Category Archives: Music

“A Work of Art” – Jazz Week 2015 Kicks off today at Little Rock City Hall at noon

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apme awoa 2015Today at noon at City Hall, the City of Little Rock will host an event introducing the 2015 “A Work of Art” Jazz Week. The kickoff features the first concert of a week-long series of awe-inspiring performances. The agenda includes the introduction of Madison Moline, the 2015 Art Porter Music Education scholarship recipient, a performance by the students from the “Minors of Music” program and details on the concerts scheduled for the rest of the week.

“A Work of Art” is the primary fundraiser for the Art Porter Music Education scholarship program. All proceeds from the week-long fundraiser benefit the scholarship fund. “A Work of Art” concludes in early August in observance of the birth month of Art Porter, Jr. Attendees enjoy a week of unique educational experiences by an impressive group of local artists, music students and national recording artists.

Ticket information is available at www.artporter.org.

Tonight at 8 in The Undercroft – Fret & Worry

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llsom fretFret & Worry will be bringing their unique brand of music tonight to The Undercroft. It is located on Capital Avenue just east of Scott Street, in the undercroft of Christ Church.  The entrance is through the sidewalk-level red door on Capitol Avenue east of Scott Street.

The concert starts at 8pm, with doors opening at 7pm. The cover charge is $8 at the door. A donation will get you a fresh brew from Undercroft Beers.

Fret & Worry (Uncle Joe Meazle on guitar and RJ Looney on harmonica) sing songs that celebrate Arkansas and cover the subjects of trains, ladies of the evening, wrongful deaths, and moonshine.

Tonight at Wildwood – Maria Natale & Kyong-Eun Na in concert

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Tonight at 7:30pm, Wildwood Park  plays host to a recital by guest artist Maria Natale.

Hailed by The New York Times for her “plummy, penetrating voice”, soprano Maria Natale is quickly becoming noticed as a rising talent in the NYC area. At the Manhattan School of Music, she sang the role of Lady Macbeth in Ernest Bloch’s only opera Macbeth and was praised for her “high voltage vocal thrills” (OPERA NEWS). This year, she was selected by OPERA NEWS to sing in Lincoln Center in a Masterclass with legendary tenor Placido Domingo.

Ms. Natale will be joined on piano by Dr. Kyung-Eun Na. Dr. Na is a performer, educator, opera coach, and radio program director. She has served as a vocal coach and collaborative piano faculty at UALR and as adjunct faculty at Seoul Arts High School and Sungshin Women’s University in Korea.  Tickets are available here.  WAMA students and their families attend free.

Flowers and Dirt headline tonight’s Local Live at South on Main

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llsom f and dTonight at 7:30, this week’s installment of the Local Live concert series features Flowers and Dirt!

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: (501) 244-9660. Local Live is made possible by the generous sponsorship of Ben and Jane Hunt Meade.

The rural ingredients of Amy Garland’s songs create less of the musical gumbo typical of the southern half of her native Louisiana than a slow-cooked stew. Raised in rural Webster Parish, she blends folk, R&B, bluegrass, pop, and country into what one would expect from an artist raised on a cattle farm in the woods of north Louisiana.

Mark Currey is a Little Rock singer-songwriter whose roots run through North Texas and Southeast Arkansas. Inspired by roots rock, classic country, folk and americana music as well as southern gothic literature, Mark is a storyteller searching for a honest expression of his own southern voice. Currey has shared the stage with artists such as Billy Joe Shaver, Todd Snider, Wanda Jackson, Amanda Shires, David Olney, and Lilly Hiatt.

Trey Johnson mixes a blend of blues, folk, and country music into a cornbread salad that is all his own.

Young Artists Showcase tonight at 7 at Arkansas Rep

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Rep smti showcaseArkansas Repertory Theatre’s Summer Musical Theatre Intensive training program will present its first Young Artists Showcase this summer with proceeds benefitting The Young Artist’s Scholarship Fund.  The Senior Showcase (ages 16 – 23) will take the stage on Monday, July 20.

The showcases will feature a variety of dance, vocal and performance pieces starring members of the SMTI casts. Admission is $5 at the door and reservations are not required. Performances will take place at The Rep, 601 Main St., Little Rock, with the Lobby and concessions open by 6:15 p.m.

“You’ll hear and see some of the most amazing young talent from all over Arkansas,” said Nicole Capri, The Rep’s Resident Director and Director of Education. “I’ve witnessed these young artists in auditions over the last 10 years and I’m excited for audience members to experience what we look for when seeking new talent. I can’t wait to see what our inaugural showcase will bring to the stage this summer.”

