School of Music. Currently, David resides in Little Rock, where he is in his seventh season with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, currently serving as principal horn. In 2010 he also became the symphony’s Orchestra Personnel and Operations Manager. Prior to that appointment, David taught horn and music at Ouachita Baptist University and Henderson State University. In addition to his duties with the orchestra, David maintains an active teaching studio and performs regularly as a chamber musician and soloist.

Arkansas Symphony Orchestra – Beethoven, Schoenberg, Takei

Actor and activist George Takei joins the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra this weekend in concerts at Robinson Center Music Hall to narrate Schoenberg’s A Survivor from Warsaw at a concert featuring a message of hope and unity with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony also known as Ode to Joy.

The ASO MasterWorks concerts are tonight at 8pm and tomorrow at 3pm.

Takei’s appearance is sponsored by the Stella Boyle Smith Trust and he will take the stage as narrator during Schoenberg’s A Survivor from Warsaw. The narration that accompanies this piece depicts the story of a concentration camp survivor from the Warsaw ghetto during World War II. Takei, a Japanese American who as a child was interned at an internment camp in Rohwer, Arkansas during World War II, is a supporter of human right issues and community activist.  Takei is chairman emeritus and a trustee of the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles and was appointed to the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission by former President Clinton.
Just after Schoenberg’s moving piece, Maestro Philip Mann and the ASO musicians will be joined by over 400 voices from the state of Arkansas for Beethoven’s prayer for hope and peace,Symphony No. 9, Ode to Joy. “This is perhaps the most recognizable work in the history of classical music, and for good reason,” said Mann. “Its message of triumph and victory through a shared brotherhood between peoples is an enduring, timeless, and transcendent declaration. Seen as a watershed movement in music history, the work has gained such significance and is now synonymous with important moments in world history—like its performance marking the re-unification of Germany and the fall of the Berlin Wall.”

Featuring:

George Takei, narrator
Schoenberg Chorus
River City Men’s Chorus
Beethoven Chorus
Arkansas State University
Harding University
Hendrix College
Lyon College
Ouachita Baptist University
Philander Smith College
Southern Arkansas University at Magnolia
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
University of Arkansas at Monticello
Members of River City Men’s Chorus
Philip Mann, conductor
Arkansas Symphony Orchestra

Organ recital, James O’Donnell

The monthly recital of the Central Arkansas Chapter of the American Guild of Organists for February features James O’Donnell,Organist and Master of the Choristers of Westminster Abbey and, since January 2011, President of the Royal College of Organists.The recital will take place at 8pm at Pulaski Heights United Methodist Church.

O’Donnell is internationally recognized as a conductor and organ recitalist. He has given organ concerts all over the world, including the United States, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and throughout Europe. He has appeared as organ soloist in the BBC Proms and at many other festivals.

In January 2000 James O’Donnell took up his present appointment at Westminster Abbey, where he is responsible for the direction of the Abbey’s music at the daily choral services and the many great occasions which take place there. These have recently included the State Visit of Pope Benedict XVI and the Wedding of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

Alongside his responsibilities at Westminster Abbey, James O’Donnell has worked widely as soloist and director with many of the country’s leading orchestras and ensembles. In 2011 he became Music Director of St James’s Baroque. Until 2004 he was professor of organ at the Royal Academy of Music, and is now Visiting Professor. He was awarded Honorary Membership of the Academy in 2002, and in 2009 was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Music. In November 2010 he was Artist in Residence at Yale University. He was elected to an Honorary Fellowship of Jesus College, Cambridge in October last year.

Chamber Music Society of LR – Hye Jin Kim, violin

The Chamber Music Society of Little Rock is hosting violinist Hye-Jin Kim tonight.  She performs with pianist Ieva Jokubaviciute in a program featuring Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata, Sibelius’s Five Miniatures, and the Violin Sonata by Leos Janacek.  The concert will take place at the Parish Hall at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 1000 North Mississippi Avenue in Little Rock. Concerts begin at 7:30 PM.

Describing the artistry of this Winner of the 2009 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, The Strad lauded her “…supremely musical playing, well-thought out, yet of the moment.” Ms. Kim’s sensitivity to the expressive and contextual components of the violin repertoire enables her to transport audiences beyond mere technical virtuosity, and this remarkable musical depth and passion led to her First Prize at the 2004 Yehudi Menuhin International Competition when she was only nineteen.

For additional information and to hear Ms. Kim perform, visit http://www.concertartists.org/hye-jin-kim_bio.htm and www.hyejinkim.com

Tickets are $25 at the door, $10 for students. Additional ticket and concert information is available at: www.chambermusiclr.com

Fall in Love with New York City at Arkansas Symphony Orchestra concert

Music from the Big Apple dominates the “Valentines in New York” Arkansas Symphony Orchestra Pops performance. Hear beloved hits from the stage with featured soloists Tony nominated Melissa Errico (My Fair Lady, Amour, High Society, Finian’s Rainbow) and Ryan Silverman (The Phantom of the Opera, West Side Story, Cry-Baby, Music in the Air). The orchestra will be under the baton of associate conductor Geoffrey Robson.

Saturday is the the 281st birthday of the City that Never Sleeps.  What better way to celebrate it Gotham than by hearing tunes by Frank Loesser, Jerry Herman, Burton Lane & Yip Harburg, George and Ira Gershwin, John Kander and Fred Ebb, Stephen Sondheim, Charles Strouse & Lee Adams among others? Joining these great songs and talented singers will be the talented musicians of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra.

The concert is at 8pm tonight and 3pm tomorrow afternoon at Robinson Center Music Hall.

Errico

Silverman

Gio and Geoff play bachmozartbeethovenschubertchopinlisztrachmaninoffravelprokofiev

Gio

Geoff

Giovanni Antipolo will be returning to the Afterthought tonight for some more classical piano.  Joining him in performance is Geoffrey Robson on violin.

Among the composers who will be featured are Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Schubert, Rachmaninoff, Ravel, and Prokofiev.

The evening starts at 8pm, but for guaranteed seating an earlier arrival is recommended.  There is no cover charge.