Orchestra to cross Arkansas in March
Posted on Thursday, July 3, 2008
CONWAY — The National Symphony Orchestra has performed before heads of state and toured four continents. Come March, it will add audiences across Arkansas, from Helena-West Helena in the Delta to Fayetteville in the Northwest.
As part of its American Residency program, running March 24-31, the National Symphony will also make music in Jonesboro on March 24, Conway on March 28 and Little Rock on March 29. Fayetteville’s event will be March 30.
Conducted by Ivan Fischer, the 100 musicians will present works by Richard Wagner, Leonard Bernstein, Leo Weiner and Antonin Dvorak.
Helena-West Helena in Phillips County will get two concerts — the same one as the other cities on March 25 and the next day a young people’s concert led by associate conductor Emil de Cou. Among selections for that event will be John Williams’ “Imperial March” from Star Wars and Ludwig van Beethoven’s scherzo from Symphony No. 9.
Arkansas is the 19 th state chosen for the program since 1992.
“We’re going to have the best in the world right here in Arkansas sitting down with a student from Marvell,” said Lu Hardin, president of the University of Central Arkansas in Conway, where the announcement took place. Marvell is in Phillips County.
“We chose Arkansas because they were willing to commit the resources” to get in touch with schools and communities about participating, said Patricia J. O’Kelly, National Symphony spokesman. She also said, “Arkansas has not had a major orchestra... here” recently.
Representatives from the National Symphony, Gov. Mike Beebe, Hardin and others announced the plans at UCA’s Reynolds Performance Hall.
Orchestra members also will participate in about 150 educational and performance activities throughout the state. Communities, civic clubs, school groups, nursing homes — just about anyone — may apply to participate. “We have performed in hospitals and at church services, anything” that can come to mind, said de Cou. “So, use your imagination.” Application forms will soon be available by visiting www. uca. edu / cfac, said Susan Jarvis of Conway, the program’s state coordinator. She said the forms must be in her hands by Sept. 19. The National Symphony leaves the decision on concert ticket prices to each community. Helena-West Helena’s concerts will be free. But any communities that charge admission get to keep the proceeds to support local arts organizations, O’Kelly said.
Bettye Hendrix, who heads Helena-West Helena’s Warfield Concerts, said the National Symphony’s visit will be “a shining example of the good things that we have” in the Phillips County community. Hendrix said the Warfield Concerts program already offers an event for children in kindergarten through the third grade every year, so the National Symphony’s young people’s concert will be for fourth- through seventh-graders, she said.
“We are making a difference in [the ] lives” of children, she said in an interview after the news conference. “A lot of them have never been out of the county.” Hendrix said children from throughout Phillips County will get to attend the National Symphony’s concert.
The American Residency program is funded by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts through a federal education grant. The National Symphony, as the center’s artistic affiliate, presents a concert season there annually.
Hardin credited Rollin R. Potter, dean of UCA’s College of Fine Arts and Communication, for “his tenacity and hard work that made this possible” in Arkansas.
Potter earlier recalled hearing a reference to the American Residency program while watching the last few minutes of the National Symphony’s Fourth of July concert two years ago. It piqued his interest, and he began talking with Hardin and e-mailing others in an effort to get the program in Arkansas. Beebe joked that the program would give the state more exposure to stringed instruments rather than just the trumpets and trombones of marching bands that Arkansans know so much about already because of their favorite pastime: football. More seriously, he said music “crosses all cultures. It crosses all nationalities.” The program’s benefits will continue even after the National Symphony’s departure. Up to six students from Arkansas will get scholarships to the 2009 Kennedy Center / National Symphony Orchestra National Trustees ’ Summer Music Institute. Students ages 14-21 are selected by taped audition.
An Arkansas music teacher will be chosen for a program in Washington to further the instructor’s professional development. An Arkansas composer will get to create a chamber music work to be presented at the Kennedy Center.
Specific concert locations in March will be the Fowler Center at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, the Lily Peter Auditorium in Helena-West Helena, the Reynolds Performance Hall at UCA in Conway, the Robinson Center in Little Rock and the Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville.
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