Tag Archives: Arkansas Symphony Orchestra

ASO announces River Rhapsodies for 2012-2013

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On the heels of the recent announcement of the 2012-2013 Arkansas Symphony Orchestra MasterWorks and Pops series, the ASO has unveiled next season’s River Rhapsodies Chamber Series.

It will kick off on October 2 when Augustin Hadelich will perform.  He will be featured on September 29 and 30 with the MasterWorks series as the Richard Sheppard Arnold Artist of Distinction.  Joining him on the program will be the Quapaw String Quartet, the Rockefeller String Quartet and violinist Geoffrey Robson.  The works to be performed include Haydn’s String Quartet in C Major, Op. 54 No. 2; Webern’s Langsamer Satz; Yasye’s Violin Sonata in d minor, No. 3 “Ballade” and Tchaikovsky’s Sextet, Op. 70 “Souvenir de Florence.”

Appropriately the second concert of the series is entitled Duos.  On October 30, the concert will feature David Gerstein, cello; Andrew Irvin, violin; Tatiana Kotcherguina, viola; Ryan Mooney, viola; Geoffrey Robson, violin and Barron Weir, contrabass.  The program will feature Mozart’s Duo No. 1 in G for Violin and Viola; Rossini’s Duetto for Cello and Bass; Bridge’s Lament for Two Violas and Kodaly’s Duo for Violin and Cello, Op. 7.

On November 13, the concert is entitled Masterworks and will feature the Quapaw String Quartet, Louis Menendez on piano and violinist Geoffrey Robson.  They will perform Ravel’sPiano Trio in a minor and Beethoven’s String Quartet, Op. 130 and Op. 133.

The Rockefeller String Quartet’s 10th anniversary will be highlighted in the fourth concert of the series.  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 Arkansas Symphony Orchestra’s Composer of the Year Jennifer Higdon will be featured on February 26, 2013.  The musicians performing that night will be David Gerstein, cello; Kelly Johnson, clarinet; Kiril Laskarov, violin; Susan Bell Leon, bassoon; Meredith Maddox-Hicks; violin; Diane McVinney, flute; David Renfro, horn; Tatiana Roitman, piano and Beth Wheeler, oboe. The musical selections include Barber’s Summer Music; Higdon’s Piano Trio and Autumn Music and Shostokovich’s Piano Trio No. 2, Op. 67.

Spring in Little Rock will be celebrated with Appalachian Spring on April 16.  A host of musicians will play a program including Crumb’s Voice of the Whale; Debussy’s Sonate en trio for Flute, Viola and Harp; Higdon’s Amazing Grace and Copland’s Appalachian Spring.  The performers will be Carl Anthony, piano; Carolyn Brown, flute; Daniel Cline and David Gerstein, cello; Alisa Coffey, harp; Leanne Day-Simpson, Eric Hayward, Andrew Irvin and Kiril Laskarov, violin; Kelly Johnson, clarinet; Susan Bell Leon, bassoon; Ryan Mooney and Katherine Reynolds, viola and Barron Weir, contrabass.

The concerts will take place at 7pm at the Clinton Presidential Center.  Philip Mann is the music director of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra.

 

Architeaser – April 16

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Yesterday’s Architeaser featured Byrne Hall on the St. John’s campus in the Heights.  The building currently houses the offices of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra.  Yesterday the ASO concluded the 2011-2012 MasterWorks series.  This evening at the Clinton Presidential Center, this year’s final River Rhapsodies Chamber Concert will be held at 7pm.

This week we will look at some of the animals in Little Rock which are not at the Little Rock Zoo.

Architeaser – April 15

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Yesterday’s Architeaser concluded Capital week with a column capital at Robinson Center Music Hall.  The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra is playing there this weekend.

Today’s architeaser is below.

ASO Closes Out 2011-2012 MasterWorks This Weekend

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The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Music Director/Conductor Philip Mann presents its final 2011-2012 MasterWorks concert this weekend.  Entitled Desert & Sea it features performances of works by Wagner, Torke, and Debussy.

