Out and about
Choral, orchestral concerts; vocal, chamber recitals; musical knights, ‘Twelfth Night’ onstage this weekend
Elsewhere in entertainment, events and the arts this weekend:
MUSIC
Spring singing
The Arkansas Chamber Singers celebrate spring with “works that explore growth, rebirth, and appreciation for the world — and the people — around us,” 7:30 p.m. Friday and 3 p.m. Sunday at St. Edward Catholic Church, 805 Sherman Road, Little Rock. The program includes Benjamin Britten’s “Five Flower Songs,” settings of three poems by Edna St. Vincent Millay by Colin Britt, “The Peace of Wild Things” and “Come to the Woods” by Jake Runestad, “To See the Sky” by Jocelyn Hagen, “Let the River Run” by Carly Simon and “Make Our Garden Grow” from Leonard Bernstein’s “Candide.” Andrew Morgan, associate professor of music at Hendrix College in Conway and conductor of the Hendrix College Choir, will be the guest conductor. Tickets are $15, $10 for students in advance, at tinyurl.com/2p8nxjby; $18 and $12 at the door. For more information, call (501) 377-1121 or visit ar-chambersingers.org.
‘Sacred and Glorious’
Pianist Ana-Maria Vera joins the Conway Symphony Orchestra and conductor Israel Getzov to play the Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, op.21, by Ludwig van Beethoven, 7:30 p.m. Saturday March 4 in Reynolds Hall at the University of Central Arkansas, 201 Donaghey Ave., Conway. The program, titled “Sacred Spaces and Glorious Places,” also includes “Fratres” by Arvo Part, featuring concertmaster Linda Hsu as violin soloist, and Ottorino Respighi’s “The Pines of Rome.” Tickets are $25-$45, $10 for children with a paying adult. Call (501) 450-3265 or visit conwaysymphony.org.
‘Phenomal’ soprano
Soprano Takesha Meshe’ Kizart-Thomas and pianist Gio Antipolo present a program for Opera in the Rock titled “The Phenomenal Woman,” 7:30 p.m. Saturday at The Hall, 721 W. Ninth St., Little Rock. The program includes opera arias — “Wehe mein Mann” from “Die Frau ohne Schatten” by Richard Strauss; “Isolde’s Liebestod”
from “Tristan und Isolde” by Richard Wagner; “Vissi d’arte” from “Tosca” by Giacomo Puccini; and “Casta diva … Ah! bello a me ritorna” from “Norma” by Vincenzo Bellini; songs by women — “Sweet Baby” by Regina Harris Baiocchi, “Women of the Hearth” by Barbara Assiginaak, “Four Generations” by Carolina Calvache, “Bathed in Black Maternity” by Jasmine Barnes and “Love, Let the Wind Cry” by Undine Smith Moore; and, with a supporting band, jazz tunes by Duke Ellington. Tickets are $75. Visit littlerockhall.com/tickets.
Two recitals
Opus Two — violinist William Terwilliger and pianist Andrew Cooperstock — give two Arkansas recitals this weekend:
■ 7:30 p.m. today, Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall, Fine Arts Building, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, 2801 S. University Ave., Little Rock.
■ 2 p.m. Sunday in Riceland Hall, Arkansas State University’s Fowler Center, 201 Olympic Drive, Jonesboro.
The program: Suite for Violin and Piano by William Grant Still, the Violin Sonata by Maurice Ravel and pieces that celebrate American musical theater created especially for Opus Two by Eric Stern: “A Little Night Music” Suite and two songs — “Not While I’m Around” and “Broadway Baby” — by Stephen Sondheim and a “Suite from Girl Crazy” by George Gershwin.
Admission to both recitals is free. For more information on the UALR program, call (501) 916-3291; on the ASU program, (870) 972-2094.
Chamber concert
The Steinway Piano Gallery Little Rock, 657 Arkansas 365, Mayflower, hosts a chamber music concert under its Close Up! Steinway Salon Chamber Series banner, 3 p.m. Sunday. The program, titled “Crisis, Music, and Beyond,” features Carolyn Brown, flute; Beth Wheeler, oboe; Karla Fournier, clarinet; and Timothy Smith, piano, in Darius Milhaud’s Sonata for Flute, Oboe, Clarinet and Piano. Ethan Young, cello, and Smith play the “Elegy” by Mykola Lysenko; Young joins violinist Meredith Hicks and pianist Jaeyeon Park in the Piano Trio No. 2 in c minor, op.66, by Felix Mendelssohn. Tickets are $25. Call (501) 940-1562 or visit steinwaylr.com/close-up.
