Tag Archives: Intimate Neighborhood Concerts

Artober – Music. The sounds of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra

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Little Rock has a thriving music scene from jazz to blues to r&b to rock to soul to gospel to, well, you name it.

For over 50 years, the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra has been playing a pivotal role in that scene.  While they play programs that are largely classical music, they also incorporate many different styles of music into their offerings.  Last night, they played a concert with Tony and Grammy winner Heather Headley which spanned numerous musical genres.  The ASO is led by Interim Music Director Geoffrey Robson and Executive Director Christina Littlejohn.

Incorporated in 1966, the ASO now performs more than 60 concerts per season, which includes the Masterworks and Pops Concerts. In addition, the orchestra has a Chamber Series, River Rhapsodies, at the Clinton Presidential Center, ASO, I.N.C.: Intimate Neighborhood Concerts, and a busy schedule of statewide touring and educational performances in numerous venues, along with collaborations with Ballet Arkansas and the Arkansas Repertory Theatre. Integral to the ASO’s activities are its resident string quartets, the Rockefeller and Quapaw Quartet; The ASO Brass Quintet, ASO Big Band, and the Arkansas Symphony Youth Ensembles, which comprises two string-only ensembles and two full orchestras. Through ASO education programs over 40,000 children each year experience the magic of music.

Distinguished guest artists including Bill Clinton, Itzhak Perlman, Yo Yo Ma, Mignon Dunn, Marilyn Horn, Andre Watts, Maureen McGovern, Bernadette Peters, Maya Angelou, and Doc Severinsen, among others, have appeared in concert with the orchestra in Arkansas.

Comprised of the state’s most sought after professional musicians, the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra is heard by more than 165,000 Arkansans each year, and consistently plays to high critical praise.

Beethoven’s Triple Concerto highlights final Arkansas Symphony Orchestra concert of 2018-2019 season

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Laskarov, Mann, and Gerstein in rehearsal

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra closes out the 2018-2019 season with its final I.N.C., Intimate Neighborhood Concerts, performance.  It is tonight (May 23) at 7pm at Calvary Baptist Church, 5700 Cantrell Road.

The program features Karlowicz’s Serenade for Strings, Op. 2; Moszkowski’s Prelude and Fuge, Op. 85; and Beethoven’s Concerto Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Piano in C Major, Op. 56.  Arkansas Symphony Orchestra Music Director Philip Mann is the conductor.

The ASO Intimate Neighborhood Concerts series is a wonderful opportunity to enjoy fantastic music in gorgeous, acoustically unique venues around Little Rock. The concerts offer special, intimate performances where patrons can get up – close and personal with chamber orchestra ensembles performing pieces in perfect settings. In addition to hearing these beautiful works, concertgoers are invited to mingle with the musicians after the concerts.

Soloists tonight are Kiril Laskarov, violin; David Gerstein, cello, and Tatiania Roitman Mann, piano.

Kiril Laskarov is in his 20th season as Concertmaster of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. A native of Bulgaria, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the State Academy of Music in Sofia and a Master’s degree from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale where he studied with Prof. Michael Barta.

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.

Tatiana Roitman Mann has appeared as a soloist and recitalist across North America and Europe. The BBC hailed her performance of G. Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue with Oxford Pops Orchestra as “formidable…both accurate and with rarely seen joy.” Mann’s radio broadcasts include H.Villa-Lobos’ Mystic Sextet, on NPR’s Performance Today.

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra launches 2019 Intimate Neighborhood Concerts tonight

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The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Philip Mann, Music Director and Conductor, opens the 2019-2020 Intimate Neighborhood Concerts (INC) series with Songs from the Heart, Thursday, March 28 at 7:00 p.m. at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral (310 W 17th St, Little Rock).

Michael Underwood (ASO principal trombone) and Susan Bell León (ASO principal bassoon) perform music from Albrechtsberger and Lars-Erik Larsson, respectively. The program concludes with Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings.

ASO, I.N.C.: Intimate Neighborhood Concerts are presented in acoustically unique venues around Little Rock. The programs feature works suited to the acoustic and aesthetic space of each venue, giving patrons the opportunity to hear these works as the composers imagined them.

