ASO Concertmaster Named to Musical America’s Top 30 Professionals of the Year

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Dec. 7, 2021) –Arkansas Symphony Orchestra (ASO) Concertmaster, Andrew Irvin, was named one of the Top 30 Professionals of the Year by Musical America. The publication’s Top 30 singles out individuals in the performing arts whose leadership helped navigate the COVID-19 pandemic. Irvin and his colleagues at ASO received coverage from local and national media, including The Washington Post, CNN, and the Kelly Clarkson Show for his virtual, intimate performance series “Bedtime with Bach.” These performances were viewed by over one million people in more than 30 countries.

In addition to serving as concertmaster for ASO, Irvin performs with an organist as a duo and with the Camino Trio in recitals throughout the US. He also maintains a very accomplished studio of violin students of all ages and conducts an ensemble in ASO’s Youth Ensembles programs. Irvin’s solo appearances include works by Tchaikovsky, Paganini, Bruch, Vivaldi, Korngold, Bach, Mozart, Sarasate, Ravel, and Dvorak.

Musical America was flooded with a record number of submissions to the annual “Professionals of the Year” issue. Other honorees include much-decorated violinist Jennifer Koh, Vice President of Advocacy of the League of American Orchestras, Heather Noonan, and New York Philharmonic principal clarinetist Anthony McGill, along with many other musicians, composers, executives, artistic leaders, and educators.

Susan Elliot, Editor, News and Special Reports, said, “[ASO’s] concertmaster, frustrated by his March 20 concert’s sudden cancellation, recorded a few solo Bach excerpts and put them on social media,” adding, “ours is a field of survivors.”

The publication has been a voice of the performing arts industry for more than 100 years, with an audience of more than 14,000 organizations and 24,000 musicians and professionals in more than 95 countries.