Tag Archives: Stephanie Smittle

Meshugga Klezmer Band at South on Main Local Live Tonight

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meshugga11-14.jpeg.190x140_q60_cropTonight’s installment of Local Live features the fabulous Meshugga Klezmer Band! Presented by the Oxford American magazine, Local Live showcases the best of local and regional music talent and is always free and open to the public. Call ahead to South on Main to make your reservations and ensure a table: (501) 244-9660.  The music starts at 7:30 p.m.

The Meshugga Klezmer Band was formed in Little Rock in 1999. They are still to this day Arkansas’ only klezmer band. Klezmer music has eastern European Jewish folk roots and is characterized by the cantorial, vocal, and emotional style reminiscent of Jewish prayer. Like the cantor, the lead musicians sob, laugh, growl, and slide from note to note. Meshugga Klezmer Band has performed with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, for Bar/Bat Mitzvahs and weddings, and at local festivals, lounges, and private parties.

Band members include Jim Harper (clarinet), Stephanie Smittle (vocals), Izzy Getzov (violin), Casey Huie (trombone), Peter Miller (guitar), Roland Gladden (bass), and Rand Retzloff (drums).

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.

Art of the Bar, a handmade holiday market at South on Main today

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South on Main presents
Art of the Bar : A Handmade Holiday Market
Sunday, December 14
2 – 8 PM

Festive Cocktails crafted by Barman David Burnette
Christmas Carols from John Willis & Friends
Holiday Treats from Chef Matthew Bell & Chef Matthew Lowman

Featuring Work From:
Altered Polishes
Art by Lois/Painted by Fire
Bang-Up Betty
Bathhouse Soapery & Caldarium
Dimestore Diamonds
Erin Lorenzen
Hunter-May Pottery
Artist Jason Jones
Little-Biscuits Illustrated Portraits
Little Rock Bottle Co
Morgan Hill Creative
Postmodern Press
Roll&Tumble Press
Sew Arkansan
Sulac

Among the musicians performing with John Willis (from 6pm to 8pm) will be Amy Garland, Amy McBryde, Late Romantics, Sarah Stricklin, Phillip Rex Huddleston, Bryan Frazier, Mitchell Crisp, Stephanie Smittle, Heather Smith, Will & Maddie, Paula Gribble, Genine Perez of Lagniappe, Isaac Alexander and Jason Weinheimer

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Shopping, Klezmer Music and Big Band Sounds all part of Butler Center fun tonight

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holiday_concertCelebrate the season with holiday shopping at Second Friday Art Night in the Butler Center Galleries, 401 President Clinton Avenue, and holiday music presented by Arkansas Sounds at the Central Arkansas Library System’s (CALS) Ron Robinson Theater, 100 River Market Avenue, on Friday, December 12.

Second Friday Art Night will be held 5-8 p.m.

The Arkansas Sounds holiday concert will be held at 7:30 p.m.; the theater doors will open at 6:30 p.m. Both events are free and open to the public.

At Second Friday Art Night, the Butler Center Galleries will offer hand crafted art by numerous Arkansas artists, perfect for holiday gifts. Refreshments will be served, and one-man-band Paul Morphis will play music in the galleries. Second Friday Art Night is a free, monthly opportunity to visit downtown Little Rock’s businesses, museums, and galleries for an after-hours gallery walk.

The Arkansas Sounds holiday concert in the CALS Ron Robinson Theater will feature Meshugga Klezmer Band and the Dave Rosen Big Band.

Meshugga Klezmer Band, now including Stephanie Smittle on vocals, has performed with the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, at venues such as Wildwood Park, the Afterthought Lounge, and Juanita’s Cantina, and at bar/bat mitzvahs, weddings, and Jewish food festivals since 1999. Klezmer music has eastern European Jewish folk roots and is characterized by its cantorial vocal style reminiscent of Jewish prayer.

Dave Rosen Big Band, a 17-piece band, will play Christmas and Hanukkah favorites with jazz and swing arrangements. Songs will include Jingle Bells, Let It Snow, The Christmas Waltz, and Christmas Time Is Here, made famous in the long-running Peanuts Christmas special.

Arkansas Sounds is a project of the Butler Center focusing on Arkansas music and musicians past and present. For more information, visit www.arkansassounds.org or call 501-918-3033.

Opera in the Rock at South on Main for Local Live – presented by Oxford American and Landers Fiat

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OperaInTheRock_logo-singleskylineThe great thing about Local Live at South on Main – each week is a different kind of music.

Join the Oxford American and Landers FIAT in welcoming Opera In The Rock to Local Live. This debut venture includes a varied program of vocal entertainment with standards from Opera as well as well-known and beloved Music Theater selections.

OITR is proud to present sopranos, Stephanie Smittle and Maria Fasciano Di Carlo, mezzo, Kelley Ponder, tenor, Matt Newman, and baritone, J. Daniel Altman. At the keyboard is Kristin Harwell. We hope you will come and enjoy our program which runs the gamut of sad, humorous, dramatic, and poignant songs loosely connected to the theme of Love Is Folly.

Call ahead to reserve your table for this classic event.

It starts at 7:30 pm.

Stephanie Smittle and The Smittle Band at The Undercroft tonight

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resized_99263-smittle-v_47-16964_t300Stephanie Smittle and the Smittle Band play at one of Little Rock’s newest music venues when they perform tonight at The Undercroft. It is located on Capital Avenue just east of Scott Street, in the undercroft of Christ Church.

The concert starts at 8 p.m; doors open at 7:30. The cover charge is $5 at the door. The space is on the campus of Christ Church; the entrance is through the sidewalk-level red door on Capitol Avenue east of Scott Street.

As the Arkansas Times wrote: Regulars in jazz bars around the state, The Smittle Band offers gorgeous, fluid lounge sounds with a trickling undercurrent of classy Americana. Fronted by Stephanie Smittle, the band balances her hushed, smoky vocals with sharp guitar work from co-writer Wythe Walker, tasteful, smart keys from Jim McGehee and brushing percussion courtesy of Ray Wittenberg.

 

undercroftFor information about the new performance space The Undercroft, contact Rev. Scott Walters at Christ Church at swalters@christchurchlr.org or 501-375-2342.

Opera on the Rocks

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After some years without a professional opera presence in Little Rock, Opera in the Rock has been formed.  They host their first event tonight – “Opera on the Rocks.”

The event will feature an evening of food, drink, a silent auction, and a series of opera scenes, presented by some of the best local talents. The theme for this evening will focus on the many stages of love… even when love finds itself on the rocks…

The evening will begin at 6:30pm at Wildwood Park for the Arts.

The cast is Matt Newman, tenor; Ferris Allen, baritone; Stephanie Smittle, Arlene Biebesheimer, soprano; and Jennifer Boccarossa, soprano/mezzo-soprano.

Newman will sing “Una fortuna lagrima” from Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore; Boccarossa will sing the “Habanera” from Bizet’s Carmen; Allen and Biebesheimer will sing the “Papageno-Papagena” duet from Mozart’s The Magic Flute. The program will also include the quartet from Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto, and the chorus from Aaron Copland’s The Tender Land.