Tag Archives: Philip Mann

Mozart’s THE MAGIC FLUTE brings opera back to LR in joint venture of ASO and Opera in the Rock

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680 Magic Flute LogoFully-staged, full-length opera returns 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 are on Thursday, January 22nd and Friday January 23rd at 7 p.m. 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.

The opera is filled with symbolism, especially focused on the number three.  Examples include the opening with Der Dreimalige Akkord, the thrice-repeated chord, three Ladies, three Spirits, and even the selection of key: E-flat major in three flats.

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)

About the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra
The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 49th season in 2014-2015, under the leadership of Music Director Philip Mann. ASO is the resident orchestra of Robinson Center Music Hall, and 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, 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.

Opera In The Rock
Opera in the Rock is 501(c)3 professional opera company that was formed in the spring of 2012. Our mission is to enrich the cultural life of Arkansas through opera by utilizing local, state and regional talents. Our purpose is to produce main stage opera and a continuing opera review series, in addition to providing educational and outreach programs for our community youth through the Jennifer Boccarossa Young Artist Program. Our goal is to provide local, state and regional talents an opportunity to further their artistic careers. Opera In The Rock is partially funded by the Arkansas Arts Council, an agency of the Department of Arkansas Heritage.

A Swingin’ Holiday Extravaganza on Tap with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra this weekend

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Photo courtesy of ASO

Photo courtesy of ASO

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra (ASO), Philip Mann, Music Director and Conductor, presents Swingin’ Holiday Extravaganza this weekend.  Performances began last night and continue tonight at 7:30 and tomorrow at 3 at the Pulaski Academy Connor Performing Arts Center, 12701 Hinson Road, Little Rock.

The ASO presents a children’s fair one hour before the Sunday concert featuring arts and crafts, instrument petting zoos, and live music. The fair is complimentary for ASO patrons.

Broadway singers Destan Owens and Mandy Gonzalez return to lead a celebration of holiday music and festival. Traditional tunes will be performed like “Jingle Bells,” “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” and “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” and music from holiday movies like “The Polar Express” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” The exciting and uplifting swing stylings of Owens and Gonzalez are sure to bring a smile to faces of all ages this holiday season. The Pops Live! Series is sponsored by Acxiom.  The concert sponsors are Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield and Arkansas Democrat Gazette.

Tickets are $19, $35, $49, and $58; active duty military and student tickets are $10 are can be purchased online atwww.ArkansasSymphony.org; at the Connor Performing Arts Center box office beginning 90 minutes prior to a concert; or by phone at 501-666-1761, ext. 100. All Arkansas students grades K-12 are admitted to Sunday’s matinee free of charge with the purchase of an adult ticket using the Entergy Kids’ Ticket, downloadable at the ASO website.

PROGRAM:
The Polar Express Concert Suite
It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
The Christmas Song & Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
Baby it’s Cold Outside
How the Grinch Stole Christmas Medley
We Need a Little Christmas
The Nutcracker Suite
Feliz Navidad
12 Days After Christmas
I’ll Be Home for Christmas
Santa Claus is Coming to Town
A Charlie Brown Christmas
Sleigh Ride
Audience Sing-Along: (Jingle Bells, Joy to the World, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, Silent Night, Away in a Manger, Deck the Halls, O Come, All Ye Faithful)
O Holy Night
The Prayer

About the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 49th season in 2014-2015, under the leadership of Music Director Philip Mann. The resident orchestra of the Robinson Center Music Hall – under renovation until 2016 – the ASO performs more than sixty concerts each year for more than 165,000 people around the state of Arkansas. During the renovation the ASO will perform the Stella Boyle Smith Masterworks Series at the Maumelle Performing Arts Center and the Acxiom Pops Live! Series at the Connor Performing Arts Center of Pulaski Academy. In addition to the Masterworks, Pops, and Landers FIAT River Rhapsodies, the ASO serves Arkansas through numerous community outreach programs and bringing symphonic music education to over 26,000 school children in over 200 schools.

Beethoven & Corigliano highlight tonight’s ASO River Rhapsodies Chamber Concert: Italian Serenade

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ASO_2-colorThe Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Philip Mann, Music Director and Conductor, presents the next concert of its 2014-2015 Landers FIAT River Rhapsodies Chamber Music Series: Italian Serenade.

ASO’s Quapaw and Rockefeller Quartets present music from Beethoven, Wolf, and ASO Composer in Residence John Corigliano in the beautiful Grand Hall of the Clinton Presidential Center, November 11th, 2014 at 7:00 PM, 1200 President Clinton Ave., Little Rock, AR. A cash bar is open at 6 PM and at intermission, and patrons are invited to carry drinks into the hall. Media sponsor for the Landers FIAT River Rhapsodies Chamber Music Series is KUAR/KLRE.

