Category Archives: Music

$1.5M Grant for Pulaski Tech Center for Humanities & Arts announced

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PTC CHARTSThe Windgate Charitable Foundation has awarded Pulaski Technical College Foundation a $1.5 million grant to furnish and equip the college’s new Center for Humanities and Arts which is nearing completion and is slated to open in January 2016.

The grant is the largest private gift in the college’s history.

“This is such an amazing gift and will be a game changer for the students and the entire community,” said Shannon Boshears, executive director of the PTC Foundation. “Many of our students have never seen a play or been to an art gallery. All of our students will benefit from this by enhancing their college experience and keeping them in school.”

The college will receive $1 million to purchase various and much needed items including musical instruments, art supplies, audio-visual equipment for the performance theater, plus tools and materials for the Big Rock Sculpture Park that adjoins the building. The remaining $500,000 will be used as a challenge grant that Windgate will match dollar-for-dollar to create an endowment to support the building’s operations.

Every student who is pursuing an Associate of Arts or Associate of Science degree will utilize the new building.

“We know that this gift will dramatically impact the lives of our students and community, and with its support to our Fine Arts curriculum, will cultivate an arts appreciation and perspective never before imaginable. That is a life gift for our PTC students and their families,” said PTC President Dr. Margaret Ellibee.

The 90,000-square-foot center integrates Pulaski Tech’s humanities and arts offerings including visual and studio arts, theatre, music, English, speech and philosophy. Inside are art studios, gallery and exhibit space, music rooms, a black box theatre with flexible seating, and 500-seat theatre that will be available for campus and community events.

Brian Jones & Bruce Adami present recital tonight for Central Ark. Chapter of American Guild of Organists

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Tonight, the Central Arkansas Chapter of the American Guild of Organists presents a benefit concert for Out of the Woods Animal Rescue of Arkansas.  

The organists are Brian Jones & Bruce Adami.  The concert is free and open to the public. Donations will be accepted for Out of the Woods Animal Rescue.
It starts at 8pm at First Presbyterian Church.

Brian Jones, one of America’s most highly regarded church musicians, is Emeritus Director of Music and Organist at Trinity Church, Copley Square, Boston, where he directed a widely acclaimed program from 1984 to 2004. He has since served in three interim positions: Director of Cathedral Music at the Cathedral of St John, Albuquerque, New Mexico; Director of Music at Old South Church in Boston; and Associate Organist of Memorial Church, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is active as an organ solo concert artist, and is in demand as guest conductor and accompanist.
In June, 2009, he was Organist in Residence at Grace Cathedral, San Francisco while the cathedral choir was on tour in Europe. He is Director of the Copley Singers, a Boston-based choir he founded in 2006, and with which he has appeared in the New England area as well as on Bermuda, where the singers collaborated with the Ensemble Singers of Bermuda in a concert in May, 2009 celebrating the 400th anniversary of the founding of the island. From January through May, 2010, Brian was Visiting Artist at Christ Church Cathedral, Lexington, Kentucky, where he collaborated with Erich Balling, Director of Music, in the outstanding program which features a choir of girls, boys, and men.

Bruce Adami is organist at Christ Episcopal Church, Exeter, New Hampshire. He has given solo organ recitals throughout New England. For more than thirty years, he has taught organists of all ages. From 1984 through 2004, he was director of music and organist at Brookside Congregational Church, UCC, in Manchester. He holds a Bachelor of Music in organ performance from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Haskell Thomson.

He is active in the New Hampshire chapter of the American Guild of Organists (AGO), for which he has served as treasurer and dean. In 2009, he was the faculty coordinator for the AGO Pipe Organ Encounter in Manchester. Since 2008, he has taught students through the Young Organist Collaborative, and currently serves on the Young Organist Collaborative Committee.

Musical Legacy of Sister Rosetta Tharpe celebrated tonight by Arkansas Sounds, AETN at CALS Ron Robinson Theater

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sister_rosettaTonight at 7pm at the CALS Ron Robinson Theater, Arkansas Sounds presents a detailed look at the life of Sister Rosetta Tharpe with a screening of The Godmother of Rock and Roll and a tribute mini-concert of her songs.

Arkansas native Rosetta Nubin Tharpe (Sister Rosetta Tharpe) was one of gospel music’s first superstars, the first gospel performer to record for a major record label (Decca), and one of the first artists to cross over from gospel to secular music. Tharpe has been cited as an influence by numerous musicians, including Bob Dylan, Little Richard, Elvis Presley, and Arkansan Johnny Cash.

In partnership with AETN, Arkansas Sounds will celebrate the 100th anniversary of her birth with a screening of the PBS American Masters documentary The Godmother of Rock and Roll, followed by a musical tribute performance of her songs.