Gerassimez

The program will commence with the Overture to Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman.  Following that number will be the American premiere of Michael Torke’s Mojave Concerto for Marimba.  Torke is the inaugural ASO Composer of the Year.  The soloist on this selection is wunderkind marimbist Alexej Gerassimez.  The program concludes with Debussey’s La Mer.

The concerts take place at 8pm on Saturday, April 14 and 3pm on Sunday, April 15 at Robinson Center Music Hall.

About Michael Torke

Michael Torke has practically defined post-Minimalism, a music which utilizes the repetitive structures of a previous generation to incorporate musical techniques from both the classical tradition and the contemporary pop world.

Highlights of his career include: Color Music (1985–89), a series of orchestral pieces that each explore a single, specific color; Javelin, recorded both for Argo and for John William’s Summon the Heroes, the official 1996 Olympics album; Four Seasons, a 65-minute oratorio commissioned by the Walt Disney Company to celebrate the millennium and premiered by Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic; Strawberry Fields, whose “Great Performances” broadcast was nominated for an Emmy Award; and two evening-length story ballets, The Contract, and An Italian Straw Hat, for James Kudelka and the National Ballet of Canada.

About Alexej Gerassimez

Alexej Gerassimez was born in Essen, Germany in 1987 and received his first piano lessons at the age of five. Two years later he began to play percussion. After various early successes in competitions, among others 1st awards in the International Marimba Competition in Nuremberg, the European Music Competition for Youth, the Southwest-German Chamber Music Competition, four 1st awards including the highest number of possible points in Jugend Musiziert (a renowned national music competition for youths) and he won the Deutscher Musikrat-Competition (a national competition in all instrument categories for young adults) in 2010. In the same year he received the 1st award, the Audience Award and the Press Award in the TROMP Percussion Competition in the Netherlands, one of the most renowned international competitions for solo percussion. Today Alexej Gerassimez is presumed to be one of the leading percussion soloists of his generation.

His vivid performance activities have lead him to a wide range of European countries as well as to Japan, where he gave solo performances in Tokyo and Yokohama in the context of the German Year in 2006.

The multi-faceted young artist dedicates himself to composition, too. First publications with the Danish publisher Edition Svitzer have already been performed in the USA, Canada, Japan, and Europe.

April 12 Brown Bag with ASO Composer of the Year Michael Torke

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The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra will be hosting an opportunity to hear ASO Composer of the Year Michael Torke on Thursday, April 12 at a Brown Bag Lunch.  Mr. Torke will discuss his career as he has become one of the most successful living composers, his upcoming projects and some highlights of his piece, Mojave Marimba Concerto, which will be performed at ASO’s upcoming Desert & Sea concert. The discussion will be followed by a question and answer session.

When:
Thursday, April 12, 2012
12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. – Lunch & Lecture
*Bring your own lunch. Drinks provided.

Where:
ASO Offices, St. John’s Catholic Campus: 2417 North Tyler Street, Little Rock, AR 72207
Byrne Hall

*Reserve your seats by emailing ehowell@arkansassymphony.org or calling 501-666-1761 ext 100.

Olio Folio – Updates from the Rep, CALS and ASO

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Today we take a look at updates on a variety of previous posts.

First – the Arkansas Repertory Theatre has extended The Wiz through April 8.  It was originally supposed to end on April 1, but an additional week has been added due to overwhelming ticket demand.  Up next at the Rep after The Wiz – the annual ArtWorks auction followed by Next to Normal and A Loss of Roses.

