Chairmen bring brio to Opus
Ask Nick Brown about what makes the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra special and his face lights up as he waxes rhapsodic about Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky piano concertos and John Williams’ Harry Potter score.
Brown’s love of symphonic music started early with his father’s collection of classical albums, and he eventually took up the trumpet. It was natural that, once settled in Little Rock, he would get involved with the ASO.
He has served on the board since 2007, but this is the first time Nick and his wife, Susan Brown, have served as co-chairmen for Opus, the ASO’s main fundraiser. It’s a lavish evening of drinks, dinner, dancing and, of course, music, with all the
proceeds going into the symphony’s general budget.
Nick has served as vice chairman of the ASO board, and when work commitments made him shy away from taking over as board chairman, he and Susan were asked to co-chair Opus instead.
“I feel like I stepped out of the frying pan into the fire,” he laughs. “It’s fun, but it’s taken a lot of time.”
This is the 29th year for the fundraiser, so they had a lot of wisdom and experience from which to draw, and they actually started working on the 2013 Opus before Opus 2012 was over.
The Opus Advisory Committee provided advice and guidance, but it’s a massive undertaking, requiring quite a bit of coordination and multitasking. When it comes to that night, it’s the Capital Hotel, which Susan says “makes a beautiful setting,” that really helps set the mood.
The glamorous affair starts with drinks at 6 p.m., followed by auctions at 7 with emcee Craig O’Neill and auctioneer Gaylen McGee. Then it’s dinner in the hotel’s ballrooms.
And, of course, there’s music. During dinner, ASO musicians stroll through, taking requests and entertaining the diners.
“Drew Irwin was in our room last year and he was just delightful,” Nick recalls.
After dinner, there’s dancing with the symphony’s jazz band playing big band classics, something Nick says has always been “a pretty big favorite.”
No need to go home afterward, though. Partygoers who want to make a complete night out of it can dance the night away, then retire upstairs. All the hotel’s guest rooms are the ASO’s to sell for the night, with revenue going to the Opus tally. Ashley’s restaurant provides breakfast the next morning for the all-nighters.
While Opus never has an official theme, the planners generally have an unofficial one to help guide their decisions. This year, it’s “Celebration.” And the Browns think that theme is particularly apt after surviving a tough recession and heading into a period of uncertainty as the ASO becomes, in a way, homeless. (More on that later.)
The ASO is poised, as they say, to “take off” and to show its devotion to its mission statement: “It exists to connect, enrich, inspire and advance Arkansas through the power of music.”
The board adopted the mission statement several years ago as a guidepost and Nick insists that the ASO is living up to it in every way possible.
“The symphony is a big draw for our community,” Nick says. “I can assure you it made a big difference when my company went through an evaluation if we were going to stay in Little Rock and continue to expand or look at other communities.”
More specifically, he points to recent ASO concerts, for instance a performance of a Tchaikovsky piano concerto that he says the ASO “just nailed.” For something a little different, there was the Halloween Spooktacular Pops concert with musicians and audience alike dressed in costume for music from Ghostbusters and Richard Wagner’s Die Walkure.
“It’s fun to see children engaged,” Susan says. “There were a lot of kids at that concert, all dressed up in costume, enjoying the music.”
It isn’t just the talent and musical acumen that make the ASO stand out. It’s what most people don’t see — the work behind the scenes.
Many people believe that the bulk of the money and time spent by the ASO goes into the Pops and Masterworks concerts offered through the season. But a large portion of the budget goes to sending musicians out into the state, visiting schools and students to educate and inspire them to an appreciation of music and as Nick says, “Having the exposure to that kind of talent is amazing.”
“It’s huge what they do,” Susan says.
Nick travels around the country and has business leader friends who are on symphony boards in other states and, he says, “Believe me, their stories are not anywhere near ours. The relationship between the staff and the board and the musicians are not near the family situation that we’ve got.”
The ASO has, like other symphonies and arts-oriented organizations, gone through many challenges in the last few years with the economic recession, and Nick gives the ASO high marks.
“The board really stepped up during that tough period with gusto. The musicians did. The staff did. It took a concerted effort on the part of all three.”
They’re going to face another big hurdle when their home base, Robinson Center Music Hall, closes for renovations in 2014. But they’re up for the challenge. During their two-year nomadic period, they’ll try out other venues and travel around the state.
“It’s the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra,” Nick points out. “It’s not the Little Rock Symphony Orchestra. We’ve taken a different approach, to embrace it as an opportunity to get out in some different venues, reach some new audiences.”
While he admits that this sort of situation has been challenging for other symphonies that have gone through similar displacements, “I think it’s going to be fun. I’m excited about it. I think we’re poised to take advantage of it.
“Our symphony is pretty amazing. It’s a jewel. I hope people will continue to support it.”