THEATER Knight musical
Wildwood Park for the Arts, 20919 Denny Road, Little Rock, stages “Monty Python’s Spamalot” (music by John DuPrez and Eric Idle, book and lyrics by Idle), 8 p.m. Friday and March 10-11 and 3 p.m. Sunday and March 12 in the park’s 625-seat Lucy Lockett Cabe Festival Theatre. Matthew Tatus plays King Arthur, with Caitlin Secrest as the Lady of the Lake, Adrian Hinojosa as Sir Lancelot and Tim the Enchanter, Cory Olson as Sir Galahad and Prince Herbert’s father, Tommie Tinker as Sir Bedevere and Galahad’s mother, Michael Goodbar as Sir Robin, Bret Kagebein as Sir Bors, D.C. Miles as Prince Herbert and Leader of the Knights Who Say Ni and Michael Phillips as Patsy. Tickets are $35. Call (501) 821-7275 or visit wildwoodpark.org.
Touring ‘Twelfth Night’
The University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Literary and Performing Arts will stage a one-hour commedia dell’arte-inspired, musical adaptation adaptation of of William Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” by Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre Managing Director Chad Bradford, Friday — at 3:30 p.m. in the Haislip Theatre and 6 p.m. in the University Theatre, both in the Center for Performing Arts at UALR, 2801 S. University Ave., Little Rock. Admission to both performances is free. Call (501) 916-3291 or email gegalloway@ualr.edu.
The production, part of the UALR Theatre Arts program’s Theatre on the Road course, will tour schools and community organizations, including the Central Arkansas Library System and Our House, a Little Rock-based shelter. It also supports a collaboration between Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre at the University of Central Arkansas and the UALR School of Literary and Performing Arts.
ART & EXHIBITS Watercolor exhibition
The 53rd annual Juried Exhibition of the Mid-Southern Watercolorists opens with a 6-8 p.m. reception Friday at the Laman Library Gallery, 2801 Orange St., North Little Rock. Juror Keiko Tanabe, artist, instructor and author, selected the winning entries; awards will be presented at 5:30. The exhibit remains up through April 28. Gallery hours are 9 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Friday-Saturday. Admission to the library gallery and the reception is free. Call (501) 758-1720 or visit NLRlibrary.org. For more information about the Mid-Southern Watercolorists, visit midsouthernwatercolorists.com.
‘Labor’ of art
“Self-Awareness: An Introduction to Labor,” works by University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff faculty member Matthew Fields, opens with a 5-7 p.m. reception today in the William H. Kennedy Jr. Gallery at the Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas, 701 S. Main St., Pine Bluff. Admission to the exhibition and the reception are free. Bank. The exhibition will be up through May 6. Gallery hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday. Call (870) 536-3375 or visit asc701.org.
Spa City gallery
New paintings by Mike Elsass — abstracts rendered on rusted sheets of steel — are on display, starting with a 5-9 p.m. Gallery Walk reception Friday at Justus Fine Art Gallery, 827A Central Ave., Hot Springs. The exhibition, up through April 1, also includes oil paintings by John P. Lasater IV. Gallery hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday and by appointment. Admission to the gallery and the reception are free. Call (501) 321-2335 or visit justusfineart.com.
Past personalities
“Personalities of the Past,” using census records, newspapers and archival materials to tell the history of the people of Jackson County, opens at 10 a.m.-noon Saturday in the Courthouse Museum at Jacksonport State Park, 111 Avenue St., Newport. Guest speakers from the Arkansas State Archives will share information about the agency’s resources and how visitors can research their own family stories. Refreshments will be served. The exhibition is up through the end of January 2024. Museum hours are 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday, 1-5 p.m. Sunday. Admission to the museum and the grand opening event is free. Call (870) 523-2143 or visit ArkansasStateParks.com.