Tag Archives: Arkansas Symphony Orchestra

ASO features Midori, Tchaikovsky, Mozart and Brahms

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midori_playingWorld famous violinist Midori joins forces with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra (under the baton of music director Philip Mann) to close the ASO Masterworks season in unforgettable fashion.

Midori performs Tchaikovsky’s celebrated Violin Concerto in a pairing of two inimitable favorites which also connects with the season’s opener, in that it was inspired by Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole. Adding to the festive feel of the program is Mozart’s frothy and iconic overture to the Marriage of Figaro, which defies any listener not to smile.

Closing the program is Brahms’s final and incredible 4th symphony– a work of stunning beauty and depth that grows out of the most simple of gestures, a falling then rising line. A sense of yearning and urgency underlie the work as counterpoint adds flavor and intensity to sublime lyricism. An almost overwhelming final movement harkens back to an earlier time in music in a masterstroke combination of the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic.

The opportunity to hear Tchaikovsky, Mozart and Brahms in one program is a special treat.  These three are certainly among the top favorite of classical composers for most listeners.  The concerts are tonight at 8pm and tomorrow at 3pm at Robinson Center Music Hall.

Midori, ASYO and CALS collaborate this weekend

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asoyoWorld-famous violinist Midori will accompany the Arkansas Youth Symphony String Quartet for two separate events at the Central Arkansas Library System (CALS). The events will be on Friday, April 12, 3:45 p.m. at the Children’s Library and Learning Center, 4800 W. 10th Street, and Saturday, April 13, 3:30 p.m. at the Terry Library, 2015 Napa Valley Drive.

The Arkansas Symphony Youth Orchestra (ASYO) was chosen as one of two recipients for Midori’s Orchestra Residency Programs for the 2012-2013 season.  The programs are designed to support and encourage youth orchestras in the United States. Through the week-long residency, Midori collaborates in a wide range of activities with both the youth orchestras and their partner professional organizations.

calsIn the 2012-2013 season, violinist Midori will celebrate the 30th anniversary of her performing career.

She made her debut at age 11 as a surprise guest soloist with the New York Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta in 1982. Today, Midori is recognized as an extraordinary performer, a devoted and gifted educator, and an innovative community engagement activist.

The ASYO began as a dream of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra’s founders in the 1960s and today continues to attract Arkansas’s leading student-musicians. Ranging in age from 9-18 years and traveling from over thirty-seven communities throughout the state, the ASYO has grown to over 200 members. The Arkansas Youth Symphony String Quartet formed eight years ago in 2005.

Free ASO Concert Tonight

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20121020-054530.jpgMany have asked what the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra will do when Robinson Center Music Hall is closed for renovations starting in 2014. Currently, a task force of board members, ASO staff, and musicians is researching and visiting venues throughout Central Arkansas that might serve as suitable performance spaces.

This is where the public has a part to play.

The ASO is hosting an open rehearsal tonight at 7:15 p.m. at the Wally Allen Ballroom in the Statehouse Convention Center. This rehearsal will be open to the public and FREE—so bring your friends and family. The ASO need hundreds of people to come and fill the room so that it can hear what the sound quality is like. The ASO also need your feedback. Will this be a suitable “second home” for the ASO while it is out of Robinson?

There is limited seating for this event, so please RSVP to Kelly Parker at (501) 666-1761, ext. 114 or kparker@ArkansasSymphony.org if you would like to attend.

The music to be played includes:

GIOACHINO ANTONIO ROSSINI: The Barber of Seville Overture
KLAUS BADELT/Ted Ricketts: Pirates of the Caribbean
ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER/Calvin Custer: The Phantom of the Opera: Selections
JOHANN STRAUSS II: The Blue Danube
HANS ZIMMER/John Wasson: Music from Gladiator
IGOR STRAVINSKY: The Firebird Suite
CHARLES ROMAULD GARDES nee CARLOS GARDEL/John Williams: Tango (Por Una Cabeza)—Kiril Laskarov,violin

ASO at Capital Hotel Tonight

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ASO at CHMusicians from the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra will be performing this evening in the lobby of the historic Capital Hotel.

The music will start at 5:00 pm and will feature the Quapaw Quartet.

In 2011, the ASO started these free concerts in the lobby of the Capital Hotel.  The marble and tile of this historic lobby provide a wonderful acoustic backdrop for the musicians.