Tickets are $23; active duty military and student tickets are $10 are can be purchased online atwww.ArkansasSymphony.org; at the Clinton Presidential Center box office beginning 60 minutes prior to a concert; or by phone at 501-666-1761, ext. 100.

ARTISTS

Quapaw Quartet: Eric Hayward, Meredith Maddox Hicks, Ryan Mooney, David Gerstein

Rockefeller Quartet: Katherine Williamson, Trisha McGovern, Katherine Reynolds, Daniel Cline

 

PROGRAM

BEETHOVEN: String Quartet in C, Op. 59, No. 3

CORIGLIANO: String Quartet No. 1

WOLF: Italian Serenade in G

 

ABOUT THE ARKANSAS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 49th season in 2014-2015, under the leadership of Music Director Philip Mann. ASO is the resident orchestra of Robinson Center Music Hall, and performs more than sixty concerts each year for more than 165,000 people through its Stella Boyle Smith Masterworks Series, ACXIOM Pops LIVE! Series, Landers FIAT River Rhapsodies Chamber Music Series, 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.

Beethoven & Blue Jeans this weekend with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra

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isbin_sony_soho_11The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, Philip Mann, Music Director and Conductor, presents the third concert in the 2014-2015 Stella Boyle Smith Masterworks Series: Beethoven and Blue Jeans. Beethoven’s iconic masterpiece, Symphony No. 5, is joined by returning virtuoso guitarist, Sharon Isbin. Ms. Isbin will perform ASO Composer of the Year John Corigliano’s Troubadors – Variations for Guitar and Chamber Orchestra. The concert takes place Saturday, November 8th at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, November 9th at 3:00 p.m. at the Maumelle Performing Arts Center, 100 Victory Lane, Maumelle. The Masterworks Series is sponsored by the Stella Boyle Smith Trust.

American Airlines Concert Conversations – All concert ticket holders are invited to a pre-concert lecture an hour before each Masterworks concert. These talks feature insights from the Maestro and guest artists, and feature musical examples to enrich the concert experience.

Tickets are $19, $35, $49, and $58; active duty military and student tickets are $10 are can be purchased online at www.ArkansasSymphony.org; at the Maumelle Performing Arts Center box office beginning 90 minutes prior to a concert; or by phone at 501-666-1761, ext. 100. All Arkansas students grades K-12 are admitted to Sunday’s matinee free of charge with the purchase of an adult ticket using the Entergy Kids’ Ticket, downloadable at the ASO website.

PROGRAM:
CORIGLIANO: Three Hallucinations from Altered States
CORIGLIANO: Troubadors – Variations for Guitar and Chamber Orchestra
BEETHOVEN: Symphony No. 5 in C minor

Corigliano’s Troubadours was premiered by the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra with soloist Sharon Isbin. With perhaps the most familiar opening of any piece of classical orchestra music, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5  is intense, obsessive, dramatic, and powerful. The revolutionary opening tempest is followed by a relaxed and traditional-feeling second movement, which leads to a dark and dramatic scherzo. In  an act of symphonic innovation, Beethoven heads attaca into the finale, which introduces piccolo, trombones, and contrabassoon into the symphony orchestra for the first time.

 

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 49th season in 2014-2015, under the leadership of Music Director Philip Mann. ASO is the resident orchestra of Robinson Center Music Hall, and performs more than sixty concerts each year for more than 165,000 people through its Stella Boyle Smith Masterworks Series, ACXIOM Pops LIVE! Series, Landers FIAT River Rhapsodies Chamber Music Series, 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.

Brass Blaze at this Weekend’s Arkansas Symphony Orchestra concerts

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Photo by Kelly Hicks

Photo by Kelly Hicks

The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra (ASO), Philip Mann, Music Director and Conductor, presents the second concert in the 2014-2015 Stella Boyle Smith Masterworks Series: Blazing Brass. Arkansas Symphony Orchestra‘s Principal Trumpet Richard Jorgensen performs the classic Trumpet Concerto in E-Flat Major by Haydn, and Bruckner’s colossal Symphony No. 7 in E Major completes the program. The Masterworks Series is sponsored by the Stella Boyle Smith Trust. The concert is sponsored by Aristotle, Inc.

The concert takes place at the Maumelle Performing Arts Center, 100 Victory Lane, Maumelle, AR, Saturday, October 18 at 7:30, 2014 p.m., & Sunday, October 19 at 3:00, 2014 p.m.

American Airlines Concert Conversations – All concert ticket holders are invited to a pre-concert lecture an hour before each Masterworks concert.  These talks feature insights from the Maestro and guest artists, and feature musical examples to enrich the concert experience.

