Category Archives: Music

Women Making History: Gretchen Hall

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Gretchen HallAt the 2019 Governor’s Conference on Tourism, Gretchen Hall was named Tourism Person of the Year.  This is just the latest honor for her.  In 2017, she was the first woman to solely receive the Downtown Little Rock Partnership’s Top of the Rock Award.

As the President and CEO of the Little Rock Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, she leads a staff that not only brings conventions and tourists to Little Rock, but also creates opportunities for local residents to enjoy their city more.

From 2014 to 2016, she actively oversaw the deconstruction and reconstruction of Robinson Center Performance Hall. Taking a New Deal era assembly hall and making it into a state-of-the-art performance facility was not an easy task. Gretchen and her team have worked with the architects, engineers, designers and consultants to make it happen.

Gretchen joined LRCVB in 2001 and worked her way up through the organization.  In May 2011, she was named to her current position.  Since that time, the LRCVB has undertaken numerous efforts to enhance Little Rock including a new amphitheatre in Riverfront Park, enhanced programming at the River Market, and increased financial support of cultural organizations.  She has worked to improve not only the meeting space available for conventions, but also to enhance the dining and lodging scenes in Little Rock.  In addition, she helped lead the effort to see the additional penny of the hotel tax be dedicated to support the Arkansas Arts Center and MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History.

The 2019-2020 Arkansas Symphony Orchestra MasterWorks season is announced

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The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra (ASO) announced its 2019-2020 Masterworks which includes guest conductors and a concert conducted by Geoffrey Robson, ASO’s Associate Conductor who has been named Interim Artistic Director.

The Stella Boyle Smith Masterworks Series opens Sep. 28-29, 2019, with a concert presented in partnership with ACANSA Arts Festival of the South. Luminary conductor JoAnn Falletta is the first featured guest conductor, and American trio Time for Three is featured in work written for them by former ASO Conductor in Residence Jennifer Higdon. The program also features Ravel’s La Valse and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade.

ASO’s casual concert and street party, Beethoven and Blue Jeans, returns Nov. 9-10 and features works by two Arkansas composers: William Grant Still’s Festive Overture and Florence Price’s Piano Concerto in One Movement. Karen Walwyn, a specialist in the piano works of Price, is the featured soloist, and Andrew Grams will conduct the concert.

The Masterworks series ends May 2-3, 2020, featuring music from Fanny Mendelssohn and Schubert along with the return of prestigious cellist, Zuill Bailey, performing Dvorak’s Cello Concerto.

The 2019-2020 season coincides with the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, guaranteeing and protecting women’s constitutional right to vote. ASO is celebrating by featuring two outstanding women conductors, JoAnn Falletta and Carolyn Kuan, two women soloists, pianist Karen Walwyn and violinist Simone Porter, and by performing works from four women composers: Pulitzer Prize-winner and former ASO Composer in Residence, Jennifer Higdon, an active and popular composer today, Little Rock’s own Florence Price, Lili Boulanger, and Fanny Mendelssohn.

The full Masterworks series includes:

  • JoAnn Falletta and Time for Three, Sep. 28 & 29, 219, with music from Higdon, Ravel, and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade.
  • Beethoven & Blue Jeans, Nov. 9 & 10, 2019, ASO’s annual casual concert, featuring works from Arkansas composers Florence Price and William Grant Still and guest conductor Andrew Grams.
  • Copland’s Rodeo, Jan. 25-26, 2020, with guest conductor Carolyn Kuan, and music from Ginastera and Bartok;
  • Sibelius & Debussy, Feb. 29 – Mar. 1, 2020, conducted by Geoffrey Robson, and featuring a multimedia work: In Seven Days: A Concerto for Piano and Moving Image, with pianist Andrius Zlabys.
  • Symphonie Fantastique, Apr. 18-19, 2020, with guest conductor Eric Jacobsen, and violinist Simone Porter performing the Saint-Saens Violin Concerto No. 3 in addition to the titular orchestral showpiece by Berlioz.
  • Zuill Bailey Plays Dvorak, May 2 & 3, 2020, with guest conductor Vladimir Kulenovic.

The concerts will be at Robinson Center Performance Hall.

Women Making History – Dr. Sybil Jordan Hampton

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Dr. Sybil Jordan Hampton made history as the first African American student to attend each high school year at and graduate from Little Rock Central High School.  But her impact on history exceeds that and extends into classrooms throughout Arkansas.

After a career which took her from elementary classrooms to corporate boardrooms, Dr. Hampton returned to Little Rock in 1996 to become the President of the Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation.  In that capacity, she oversaw many opportunities to broaden the ways the arts and humanities were used in classrooms and outside of classrooms.  Dr. Hampton led the WRF until her retirement in 2006.  Through her vision and leadership, many tens of thousands of dollars of support went to cultural institutions and organizations during her decade at the helm.

In the mid-2000s, following the unexpected death of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra’s executive director, Dr. Hampton served as acting executive director of the ASO while a national search could be conducted.  She had long been a supporter of the ASO and other cultural institutions as a patron.

During the Central High Integration 60th Anniversary, Dr. Hampton served as emcee of the Commemoration Ceremony.  A few months later, she received one of the LRCH Tiger Foundation’s first Award of Excellence. She has also been honored by inclusion in the Arkansas Civil Rights Heritage Trail and the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame.

She continues to be involved with Little Rock’s cultural life through her involvement in the Mount Holly Cemetery Association. She is a tireless advocate for this living museum of Little Rock’s past.