Next up  – March 13 proved to be lucky for the Central Arkansas Library System as voters overwhelmingly approved the ballot initiative for future library expansion.  The vote was 4,548 FOR to 699 Against.  Because interest rates are at historic lows, bonds will be refinanced which will generate an estimated $19 million. Planned projects include:

– adding thousands of books, CDs, DVDs, children’s material, Arkansas history/genealogy materials, online audiobooks, databases, and eBooks to the collection
– adding space to accommodate the growing collections and services provided by the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies
– adding approximately 250 new parking spaces on the Main Library campus
– expanding Internet capacity and adding more computers and other electronic devices
– expanding children and adult spaces at the McMath Library on John Barrow Road
– constructing a 350-seat auditorium on the Main Library campus for expanded programs for children and adults
– making miscellaneous improvements and repairs to various Little Rock branch libraries
– purchasing land in far west Little Rock for a future branch

 

Finally, the audience spoke at the recent Arkansas Symphony Orchestra “People’s Choice” Pops Concert.  The audience chose the following pieces to be performed:

Best Classical Composer
*Beethoven – Symphony No. 5 First Movement

Best Classic Film Score
*Lawrence of Arabia

Best Contemporary Film Score
*Titanic

Best Sci/Fi Soundtrack
*Star Wars

Best Animated TV Show
* “Looney Tunes”

Best TV Show
*“Mission Impossible”

Best Kids’ Pick
*Anastasia

Best Video Game
*The Legend of Zelda

Best Broadway Score
*The Phantom of the Opera

 

Arkansas Symphony 2012-2013 Masterworks and Pops

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Continuing with the Spring Break theme of looking to next year, today’s entry looks at the 2012-2013 Masterworks and Pops offerings from the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra.

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra will kick off the 2012-2013 season on September 29 and 30 with a Stella Boyle Smith Masterworks concert featuring violinist Augustin Hadelich returning to play Eduoard Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole.  Also on the program are Strauss’ Don Juan and von Dohanyi’s Suite in F-sharp Minor. ASO Musical Director/Conductor Philip Mann will conduct.

The ASO next turns to the Pops series. The Acxiom Pops Live! series starts on October 6 & 7 with the Beatles tribute act Classical Mystery Tour. ASO Associate Conductor Geoffrey Robson will lead this concert.

Pulitzer Prize winning composer Jennifer Higdon will be the ASO Composer of the Year for 2012-2013.  Her composition To the Point will be featured on the ASO’s second Masterworks concert on October 20 and 21.  That concert will also featured pianist Elissa Bolkkvadze performing Saint-Saens’ Piano Concerto No. 2 and Sibelius’ Symphony No. 5.

On November 10 and 11, the ASO’s annual “Beethoven & Blue Jeans” concert will showcase Tan Dun’s Pipa Concerto featuring soloist Wu Man. Also on the program is the overture to Beethoven’s only ballet, The Creatures of Prometheus.  The evening will conclude with Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade.

For many families, it isn’t the holidays without the annual ASO Happy Holidays concert.  In 2012 it will take place on December 14-16.  Plan accordingly.

In January, the ASO will start 2013 with guest conductor Guillermo Figueroa, music director of the New Mexico Symphony and Colorado’s Music in the Mountains Festival on January 26 and 27.  ASO principal cellist David Gerstein will solo on Tchaikovsky’s Variationson a Rococo Theme.  The concerts will also include Respighi’s Ancient Airs and Dances Suite No. 1 and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2.

Returning to Pops, on February 9 and 10, the ASO will present “A Night at the Movies.”  Later that month, the ASO will feature Composer of the Year Higdon again on February 23 and 24.  In addition to her blue cathedral, the program will include Haydn’s No. 95 in C minor and Shostakovich’s No. 10 in E minor.

The ASO will march into March with a celebration of the American Songbook on the Pops schedule on March 16 and 17.

The Masterworks season will conclude on April 13 and 14, 2013.  Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto featuring Midori will be the centerpiece of the evening.  Also on the bill will be the overture to Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro as well as Brahms’ Symphony No. 4.

The final concert of the 2012-2013 season will be in the Pops series: Cirque de la Symphonie.  This concert, on May 11 and 12, will featured six Cirque du Soleil veterans performing to music accompanied by the ASO.

Sponsors for the 2012-2013 season are the Stella Boyle Smith Trust, Acxiom and American Airlines.