Summer Musical Theatre Intensive (SMTI) is The Rep’s annual training program for aspiring young artists in Arkansas.  Under the direction of Capri, SMTI is an intensive, audition-based theatre training program designed exclusively for motivated young artists who are serious about the arts and musical theatre.

The SMTI staff is comprised of professional directors, choreographers, musicians and designers. Daily rehearsals are structured similarly to a professional summer stock experience and include instruction in musical theatre techniques, multi-media, costume and stage make-up, dance and vocal coaching.

Each session – broken into Select (ages 10 – 12), Junior (ages 13-15) and Senior (ages 16-23) – involves intensive daily rehearsals culminating in a public workshop performance of a selected musical or musical revue.

 

Wildwood Park gets greener, brighter due to Earth 7 AmeriCorps team

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Wildwood Park partnered with nine talented and hard-working Earth 7 AmeriCorps team members for several months. They made such a positive impact on the landscape here. Among their many accomplishments, Earth 7 planted more than 1600 bedding plants, removed 800 pounds of weeds, distributed 60 cubic yards of mulch, planted 16 new trees, rewired the Park’s pavilion, revamped the Cabe Theatre’s lighting inventory, restored 11 benches, and worked on 2 miles of trails including the new Wild 40 and the Ruth Allen Dogwood Trail.

NCCC AmeriCorps teams are groups of young people ages 18 – 24 who provide one or more years of volunteer service to nonprofits and communities in need across the United States. Thank you for your awe-inspiring help, Amy B. Stewart (Team Leader), Jillian Kelly (Assistant Team Leader), Daniel Bracamontes, Kara Churchill, McKenzie Dunlap, Jessica Faylor, Thomas Moore, Mike Mwrigi, and Gabriel Pope.  While in Little Rock, they worked with Michael Drake, the City of Little Rock’s Chief Service Officer and Lauren Faehl, the City’s AmeriCorps coordinator.

Alongside them were Wildwood’s Grounds Manager David Pickens, Facilities Manager Kevin Thompson, and some very fine volunteers including Tom Bruce, Pulaski County Master Gardeners, Bill Toland, members of Central Arkansas Master Naturalists and Central Arkansas Trail Alliance, Jim Patterson, and John Cooke of Stageworks.

According to the Corporation for National and Community Service, these individuals are among 62.6 million volunteers who last year gave 7.7 billion hours of time across the country to make our communities better places to live. At the Park in 2014, volunteers provided upwards of 4000 hours of service to assure that Wildwood is thriving and fulfilling its mission to enrich the lives of Arkansans of all ages by creating community through nature and the arts.

The various volunteers bring to life Wildwood Park for the Arts’ green spaces, performances, and programs like Art in the Park and the Wildwood Academy of Music & the Arts. From the gardens to greeting guests, from administrative tasks to the woods, your every hour counts and is deeply appreciated!

More Recognition for Little Rock’s Creative Corridor

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PrintA plan to transform four neglected blocks of Main Street in downtown Little Rock into an arts district has earned yet more international recognition.  The University of Arkansas Community Design Center and Marlon Blackwell Architect’s plan The Creative Corridor: A Main Street Revitalization for Little Rock has won Honorable Mention in Urban Design (Concept) of the International Awards 2015 sponsored by Architecture Podium.

The Creative Corridor retrofits a four-block segment of downtown Main Street through economic development catalyzed by the cultural arts rather than Main Street’s traditional retail base.  The goal is to structure an identity for the Creative Corridor rooted in a mixed-use work-live environment but sensitive to the historical context. The incremental approach employs three developmental phases to transform the corridor space into a downtown node. Planning and design for the Creative Corridor was funded by a 2011 Our Town grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

“This is yet another in a growing line of international, national and regional recognition for the Creative Corridor.  It is a testament to the outstanding design team at the UofA Community Design Center and Marlon Blackwell Architect. I am grateful for their efforts on this project,” said Mayor Mark Stodola.

“I am also appreciative of the outstanding local effort to take this plan and execute it,” Mayor Stodola continued.  “I look forward to seeing the excitement of the arts organizations up and down Main Street with their creative talent literally spilling out on to the sidewalks.”

The Creative Corridor features elements such as marquees, green and low impact development elements, and an art installation made from street lamps of different eras from city neighborhoods.

The Creative Corridor has also received other honors, including a 2014 Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects, 2013 American Architecture Award from The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies. It also won a Charter Award in the Neighborhood, District and Corridor category in the 2013 Charter Awards, sponsored by the Congress for the New Urbanism, and it was short-listed for the 2013 World Architecture Festival Awards in the Future Projects – Masterplanning category.

On September 14, at 3:00pm, a ribbon cutting will take place on the Creative Corridor.