Tag Archives: Arkansas Symphony Orchestra

People’s Choice at Arkansas Symphony Orchestra

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Forty candidates. Thousands of possibilities.

This weekend, the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra will perform a People’s Choice concert.  For the past several weeks, the ASO has been encouraging people to vote for favorites in a variety of musical genre categories.

The winners will be revealed at the concerts this weekend – tonight at 8pm and tomorrow at 3pm – at Robinson Center Music Hall.  It is appropriate that a facility named after a beloved Arkansas politician would be the home to a concert programmed by popular vote.

Best Classical Composer
*Beethoven – Symphony No. 5 First Movement
*Gershwin – Summertime
*Mozart – Eine kleine Nachtmusik
*Tchaikovsky – Romeo and Juliet Overture
*Vivaldi – The Four Seasons

Best Classic Film Score
*James Bond
*Lawrence of Arabia
*The Pink Panther
*The Wizard of Oz

Best Contemporary Film Score
*Gladiator
*The Godfather
*Harry Potter
*Pirates of the Caribbean
*Titanic

Best Sci/Fi Soundtrack
*Back to the Future
*E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
*Star Trek
*Star Wars

Best Animated TV Show
* “The Flintstones”
* “The Jetsons”
* “Looney Tunes”
* “The Simpsons”

Best TV Show
*“Bonanza”
*“Hawaii 5-O”
*“Mission Impossible”
*“The Young and the Restless”

Best Kids’ Pick
*Anastasia
*Cinderella
*The Little Mermaid
*Mary Poppins
*Peanuts

Best Video Game
*Civilization
*Halo
*The Legend of Zelda
*Super-Mario Brothers
*World of Warcraft

Best Broadway Score
*Les Miserables
*The Phantom of the Opera
*The Sound of Music
*West Side Story

ASO Music Director/Conductor Philip Mann will conduct the winners.  The program hosts will be Craig O’Neill and Dawn Scott.

Sculpture Vulture: St. John the Baptist

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On the grounds of the St. John Catholic Center are several sculptures.  Today’s entry focuses on the statue which is the focal point of the campus.  The statue of St. John the Baptist sits in front of the Morris Hall.  The campus was founded in the Heights in 1916.

St. John is depicted holding a crucifix in one hand.  With the other hand he is pointing to the sky in the manner of an exhortation.  At his feet is a lamb  looking up at him.  Interestingly, for a person who is depicted in the Bible as wearing camel’s hair, this John is wearing a robe.

Once, St. John the Baptist watched over the seminarians on the campus. Today he is more likely to watch over the various walkers, joggers, pets and others who use the greenspace on the grounds.  In addition, the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra offices are currently located in a building on the St. John campus.

The statue was erected in memory of Thomas Lafferty an early Little Rock business leader.

ASO Ode to Beethoven

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On the heels of this past weekend’s Arkansas Symphony Orchestra of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, the ASO River Rhapsodies chamber music series presents Ode to Beethoven.  It will take place this evening at 7pm at the Clinton Presidential Center.  Tickets are $22.

The program will feature Lutoslawski’s String Quartet and Grandjany’s Rhapsodie.  Michael Torke, the ASO Composer of the Year, will be represented with Chalk.  The evening will conclude with Beethoven’s String Quartet in F-minor Op. 95 “Serioso.”

Torke will also be highlighted at the ASO on April 14 and 15 with Desert and Sea. Funding from the National Endowment for the Arts is, in part, responsible for the ASO to host Torke this year.

Chamber Music Recital at UALR

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Tonight at UALR, Felice Magendanz-Farrell, Naoki Hakutani and David Renfro will present a chamber music recital.  The program begins at 7:30 in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall on the UALR campus.

Cellist Felice Magendanz-Farrell was born in Utica, N.Y., and educated at Indiana University under artists, Janos Starker, Josef Gingold and Gyorgy Sebok. Chamber music and teaching have been her enduring pursuits throughout her life from Indiana University to Minnesota University, Eastman School of Music, University of Central Arkansas, to concerts in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Europe and Eastern Europe.

Japanese American pianist Naoki Hakutani, a native of Kent, Ohio, has performed as a soloist and collaborator across the U.S. as well as Mexico, Japan, Korea and Taiwan. Hakutani is currently serving as assistant professor of piano at The University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He received degrees from Northwestern University and Indiana University in Bloomington prior to receiving the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Texas at Austin.

