By: Geoffrey Robson Yesterday the Arkansas Symphony Youth Orchestra (together with the Academy Orchestra) performed their first spring concert of 2018, to an almost full house at the Ponce de León Center in Hot Springs Village. They played with great passion and were celebrated with a standing ovation afterwards! The spring performance season will continue…

By: Evan Buckner My name is Evan Buckner and I’m currently a 16 year old junior at Pine Bluff High School playing the viola there in the school’s string orchestra and a violist in the Arkansas Symphony Youth Orchestra. I can fondly remember seven years ago when I started playing the viola. My teacher then…

By: Tatiana Roitman Mann At this weekend’s Masterworks concert, “Tchaikovsky’s Passion,” pianist Tatiana Roitman Mann will perform alongside the ASO in De Falla’s Nights in the Garden of Spain. In this blog, Mann takes us through the musical intracacies of the featured piece : Written in 1915, this work is a collection of three movements – impressions of…

By Jess Ardrey It’s electric. You ascend the Robinson Center’s grand staircase, surrounded by the enthusiastic buzzing of guests filing in to find their seats. The volume of the performance hall crowd climbs to an eager, dull roar when suddenly, the lights dim, all chatter stops and all focus is on a stage filled with…

By: Rebecca Kirkpatrick It’s time for another edition of Musician in the Spotlight, and this time there’s a twist! Each week we highlight a musician with a few fun facts our patrons may not have otherwise known. This week our Musician in the Spotlight is one of our Youth Orchestra members, Wilson Vanderslice. Here are a few…

By: Rebecca Kirkpatrick Each week we will highlight a musician with a few fun facts our patrons may not have otherwise known. This week our Musician in the Spotlight is Michael Underwood. Dr. Underwood holds the William “Bill” Vickery, Jr. Memorial Chair as the ASO’s Principal Trombonist. Here are a few fun facts about Dr.…

By: Philip Mann, conductor, ASO Music is uniquely capable of presenting mood, character, and situation, and Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet is a masterpiece of this musical painting. We will hear a portrait of The Young Juliet, a dissonant presentation of Montagues and Capulets, the magical Balcony Scene, and of course, the tragic Death of Juliet. Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances are a moody and incredibly…

By: Rebecca Kirkpatrick Mid-Week Musician in the Spotlight: Casey Buck Each week we will highlight a musician with some different facts our patrons wouldn’t have otherwise known. This week our Musician in the Spotlight is ASO cellist, Casey Buck. Let’s get to know Casey a little better: What is your hometown? I was born in Brooklyn,…

By: Philip Mann and Geoffrey Robson I am very happy to welcome ASO associate conductor, Geoffrey Robson, and Ji, pianist and winner of the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, to the Robinson stage. I’ve invited Maestro Robson to share his thoughts: “This program is most striking to me because of the contrast presented between works…

By: Rebecca Kirkpatrick It’s time for another edition of the Mid-week Musician in the Spotlight. Each week we will highlight a musician with a few fun facts our patrons may not have otherwise known. This week our Musician in the Spotlight is ASO violinist, Dan Santelices. Here are a few fun facts about Dan: When is your…