General Admission tickets are $29; active duty military and student tickets are $10 and can be purchased online at www.ArkansasSymphony.org; at the venue beginning 60 minutes prior to a concert; or by phone at 501-666-1761, ext. 1.

Program
LARSSON, Lars-Erik — Concertino for Bassoon and String Orchestra, Op. 45, No. 4
Susan Bell León, bassoon

ALBRECHTSBERGER — Trombone Concerto in B-flat Major
Michael Underwood, trombone

TCHAIKOVSKY — Serenade for Strings, Op. 48

About Arkansas Symphony Orchestra

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 53rd full season in 2018-2019, under the leadership of Music Director Philip Mann. ASO is the resident orchestra of Robinson Center Music Hall, to which the ASO returned in November of 2016 after a two-year renovation of the historic structure. ASO performs more than sixty concerts each year for more than 165,000 people through its Stella Boyle Smith Masterworks Series, ACXIOM Pops LIVE! Series, River Rhapsodies Chamber Music Series, Intimate Neighborhood Concerts, and numerous concerts performed around the state of Arkansas, in addition to serving central Arkansas through community outreach programs and bringing live symphonic music education to over 26,000 school children and over 200 schools. ASO is a member of the League of American Orchestras.

The 2019 Intimate Neighborhood Concerts announced by Arkansas Symphony

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Songs from the HeartThe Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Philip Mann, Music Director and Conductor, presents the 2018-2019 Intimate Neighborhood Concerts (INC) Series. The series opens with Songs from the Heart, featuring ASO principal musicians Michael Underwood (trombone), Susan Bell León (bassoon), and Blake Taylor (percussion) as soloists at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral on Mar. 28, 2019, and closes with Beethoven’s Triple Concerto on May 23, 2019 at Calvary Baptist Church in Little Rock.

Subscriptions and single tickets to the two-concert series are on-sale now; general admission single tickets are $29 per concert, and new subscribers get both concerts at half-price if they subscribe by January 25th. Patrons interested in the subscription discount should visit www.ArkansasSymphony.org/inc2019. Active duty military and student tickets are $10.

Tickets can be purchased online at www.ArkansasSymphony.org; at the concert venues beginning 60 minutes prior to a concert; or by phone at 501-666-1761, ext. 1.

The ASO Intimate Neighborhood Concerts series is an opportunity for audiences to enjoy fantastic music in acoustically unique venues around Little Rock.  The concerts offer intimate performances where patrons can get up-close and personal with musicians in chamber orchestra ensembles. In addition to hearing these beautiful works, concertgoers are invited to mingle with the musicians after the concerts.

Series Performances:

Songs from the Heart | March 28, 2019 at 7 pm
Trinity Episcopal Cathedral (310 W 17th St, Little Rock, AR 72206)
Philip Mann, conductor
Michael Underwood, trombone
Susan Bell León, bassoon
Blake Taylor, vibraphone

ALBRECHTSBERGER–Trombone Concerto in B-flat Major
LARSEN–Elegy for Bassoon and Strings
SÉJOURNÉ–Concerto for Vibraphone and Strings

 

Beethoven’s Triple Concerto | May 23, 2019 at 7 pm
Calvary Baptist Church (5700 Cantrell Rd, Little Rock, AR 72207)
Philip Mann, conductor
soloists TBA

KARLOWICZ— Serenade for Strings, Op. 2
MOSZKOWSKI–Prelude and Fugue, Op. 85
BEETHOVEN–Concerto for Violin, Cello, and Piano in C Major, Op. 56

 

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 53rd full season in 2018-2019, under the leadership of Music Director Philip Mann. ASO performs more than sixty concerts each year for more than 165,000 people through its Stella Boyle Smith Masterworks Series, ACXIOM Pops LIVE! Series, River Rhapsodies Chamber Music Series, Intimate Neighborhood Concerts and numerous concerts performed around the state of Arkansas, in addition to serving central Arkansas through numerous community outreach programs and bringing live symphonic music education to over 26,000 school children and over 200 schools. ASO is a member of the League of American Orchestras.