A British Invasion at the Little Rock Wind Symphony tonight

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LRWS flagThe Little Rock Wind Symphony opens its 2015-16 season with “British Invasion,” a program of British music for winds.  Israel Getzov conducts in his debut concert as the LRWS music director.  The concert starts at 7:30pm at Second Presbyterian Church.

The program includes:

  • Jacques Offenbach: La Belle Hélène
  • Gustav Holst: First Suite for Military Band
  • John Williams: Cowboys Overture
  • Edward Elgar: Enigma Variations
  • Malcolm Arnold: The Padstow Lifeboat

Sponsored by Robert and Jo Ann McQuade.

Admission is $10, $8 for seniors, free for students.

The Little Rock Wind Symphony was created in 1993 to recognize the outstanding heritage of the wind band in Arkansas by providing a performance opportunity for professional and semi-professional wind and percussion musicians.

The Sisters Sweet are tonight’s Oxford American Local Live act at South on Main

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llsom sistersTonight at 7:30 PM is this week’s installment of the Local Live concert series.  The Sisters Sweet headline tonight presented by the Oxford American magazine.  Local Live showcases the best of local and regional music talent and is always free and open to the public. Call ahead to South on Main to make your reservations and ensure a table at (501) 244-9660.

The Sisters Sweet is a trio of sirens that sing and play original works by Candy Lee. Gorgeous three-part harmonies create a sound that is sensual and powerful, yet honest and tender. Though they’re not afraid to share their softer side, these ladies also know how to get down. Rooted in the earthiness of folk, The Sisters Sweet keep it fresh by merging modern indie influences with throwback moods of funk and blues. Their jazz-inspired vocal stylings are reminiscent of Billie Holiday and The Andrews Sisters. Their lyrics are thought-provoking and passionate, bringing into question the forms of our shared human condition, and evoking visions of a more harmonious reality.

Candy Lee is the 2011 Northwest Arkansas Music Award Winner for Best Female Singer/Songwriter and Best Female Vocalist in a Band. The Sisters Sweet (formerly Candy Lee and the Sweets) have performed at the Yonder Mountain Harvest Festival, as well as the Fayetteville Roots Festival, and a sold out show at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. They have opened for Amy LaVere, The Lost Gonzo Band, and Elephant Revival.

Monday Musings: Bob Bidewell

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BidewellBob Bidewell is the founder of The Studio Theatre, organist, musical director, musician, singer, actor and theatre director.  In addition to The Studio Theatre, he has long been involved in the Central Arkansas Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and Little Rock Wind Symphony (both of which have upcoming events this week).  He has served in leadership roles of those and many other arts organizations in Central Arkansas.  As an actor, he has shared the stage with Broadway stars Matt Cavenaugh and Kyle Dean Massey.  Later this month The Studio Theatre will be performing the musical satire Reefer Madness.

-My earliest memory was (age and incident):
1-2 years old. Hearing train whistles and begging my parents to take me to see the trains.
-When I was in high school and imagined my adulthood, I thought I would be…
Band Director.
-Star Wars, Star Trek, Battle of the Network Stars, or Dancing with the Stars?
Star Wars.
-I most identify with the Winnie the Pooh character of…
Owl (not because I’m intelligent and brilliant but that I’m older, somewhat wiser and love to teach).
-The performer I’d drop everything to see is…
Carol Burnett.
-My first paying job was…
Mowing Neighbors Lawns.
-A book I think everyone should read is….
A Time to Kill (John Grisham).
-My favorite season is…
Autumn.
-We are all geeks (or experts) about something. My field is….
Musical Theatre.

Creative Class of 2015: Israel Getzov

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Israel Getzov 286x400Newly appointed Little Rock Wind Symphony music director and conductor Israel Getzov has won wide acclaim for his ability to evoke expressive and enthusiastic performances from his musicians, and begins his inaugural season with the LRWS in 2015-2016.

Getzov is also the music director of the Conway Symphony Orchestra and the principal conductor of the Tianjin (China) Philharmonic. He is in demand as guest conductor in the United States as well as China.

As the Assistant Conductor of the Arkansas Symphony from 2001-2008, Getzov led classical subscription, pops, and education concerts as well as numerous outreach concerts around the state.

Getzov also hosted his own weekly radio program called “Izzy Investigates” on KLRE Classical 90.5 in Little Rock, and has performed live on WFMT and WBEZ in Chicago.

Raised in Chicago, Mr. Getzov’s musical studies began with the violin at age four, and later included percussion, which he played in his schools’ wind ensembles and jazz bands. At sixteen he earned a position in the violin section of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago.

Getzov holds a bachelor of music degree from the Chicago Musical College of Roosevelt University and a master’s degree in conducting from the Cleveland Institute of Music, and received additional training at the American Academy of Conducting at the Aspen Music Festival and the National Conducting Institute with the National Symphony Orchestra.