Tag Archives: Arkansas Symphony Orchestra

Marching to 2nd Friday Art Night

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2FAN logo Font sm2March’s 2nd Friday Art Night features host of outstanding art exhibits and music performances throughout Downtown Little Rock tonight from 5pm to 8pm.

Among the highlights this month are:

Butler Center for Arkansas Studies

  • No I’m Not, He Is: A Flying Snake and Oyyo Comic Retrospective – Created by artist and musician Michael Jukes, the popular Flying Snake and Oyyo cartoon strip was featured in Little Rock’s alternative newspapers during the eighties. This exhibition gathers the cream of the corniest Flying Snake cartoons and other artworks for your viewing pleasure. Through May 25.
    • From the Vault: Works from the CALS Permanent Collection – Managed by CALS’s Butler Center for Arkansas Studies, the library’s art program also collects and supports artists working and living in Arkansas. This exhibition features historical and contemporary artwork that shows the breadth and quality of art being created in Arkansas. On display in the exhibition will be historical paintings by Donald Draper, small works on paper by Little Rock’s own visionary artist Arthur Grain, a spectacular sculpture by Mary Cockrill, and much more. Through April 27
    • Clinton for Arkansas – Selected materials from the Bill Clinton State Government Project depict Clinton’s political career in Arkansas and its impact on the state. Items representing both politics and policy are featured, including materials from his run for Congress in 1974 and his term as attorney general, as well as from his twelve years as governor. In addition, the exhibition highlights campaign memorabilia from 1974 through his second presidential bid in 1996. Through April 27.

 

Old State House Museum

  • Fourte in Concert – Fourte, the Youth String Quartet of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, will perform in the 1885 House of Representatives Chamber.
  • Things You Need to Hear: Memories of Growing Up in Arkansas – Just how different was life in Arkansas 50 or 100 years ago?  This exhibit explores the histories of regular folk from 1890 to 1980.  The exhibit is developed from years of oral histories compiled by special guest curator Margaret Jones Bolsterli.

 

Historic Arkansas Museum

  • Hidden Arkansas is an assortment of visual impressions by a group of creative art photographers from the Blue-Eyed Knocker Photo Club, begun in 2008. The assignment challenged the artists to capture in print form what each feels is “hidden” in Arkansas. Some found memories in the closets of an older building, hidden completely until hit just right by sunlight. Artists exhibiting are: Cindy Adams, Darrell Adams, Gail Arnold, James Allen, Ann Ballard Bryan, Mary Chamberlain, Ray Chanslor, Susan Crisp, Susan Ebel, Rachel Green and Rachel Louisa Worthen.
  • Opening reception with live music by Peg Roach Loyd on May 8, 5 – 8 pm, in conjunction with downtown Little Rock’s 2nd Friday Art Night

ASO Chamber Concert tonight features Composer of the Year

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ASO_2-colorAt tonight’s Arkansas Symphony Orchestra River Rhapsodies concert, ASO Composer of the Year Jennifer Higdon will be featured.

The program consists of Higdon’s Autumn Music and Piano Trio.  Also on the program are Barber’s Summer Music and Shostakovich’s Piano Trio No. 2, Op. 67.

The musicians for the concert include Diane McVinney, flute; Beth Wheeler, oboe; Kelly Johnson, clarinet; Susan Bell Leon, bassoon; David Renfro, horn; David Gerstein, cello; Kiril Laskarov, violin; Meredith Maddox-Hicks, violin and Tatiana Roitman, piano.

Higdon received the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Music for her Violin Concerto, with the committee citing Higdon’s work as a “deeply engaging piece that combines flowing lyricism with dazzling virtuosity.”  She is one of the most performed composers today.  During her time in Little Rock, she has spoken at the Clinton School and been featured in last weekend’s MasterWorks concert.

The concert is at 8pm at the Clinton Presidential Center.

Arkansas Symphony: Truth and Triumph this weekend

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20121020-054530.jpgThe Arkansas Symphony Orchestra returns with another MasterWorks concert.  Under the baton of Music Director Philip Mann, the program features Shostakovich’s Tenth Symphony as well as ASO Composer of the Year Jennifer Higdon’s Concerto for Orchestra.

In a season highlight, hear the ASO fill the Robinson stage with its full orchestral forces in a program of breathtaking power and expressive range.

Shostakovich’s awe-inspiring Tenth Symphony provides an opportunity for the talents, energy, and artistry of your ASO musicians to be showcased to their fullest. Premiered shortly after Stalin’s death in the USSR, this work is a product of its time, but is also imbued with timeless themes seemingly even more evocative today. Shostakovich the man is found in the very notes of the score and the transcendent power of music is displayed as he prevails in a popular masterpiece that begins with tragedy, terror, and violence but leads to an explosive and unforgettably triumphant conclusion.

ASO Composer of the Year, Jennifer Higdon, is highlighted in her Concerto for Orchestra, and the penchant for writing absorbing and compelling melodies that has endeared her to audiences worldwide is on display. Her virtuosity and range as a composer is explored fully in a work of creative contrast, Technicolor orchestration, propulsive rhythms, and an infectious vitality. The Concerto helped to cement Higdon’s position as one of the greatest living composers and in adding to the concerto tradition, she goes beyond highlighting principal musicians, and showcases entire sections, including the percussion with fresh and innovative sounds.

