Percussion quartet will rap the skins at Fayetteville gigs
Chicago-based percussion ensemble Third Coast Percussion — Sean Connors, Robert Dillon, Peter Martin and David Skidmore — will offer two programs this week at Fayetteville’s Walton Arts Center, 495 W. Dickson St.:
7:30 p.m. Thursday, “Think Outside the Drum,” family concert, demonstrating the basics of rhythm, melody and timbre through active participation and games. $8.
8 p.m. Friday, “Lyrical Geometry,” a mixed-repertory program of contemporary music, including Mallet Quartet by Steve Reich and several works written for the ensemble. $10.
Call (479) 443-5600 or visit waltonartscenter.org.
Guitar duo
The Kolanian/Hammett Classical Guitar Duo — Iakovos Kolanian and Larry Hammett — will perform at 7:30 p.m. Monday in the Recital Hall, Snow Fine Arts Building, University of Central Arkansas, 201 Donaghey Ave., Conway. The program will include works by Danza Espanola No. 2 by Enrique Granados, La Vida Breve by Manuel de Falla, Tango Suite by Astor Piazzola, Levantine Journey by Djudjino Oro, Fasten Your Seatbelts by Iakovos Kolanian, and Balkan Express by Vojislav Ivanovic. Admission is free.
The duo will also give a classical guitar master class with UCA guitar students, 3-5 p.m. Monday at UCA Downtown, 1105 Oak St., Conway.
Savvy Musician
Also at UCA this week, David Cutler, author of the 2010 book The Savvy Musician and director of music entrepreneurship at the University of South Carolina, will be in residence today through Tuesday, including:
7:30 p.m. today — UCA music faculty performing Cutler compositions in Snow Fine Arts Center Recital Hall and a conversation on creating innovative experiences and opportunities in music.
7 p.m. Monday “Doing the Wrong Thing and How It Can Lead to Success in the Arts,” with Q&A and reception, UCA Downtown.
10:50 a.m. Tuesday “How Music Education Can Change the World (and Why It Often Doesn’t),” Snow Fine Arts Center Recital Hall.
1:40 p.m. Tuesday — “A Life in the Arts: Nine BIG Ideas on Career and Financial Success,” Snow Fine Arts Center Recital Hall.
Admission to all events is free. Call (501) 852-2669 or email sdickins@uca.edu.
Poetry and picking
Poet Rebecca Gayle Howell, a senior editor for Oxford American magazine, will read excerpts from her new book, American Purgatory, and Kentucky-style banjoist Brett Ratliff will perform songs from his forthcoming album, Gone Boy, 7 p.m. Monday at The Joint, 301 Main St., North Little Rock. Call (501) 374-0000. Lysistrata adaptation
The University of Arkansas at Fort Smith’s Theatre @ UAFS will stage Donald Sutherland’s adaptation of Aristophanes’ Lysistrata, 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday and Feb. 27-28 in Breedlove Auditorium, UAFS, 5120 Grand Ave., Fort Smith. Sutherland changes the setting of the tale of women trying to stop the Peloponnesian War by withholding sex from their husbands and lovers from ancient Athens to Chicago during the Roaring ’20s. Because of the “sexual comedy content,” the theater recommends it for patrons 16 and older.
Tickets are $6, free for UAFS students, faculty and staff. Call (479) 788-7300 or visit tickets.uafs.edu.
Model trains
Miniature locomotives will chug around the tracks on elaborately designed layouts, and all types of model trains — from large garden trains to trains small enough to run on a coffee table — will be on display at the 14th annual Great NWA Model Train Show, 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday at the Northwest Arkansas Convention Center, 1500 S. 48th St., Springdale.
The event, hosted by the Sugar Creek Model Railroad Club, will feature more than 40 vendors selling new and old toy trains and parts, food and other items. Door prizes include two round-trip tickets on the Arkansas & Missouri Railroad. Admission is $8, free for children 12 and younger, $1 off if you take a nonperishable food item. All proceeds benefit local charities. Call (479) 871-2802 or email train072@cox.net.
Art of the blues
June 15 is the deadline for Arkansas students to submit entries to the Delta Cultural Center’s annual Blues Heritage Youth Art Competition. This year’s theme is “Old Time Blues.” Submit entries in any medium in a standard poster size (minimum, 22by-14 inches) in elementary, middle and high school categories.
Winners will be announced Oct. 3 at a reception in conjunction with the King Biscuit Blues Festival. All submissions will be on display at the center’s depot in Helena-West Helena throughout October. Winners and their teachers will receive cash prizes; first place winners in each category will have their work made into full-color posters and postcards to be distributed statewide. Sponsor is the Pillow Clinic of Helena-West Helena. Call (870) 338-4350 or (800) 358-0972 or email info@ deltaculturalcenter.com.
Arts honorees
Gov. Asa Hutchinson and the Arkansas Arts Council will honor the recipients of the Governor’s Arts Awards at a ceremony and luncheon, 11:45 a.m.-1:30 p.m. March 14 at the Governor’s Mansion, 1800 S. Center St., Little Rock. Tickets are $35; deadline is March 3. Call (501) 324-9767 or email cheri.leffew@arkansas.gov. The awards recognize artists, educators, patrons, community leaders, organizations and corporations for their contributions to the arts in Arkansas.
The 2017 recipients: Lifetime Achievement — Thom Hall of Little Rock; Arts Community Development — Sam and Barbara Tobias of Mena; Arts in Education — Art Porter Music Education Inc., Little Rock; Corporate Sponsorship of the Arts — Wright, Lindsey & Jennings LLP, Little Rock; Folklife — Freda Cruse Hardison, Mountain View; Individual Artist — Reese Rowland, Little Rock; Patron — Johnelle Hunt, Rogers; Judges’ Recognition — Max Elbo, Eureka Springs. Each honoree will receive an original work of art created by Elizabeth James of Springdale.
VoiceJam finalists
Fayetteville’s Walton Arts Center has named the eight regional and international contemporary a cappella ensembles that are finalists for the 2017 VoiceJam Competition, March 31-April 1 at the center, 495 W. Dickson St. : Beauties and the Beat, University of Texas at Austin; Fermata Town, U.S. Contemporary A Cappella League; WOW Voice Group, South China University of Technology; Lark, University of Colorado-Denver; Mind the Gap, University of Oregon; UC Vocaholics, University of Cincinnati; JHS Vocal Jazz, Jacksonville (Ark.) High School; Vocal Noisy, Xinghai Conservatory of Music.
The winner will have the opportunity to travel to Hong Kong for the 2017 Vocal Asia Festival. Information on the festival and tickets are available online at waltonartscenter.org/voicejam. Call (479) 443-5600.