For more information about the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra call 501-666-1761 or visit www.ArkansasSymphony.org

Something New at tonight’s Arkansas Symphony Intimate Neighborhood Concert

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Stained GlassThe Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Philip Mann, Music Director and Conductor, presents”Something New” tonight (January 21) as the 2015-2016 Intimate Neighborhood Concerts series continues.

The concert begins at 7PM at St. James United Methodist Church.

PROGRAM:
FINE – Suite for Strings
RILEY – In C
MENDELSSOHN – Symphony No, 1

Grammy winner Michael Fine’s chamber version of “Suite for Strings” will receive its premiere performance at this concert.

Tickets are $25 and can be purchased online at www.ArkansasSymphony.org or by phone at 501-666-1761, ext. 100.

ASO, I.N.C.: Intimate Neighborhood Concerts presents gorgeous and acoustically unique venues and music selected specifically to explore the spaces of the concerts. Patrons can get up-close and personal with musicians in chamber orchestra ensembles performing pieces in the settings intended by the composers.

15 Highlights of 2015 – Opera in the Rock and ASO presented THE MAGIC FLUTE

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680 Magic Flute LogoFully-staged, full-length opera returned to the Rock for the first time in over a decade tonight and tomorrow!

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Philip Mann, Music Director and Conductor, in partnership with Opera In The Rock, opens the 2014-2015 Intimate Neighborhood Concerts series with Mozart’s Magic Flute. Performances were on January 22 and Friday January 23 at the Albert Pike Masonic Center in downtown Little Rock.  Dancers from Arkansas Festival Ballet also appear in the performances which is stage directed by Robert Hupp, Producing Artistic Director of the Arkansas Repertory Theatre.

Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) was written during the last year of Mozart’s life (1791). The opera was composed in the style of Singspiel (using sung and spoken text) and was an outlet for Mozart’s Masonic belief.

Magic Flute was an immediate success, performed over 100 times in the first two years of its existence. Mozart was not alive to see the 100th performance, having died only months after the premiere.

Tickets are $25; active duty military and student tickets are $10 are can be purchased online ; at the Albert Pike Masonic Center beginning 60 minutes prior to the concert; or by phone at 501-666-1761, ext. 100.  The Friday performance is sold out, but tickets remain for tonight’s opening.

CAST
Dana Pundt, Queen of the Night
Nicholas Nelson, Sarastro
Darren Drone, Papageno
Genevieve West Fulks, Papagena
Vernon DiCarlo, Tamino
Bonnie Frauenthal, Pamina

Others in the cast include Maria Fasciano DiCarlo, Stephanie Smittle, Kelley Ponder, Daniel Foltz-Morrison, Suzanne Banister, Kathryne Overturf, Satia Spencer, Robert Holden, Luke Frauenthal, Chase Burns and Sam Prescott

CHORUS
Sopranos: Alisa Dixon, Hayley Coughlin, Margaret McMurray, LaSheena Gordon
Altos: Claire Wilkinson, Melissa Wilcox, Sarah Blakey
Tenors: Adam Baldwin, Aaron Baker, Jonathan Treloggen, Josiah Wheeler, Sage Shaddox
Basses: J.J. Albrecht, Luke Frauenthal

PROGRAM
MOZART: Die Zauberflöte, K. 620 (text by Ruth and Thomas Martin)

2015-16 ASO, I.N.C. concerts start tonight with “Something Borrowed”

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The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra’s I.N.C. series returns this year, expanding to four offerings.  Tonight’s concert starts at 7pm at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral.
Under the direction of Philip Mann, the concert will feature:
MENDELSSOHN – Nocturno in C for Eleven Winds
SHOSTAKOVICH – Chamber Symphony for Strings
VISCONTI – Storm Windows
BRITTEN – Soirées musicales, Op.9 (after Rossini)

ASO, I.N.C.: Intimate Neighborhood Concerts presents gorgeous and acoustically unique venues and music selected specifically to explore the spaces of the concerts. Patrons can get up-close and personal with musicians in chamber orchestra ensembles performing pieces in the settings intended by the composers.