Tickets are $19, $35, $49, and $58; active duty military and student tickets are $10 are can be purchased online at www.ArkansasSymphony.org; at the Maumelle Performing Arts Center box office beginning 90 minutes prior to a concert; or by phone at 501-666-1761, ext. 100. All Arkansas students grades K-12 are admitted to Sunday’s matinee free of charge with the purchase of an adult ticket using the Entergy Kids’ Ticket, downloadable at the ASO website.

ARTISTS
Richard Jorgensen, trumpet
Philip Mann, conductor

PROGRAM:
HAYDN: Trumpet Concerto in E-Flat Major
BRUCKNER: Symphony No. 7 in E Major

PROGRAM NOTES:
Anton Weidinger, a trumpeter with the Vienna Court Orchestra, sought a new concerto to show off his new, more versatile type of trumpet. Several composers responded to his request, and Weidinger was delighted to hear of Haydn’s desire to compose the Trumpet Concerto.

The ecstatic reception of the premiere of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 7 – including 15 minutes of applause – marked the greatest success of Bruckner’s life. The work presents all of Bruckner’s principal characteristics: rich spacious themes, rustic dance rhythms in the scherzo, and the extra degree of exaltation which was his alone.

www.arkansassymphony.org/concerts/blazing-brass

About the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra
The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 49th season in 2014-2015, under the leadership of Music Director Philip Mann. ASO is the resident orchestra of Robinson Center Music Hall, and 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, 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.

A free Capital Hotel concert tonight at 5:15 by Arkansas Symphony musicians

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ASO at CHMusicians from the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra will be performing this evening in the lobby of the historic Capital Hotel. The music will start at 5:15 pm.

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 the Rockefeller String Quartet.  Members of the quartet will introduce the pieces to be performed.

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.

The 2014-2015 Acxiom Pops Live Series of Arkansas Symphony Orchestra kicks off with Bill Conti’s Academy Awards Show

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ASO ContiThe Arkansas Symphony Orchestra (ASO), Philip Mann, Music Director and Conductor, opens the 2014-2015 Acxiom Pops Live! Series with Bill Conti’s Academy Awards Show. The concert is held at the Pulaski Academy Connor Performing Arts Center, 12701 Hinson Road, Little Rock, AR, on  Saturday, October 4, 2014 at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, October 5, 2014 at 3:00 p.m.

Oscar and five-time Emmy-winner Bill Conti – conductor of the Academy Awards Orchestra and composer of film scores “Karate Kid” and “Rocky”  – leads the ASO in a celebration of the big screen. In addition to the lush sounds of live symphonic orchestra, patrons will be treated to an exciting multimedia experience. Patrons of all ages are invited to get popcorn, find a seat, and settle in for an evening of movies, music, and silver screen glitz and glamour.

The Pops Live! Series is sponsored by Acxiom.

 

Tickets are $19, $35, $49, and $58; active duty military and student tickets are $10 are can be purchased online at http://www.ArkansasSymphony.org; at the Connor Performing Arts Center box office beginning 90 minutes prior to a concert; or by phone at 501-666-1761, ext. 100. All Arkansas students grades K-12 are admitted to Sunday’s matinee free of charge with the purchase of an adult ticket using the Entergy Kids’ Ticket, downloadable at the ASO website.

ARTISTS
Bill Conti, guest conductor

PROGRAM

  • CONTI: “Fanfare  –  “The  Final  Bell”  from  Rocky
  • CONTI:  “Television  Medley”  –  Olympics  ’88,  Falcon  Crest,  Lifestyles  of  the  Rich  and  Famous,  Dynasty,  Cagney  and  Lacey
  • CONTI:  “North  and  South”  –  Theme  from  the  TV  mini-series  North  and  South
  • CONTI:  “An  Unmarried  Woman”  –  Theme  from  An  Unmarried  Woman
  • CONTI  (Arr.): “Czardas”  –  Dueling  violins  from  Unfaithfully  Yours
  • CONTI  (Arr.): “Salute  to  the  Cinema”  –  Academy  Award  Show

INTERMISSION

  • CONTI  (Arr.): “A  Tribute  to  Walt  Disney”
  • CONTI:  “The Adventures of Huck Finn”  –  Theme  from  The Adventures of Huck  Finn
  • CONTI:  “For  Your  Eyes  Only”  –  Theme  from  For  Your  Eyes  Only
  • MORODER: “Oh  What  A  Feeling”  –  Theme  from  Flashdance
  • CONTI:  “The  Right  Stuff”  –  Music  from  The  Right  Stuff
  • CONTI:  “Gonna  Fly  Now”  –  Theme  from  Rocky

ABOUT THE ARKANSAS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
The Arkansas Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 49th season in 2014-2015, under the leadership of Music Director Philip Mann. ASO is the resident orchestra of Robinson Center Music Hall, and 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, 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.