The concert will feature short, accessible pieces along with commentary from the musicians.

Unlike concerts in music halls, guests here are encouraged to bring drinks to their seats or to stand and move around while the musicians are playing.  It is a relaxed, informal atmosphere where the audience and musicians alike are able to interact with each other.

This concert is part of the ASO’s ongoing efforts to play throughout the community under the leadership of Music Director Philip Mann and Executive Director Christina Littlejohn.  In addition to the Capital Hotel concerts, they offer occasional free concerts at UAMS and have recently started the INC (Intimate Neighborhood Concerts) subscription series.

Free ASO concert today at UAMS

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The Ruth Allen UAMS Series takes place from time to time at UAMS and is free. This afternoon at 4:30pm the concert will feature DDG Trio, a double reed trio. DDG Trio is composed of Leanna Booze, Lorraine Duso Kitts and Beth Wheeler.

20130325-192514.jpgThe program includes:

Steinmetz – Common Ground
I. Mending Dance
II. Lament
III. Song (after Landini)
IV. All Together Now

Quayle – A News Cycle
I. Impending Doom
II. Mass Hysteria
III. Class Warfare
Iv. A Heartwarmer

Boury – Flight of the Monarch
I. Out of the Cocoon
II. At the Flower
III. On the Path

Oeste – Variations on Variations on a Theme by Paganini

Directions

From Markham, turn south onto Hooper St.
Follow signs to Parking Lot 1.
Enter the lot, which goes underground.
Take the elevator to the “top” of the parking Lot 1, which immediately adjoins the back side of the lobby.
The Music Room is at the west end of the lobby, behind the grand piano.

ASO celebrates American Songbook

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20121020-054530.jpgThis weekend the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra features a celebration of works from some of America’s greatest songwriters.

Vocalists Chauncey Packer and Rachel E. Copeland join Philip Mann and the ASO to perform tunes from George Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess” and Hoagy Carmichael’s “Stardust” to Strayhorn’s “Lush Life” and Nat King Cole’s “Unforgettable.”

American tenor Chauncey Packer is an exciting talent on the stages of opera houses in Europe and the United States. In recent years, Mr. Packer has performed the roles of Steuermann DER FLIEGENDE HÖLLANDER with New Orleans Opera, Amon AKHNATEN with Atlanta Opera, Alfredo LA TRAVIATA with Pensacola Opera, and Rodolfo LA BOHÈME with Soo Theatre and Mobile Opera. This young tenor is highly in-demand for his captivating portrayal of Sportin’ Life PORGY AND BESS.

Lyric Coloratura Rachel E. Copeland continues to receive acclaim as a thriving young artist combining her crystalline voice with her compelling and energetic stage presence.  As Ms. Copeland’s career and reputation continue to grow, the 2012-2013 season sees her with repeat engagements with Opera North Carolina and Opera Per Tutti.

The selections for the concerts will include:

GERSHWIN – Cuban Overture
GERSHWIN – There’s A Boat That’s Leavin’ Soon for New York from Porgy and Bess
GERSHWIN/Holcombe – Gershwin Medley
CARMICHAEL – Stardust
STRAYHORN/Holcombe – Lush Life
COLE/Holcombe – Unforgettable
ELLINGTON/Holcombe – Duke Ellington Medley
HOLCOMBE – Songs of the South
GERSHWIN – Summertime from Porgy and Bess
ELLINGTON – Grand Slam Jam
RODGERS/HAMMERSTIEN/Walker – Soliloquy from Carousel
BERLIN/Ades – Irving Berlin – A Symphonic Portrait

The concerts take place at 8pm on Saturday, March 16 and 3pm on Sunday, March 17 at Robinson Center Music Hall.

ASO INC tonight at Christ Church

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christchurch_scaledThe Stella Boyle Smith Intimate Neighborhood Concert Series is a new concert series by the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, featuring fantastic music in gorgeous, acoustically unique venues around Little Rock.

The series continues tonight at Christ Church in downtown Little Rock (corner of Scott and Capitol).

The program will consist of :
ELGAR: Introduction and Allegro, op. 47
HIGDON: Soliloquy
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
BARTOK: Romanian Folk Dances

The musicians performing tonight include the Quapaw Quartet, the Rockefeller Quartet and Beth Wheeler.  Philip Mann, the music director of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, will be conducting.

Tickets may be purchased on the ASO website or at the door.  But seating is limited.