Tag Archives: Eric Whitacre

2019-2020 Little Rock Winds season starts tonight

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Image result for little rock windsThe Little Rock Winds and conductor Israel Getzov open their 2019-20 Season on Thursday, October 10th at 7:30 p.m. with “Melody and Passion”, a program of gorgeous melodies that exude passion and fire!

And, for the first time, the LR Winds’ will feature a string player as the guest soloist.  Stephen Feldman, cello, will perform Tramonto: Romanza for Cello and Winds, a reflective piece by Luis Serrano Alarcón that artfully employs full wind symphony accompaniment to the romantic cello solo.  Other lush melodies include songs from Gershwin’s “Porgy and Bess” and Whitacre’s Seal Lullaby.  Chance’s Incantation and Dance and the finale from Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5 present passion and fire so hot, the band may need fire-proof tuxes.

7:30 p.m. Thursday, October 10, 2019
Second Presbyterian Church, 600 Pleasant Valley Drive, Little Rock.

Tickets are available online at lrwinds.org and are $15 for adults, $12 for adults 65 and over, and free for students.

Program

Davide Delle Cese         L’Inglesina
John Barnes Chance    Incantation and Dance
Eric Whitacre                 The Seal Lullaby
George Gershwin         Porgy & Bess
Luis Serrano Alarcón   Tramonto: Romanza for Cello and Winds
                                           Stephen Feldman, cello
Dimitri Shostakovich    Symphony #5: Finale
Leonard Bernstein        Slava!

A gifted and enthusiastic communicator in recitals, chamber music, and solo performances, Stephen Feldman’s cello playing has taken him from St. John’s, Newfoundland, to Sacramento, California.  Formerly a member of the Fetter and Rivanna String Quartets, he also performed in the Quapaw and Sturgis String Quartets during his six years with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra.

A graduate of Swarthmore College, the Eastman School of Music, and the State University of New York at Stony Brook, Feldman’s mentors include cellists Steven Doane and Timothy Eddy.  He considers chamber music coach Julius Levine and Baroque specialists Arthur Haas and Paul O’dette also to be significant musical influences.

Israel Getzov has been the Music Director and Conductor of the Little Rock Wind Symphony since 2015.  He also serves as Music Director of the Conway Symphony Orchestra, and previously held the position of Associate Conductor of the Arkansas Symphony and Principal Conductor of the Tianjin Philharmonic, the resident orchestra of the Tianjin Grand Theater.  Mr. Getzov has conducted orchestras throughout the United States and abroad including Abilene Philharmonic, Asheville, Symphony, Cleveland Pops, Monroe Symphony, Skokie Valley Symphony, Shanghai Philharmonic, Symphony of the Mountains, Tianjin Symphony, Zhejiang Symphony Orchestra, Bolivia Classica, University of Taipei Symphony, and the Encuentro Jovenes Musicos Festival in La Paz, Bolivia.

Mr. Getzov started the violin at age 3, and later studied viola, piano and percussion.  An in-demand educator of ensemble techniques, Mr. Getzov holds a tenured professorship at the University of Central Arkansas and has given clinics at many schools in the U.S. and internationally.  A

Little Rock Winds was founded in 1993 to recognize the diverse heritage of the wind band tradition in Arkansas. It is dedicated to providing Arkansas communities live wind band music, including a variety of compositions and transcriptions that inspire audiences, challenge the players, and preserve the wind band tradition. LR Winds is an important outlet for the wind and percussion musicians in the central Arkansas area. The approximately 48 professional and semi-professional musicians are selected by audition and participate for personal development and enjoyment and as a service to the community. Six concerts are performed annually in Little Rock, and the band has performed statewide, from Texarkana to Cherokee Village, Harrison to McGehee.

Music of the Night this weekend in Little Rock presented by Arkansas Chamber Singers

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acs nightThis weekend the Arkansas Chamber Singers present their first concerts of the season.  Entitled “Music of the Night,” they will take place at St. Edward’s Catholic Church on Friday evening at 7:30pm and at St. James United Methodist Church on Sunday afternoon at 3:00pm.

Under the leadership of John Erwin, artistic director and conductor, the concert features excerpts from Sergei Rachmaninoff’s “All Night Vigil”, “Sure On This Shining Night” by Morten Lauridsen and “Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine” by Eric Whitacre. The choir will also perform “Dark Night of the Soul” by Ola Gjeilo and “Abendlied”, “O Schne Nacht” and “Sehnsucht” by Johannes Brahms.

Lynn Bauman is the accompanist, and Lisette Christensen is the executive director.

 

Tickets purchased in advance are $15 Adult and $10 Student; at the door they are $18 Adults, $12 Students.

Arts & Humanities Month: Sunday Afternoon Music Little Rock Wind Symphony; Arkansas Chamber Singers

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Little Rock audiences have two options for Sunday afternoon music today. The Little Rock Wind Symphony presents its first concert of this, its 19th season at 3pm at Little Rock’s Second Presbyterian Church.  Under the direction of Dr. Karen Fannin, music director since 2006, the program is entitled Warhorses for Winds.  The featured soloist will be Andy Wen on Alto Saxophone.  His appearance is underwritten by Fran and Dr. Al Nelson.

A highlight will be the world premiere of a new composition commissioned by the Little Rock Wind Symphony – Karen Griebling’s “Moduli Mundi” (“Tunes of the Cosmos”).

The program also consists of:

  • Samuel Barber: “Commando March”
  • Camille De Nardis: “The Universal Judgment”
  • Gustav Holst: “Second Suite in F”
  • Percy Grainger / Sousa: “Country Gardens”
  • Gustav Holst: “Mars”

Also at 3pm, the Arkansas Chamber Singers will be presenting their first concert of the season. Their performance will be in the Great Hall at the Clinton Presidential Center.  (They actually presented this concert as well this past Friday evening at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church.)  Since 1979, the Arkansas Chamber Singers have been presenting a variety of classic and contemporary vocal works.

This season has the theme: “Masters in the Hall.”  The first concert is appropriately titled “Masters in Hall, Masters in the Fall.”  Under the direction of artistic director and conductor Dr. John Erwin, the singers will perform works by the Baroque composer Claudio Monteverdi.  The singers will also perform selections by Brahms and Schubert.  To conclude the program, they will present “Five Hebrew Love Songs” by Eric Whitacre. Joining the singers in this concert will be cellist Stephen Feldman and violinist Israel Getzov.