A native of Kingsport, Tenn., hornist David Renfro received his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in horn performance from the Indiana University Jacob’s School of Music. Currently, David resides in Little Rock, where he is in his seventh season with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, currently serving as principal horn. In 2010 he also became the symphony’s Orchestra Personnel and Operations Manager. Prior to that appointment, David taught horn and music at Ouachita Baptist University and Henderson State University. In addition to his duties with the orchestra, David maintains an active teaching studio and performs regularly as a chamber musician and soloist.

Arkansas Symphony Orchestra – Beethoven, Schoenberg, Takei

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Actor and activist George Takei joins the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra this weekend in concerts at Robinson Center Music Hall to narrate Schoenberg’s A Survivor from Warsaw at a concert featuring a message of hope and unity with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony also known as Ode to Joy.

The ASO MasterWorks concerts are tonight at 8pm and tomorrow at 3pm.

Takei’s appearance is sponsored by the Stella Boyle Smith Trust and he will take the stage as narrator during Schoenberg’s A Survivor from Warsaw. The narration that accompanies this piece depicts the story of a concentration camp survivor from the Warsaw ghetto during World War II. Takei, a Japanese American who as a child was interned at an internment camp in Rohwer, Arkansas during World War II, is a supporter of human right issues and community activist.  Takei is chairman emeritus and a trustee of the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles and was appointed to the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission by former President Clinton.
Just after Schoenberg’s moving piece, Maestro Philip Mann and the ASO musicians will be joined by over 400 voices from the state of Arkansas for Beethoven’s prayer for hope and peace,Symphony No. 9, Ode to Joy. “This is perhaps the most recognizable work in the history of classical music, and for good reason,” said Mann. “Its message of triumph and victory through a shared brotherhood between peoples is an enduring, timeless, and transcendent declaration. Seen as a watershed movement in music history, the work has gained such significance and is now synonymous with important moments in world history—like its performance marking the re-unification of Germany and the fall of the Berlin Wall.”

Featuring:

George Takei, narrator
Schoenberg Chorus
River City Men’s Chorus
Beethoven Chorus
Arkansas State University
Harding University
Hendrix College
Lyon College
Ouachita Baptist University
Philander Smith College
Southern Arkansas University at Magnolia
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
University of Arkansas at Monticello
Members of River City Men’s Chorus
Philip Mann, conductor
Arkansas Symphony Orchestra

Fall in Love with New York City at Arkansas Symphony Orchestra concert

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Music from the Big Apple dominates the “Valentines in New York” Arkansas Symphony Orchestra Pops performance. Hear beloved hits from the stage with featured soloists Tony nominated Melissa Errico (My Fair Lady, Amour, High Society, Finian’s Rainbow) and Ryan Silverman (The Phantom of the Opera, West Side Story, Cry-Baby, Music in the Air). The orchestra will be under the baton of associate conductor Geoffrey Robson.

Saturday is the the 281st birthday of the City that Never Sleeps.  What better way to celebrate it Gotham than by hearing tunes by Frank Loesser, Jerry Herman, Burton Lane & Yip Harburg, George and Ira Gershwin, John Kander and Fred Ebb, Stephen Sondheim, Charles Strouse & Lee Adams among others? Joining these great songs and talented singers will be the talented musicians of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra.

The concert is at 8pm tonight and 3pm tomorrow afternoon at Robinson Center Music Hall.

Errico

Silverman

Mozart, a Moose and a World Premiere

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The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra River Rhapsodies series continues tonight with Mozart Meets PDQ Bach.

This program includes a world premiere, a trio, a quartet, a quintet, brass, strings and woodwinds.

The evening opens with Mozart’s Quintet in Eb-Major for Horn and Strings, K.407.  That will be followed by a world premiere of Steinmetz’s Trio for Oboes and English Horns.

Schubert’s Quartettsatz in C-minor, D. 703 is next on the program.  The evening concludes with P.D.Q. Bach’s Quartet “Moose.”

The performance is in the Great Hall of the Clinton Presidential Center, starting at 7pm.  For tickets or information, contact the ASO at 666-1761 or the website.