Last year, she was was interviewed by The HistoryMakers.  Recently, she was featured at Robinson Center when the public radio program “The Moth” recorded a show there.  L

 

Tonight at CALS Ron Robinson Theater – Arkansas Sounds presents Big Piph’s “The Glow”

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big piphTonight at 8pm, Arkansas Sounds presents Big Piph’s “The Glow” at the CALS Ron Robinson Theater at 8pm.

Epiphany “Big Piph” Morrow is a Stanford-educated international emcee and community builder. This noted TEDx speaker is a solo artist and front man for the 7pc jazz and funk infused, hip-hop ensemble, “Big Piph & Tomorrow Maybe”.

His music, talks, and workshops have taken him abroad to countries such as Morocco, The Gambia, Seychelles, Thailand, Myanmar, and more.

After a decade plus in the industry, his unique entertainment is relayed through the lenses of purpose, humor, creativity, race, and a global perspective. His latest project is a new age narrative, one-man show entitled, “The Glow”, with Corey Harris as music director.

Ticket prices are $15. Doors open at 7:00 pm with general admission seating

Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys in concert tonight at Christ Church

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Considered by many to be the leading U.S. ensemble in the Anglican choral tradition, the Saint Thomas Choir of Men and Boys provides music for five choral services each week at Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue, NY, and for the past three decades has also toured throughout the U.S. and Europe.

Tonight (March 21) they will be in concert at Christ Church in downtown Little Rock at 7pm.

Director of Music, Daniel Hyde, will make his final tour with the choir in March, of which their concert at Christ Church will be a part. Admission is $25, $10 for students. Ticket are on sale  at the door the night of the performance.

Tonight at South on Main – The GinSingers

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Sessions :: The GinSingersThe GinSingers will take you on a musical journey of a wide ranging world of jazz on Wednesday, March 20 for Sessions at South on Main, hosted by Read Admire. Concert beings at 8 pm. Purchase advance tickets for $8 or pay a $12 cover day of show. Tickets do not guarantee you a seat. To reserve a table please call (501) 244-9660.

ABOUT THE BAND

https://www.theginsingers.com/

“With sets that cover everyone from Stevie Wonder and Bob Marley to Nat King Cole, Tito Puente and Charlie Parker, as well as the band’s own lively originals, Cula du Café play a festive mix of pop, salsa, and jazz. Percussionist Jose Galeano ignites the band’s onstage fireworks with his thundering conga playing while drummer Chis Searles adds to the beat with his expert Latin rhythms. Meanwhile, bassist Jeff Haley and bandleader/vocalist/guitarist Joey de Lago intertwine their dancing chords, allowing sax player Elias Haslanger to captivate the audience with his smoky jazz aura.”

-The Austin Chronicle Salutes Cula du Café

Joel started playing classical guitar at age 8 under the instruction of his uncle Tom Johnson, of the University of North Texas. He began taking regular lessons with Nick Digennaro at the same time. While getting a degree in Economics at TCU Joel continued his classical guitar studies with Chip Christ. After Graduation Joel started teaching classical guitar lessons as the director of the North Dallas/Plano/Carrollton Childbloom Guitar Program. At the same time he began studying Flamenco with Miguel Antonio. Shorty after Joel met a great guitarist, Joey De Lago, who taught him the Flamenco/Afro-Cuban guitar technique, Mano-Roto. While under the musical apprenticeship of Joey De Lago, Joel founded the Music school, Child Play Music, played rhythm guitar for The Joey De Lago Band. Today, Joel runs The Child Play Music Guitar School and plays in a number of bands that gig all over the Dallas metroplex.

ABOUT THE CURATOR

Read Admire is an American guitarist, songwriter, arranger, and producer. Other hats he wears include chef, farmer, and environmental steward. By day Read runs The Urban Food Loop Project, a Little Rock-based non-profit with the goal of making communities compostable. (Shout out to South on Main for being responsible composters since day ONE!!!) By night Read works his hardest to be someone Quincy Jones would hang out with. Read strongly believes nothing brings people together like food and music and has built his life around both. Read has a degree in Music History from UALRand a Masters in Public Service from The Clinton School. From 2009-2012 Read helped build the Therapeutic Music program at the Arkansas State Psychiatric Hospital.In 2015 he worked for the South African National Youth Orchestra, touring the country with the orchestra as a program consultant. During his time in South Africa, Read lived and jammed with world-class orchestral and jazz musicians, chatted with Arch Bishop Tutu at the symphony, and saw the youth orchestra make grammy award winning Finnish conductor Osma Vanska cry! (If you didn’t know, Finnish men don’t cry.) South Africa taught Read about the magic that can happen when friends gather to make music. So this month Sessions is about sharing that magic with you! Each artist or group this month was invited because they embody the magic that Read encountered in South Africa.

104 years ago today, Sister Rosetta Tharpe was born. Celebrate her at special Arkansas Sounds screening

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Image result for sister rosetta tharpeTonight (March 20) at 7pm at the Ron Robinson Theater. Celebrate the life, legacy and love of Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

Learn about the woman who Cleveland County native Johnny Cash called his favorite singer.

Arkansas Sounds presents American Masters “Sister Rosetta Tharpe: The Godmother of Rock & Roll”

The director’s cut of the American Masters documentary profiles the newly inducted Rock & Roll Hall of Fame member Sister Rosetta Tharpe, paying tribute to the Arkansas musical legend on what would be her 104th birthday. This longer version features more performance footage and a special introduction by filmmaker Mick Csaky.

This event is FREE and open to the public. Doors open at 7:00pm with general admission seating on a first come, first served basis.

Presented by Arkansas Sounds and AETN/PBS.

Sponsored by Friends of the Central Arkansas Library System (FOCAL), Acansa Arts Festival, FM 89.1 KUAR, Dr. Elizabeth Fletcher Dishongh Charitable Trust and David Austin at The Charlotte John Company.