The concert takes place Saturday night at 8pm and Sunday at 3pm at Robinson Center Music Hall.

As always, kids can get in free on Sunday when accompanied by a paying adult as part of the Entergy Kids’ Ticket program.

A Night at the Movies courtesy of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra

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20121020-054530.jpgFilm music is iconic. Imagine Jaws, Gone with the Wind, Star Wars, Lawrence of Arabia, Harry Potter, or The Sting without their scores.

This weekend the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra presents “A Night at the Movies” to pay tribute to the wide range of film scores which have enhanced our movie going experience.  Since the Oscars are later this month, it seems an incredibly appropriate time to do it.

The musicians of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Music Director Philip Mann will perform selections from favorite motion pictures such as The Wizard of Oz, West Side Story, Titanic, Romeo and Juliet, The Pink Panther and much, much more.

The concerts take place this evening at 8pm and tomorrow at 3pm at Robinson Center Music Hall.

All kids in Arkansas from Kindergarten through 12th grade can attend all Sunday performances for free using the Entergy Kids’ Ticket. Kids must be accompanied by an adult with a ticket.

ASO River Rhapsodies tonight: The Rockefeller String Quartet

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Rockefeller Quartet

Baker, Reynolds, BeDell, Cline

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra River Rhapsodies concert series continues tonight with a program to celebrate the Rockefeller String Quartet’s 10th anniversary.

They will perform Mendelssohn’s String Quartet in D Major, Op. 44 No. 1; Glass’s String Quartet No. 3 (Mishima) and Tchaikovsky’s String Quartet No. 1 in D Major.

The concert takes place at 7pm at the Clinton Presidential Center. A limited number of tickets are available at the door. But the concerts usually sell out.

The Rockefeller String Quartet consists of Christian Baker, violin; Darby BeDell, violin; Katherine Reynolds, viola; and Daniel Cline, cello.

Christian M. Baker joined the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and the Rockefeller Quartet in September 2004. Chris’s doctoral research resulted in the publication of a book: “Violin Artists & Pedagogues: Their Schools and Pedagogical Influences in Historical Perspective (VDM Publishing House, 2009).

Darby BeDell, a native of Illinois, is in his fifth season as a member of the Rockefeller Quartet, and he has regularly participated in summer festivals including, Aspen, Steamboat Springs, Weathersfield, and Vermont.

Katherine Reynolds joined the ASO as principal violist and a member of the Rockefeller Quartet in 2000. Katherine also holds principal positions in the Conway Symphony and the Pine Bluff Symphony.

Daniel Cline is currently a member of the Rockefeller Quartet, the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, and the faculty at Hendrix College. He is also a pilot, skydiving enthusiast, and runner – having completed six marathons.

Philip Mann is the music director of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra.

ASO Musicians Play at Capital Hotel This Evening

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ASO at CH

Scene from a previous ASO concert in the Capital Hotel lobby

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

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.

ASO and ASYO Concerts This Weekend

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20121020-054530.jpgThe Arkansas Symphony Orchestra performs its first Masterworks concert of 2013 this weekend with performances at Robinson Center Music Hall on Saturday, January 26 and Sunday, January 27.

Guest conductor Guillermo Figueroa takes the podium in a program featuring Beethoven’s classical masterpiece 2nd Symphony, Resphigi’s Ancient Airs and Dances, and the ASO’s own David Gerstein as he steps up from the Principal Cello chair to perform Tchaikovsky’s Mozart inspired Variations on a Rococo Theme.

David Gerstein, cello

Gerstein

David Gerstein, a devoted performer of chamber and contemporary music has played concerts all over the world, from the stage of Carnegie Hall to the Great Wall of China.

Mr. Gerstein has recently appeared in concert with the Ying Quartet, flutist Leone Buyse, clarinetist Michael Webster, mezzo-soprano Susanne Mentzer, soprano Renee Fleming, cellist Fred Sherry, violinist Jonathan Carney, and Vern Sutton of The Prairie Home Companion.

Figueroa

Guillermo Figueroa is Music Director of both the New Mexico Symphony and the Music in the Mountains Festival in Colorado as well as Principal Guest Conductor of the Puerto Rico Symphony, with whom he performed to critical acclaim at Carnegie Hall in 2003, the Kennedy Center in 2004 and Spain in 2005.

As a Guest Conductor in the US he has appeared with the Symphony orchestras of Detroit, New Jersey, Memphis, Phoenix, Colorado, Berkeley, Tucson, Santa Fe, Toledo, Fairfax, San Jose, Juilliard Orchestra and the New York City Ballet at Lincoln Center.

Immediately after the Masterworks concert on Sunday January 27, the Arkansas Symphony Youth Orchestra under the direction of Geoffrey Robson will perform a program featuring Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8 and Beethoven’s Overture from Egmont. The FREE performance starts at 5pm on January 27 right after the ASO concert!