University of Arkansas at Little Rock

The UALR Wind Ensemble will have a concert Sunday, Nov. 22 at 7:30 p.m. in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall of the Fine Arts Building.

UALR’s Guitar Ensemble will present its fall concert Monday, Nov. 23 at 7:30 p.m. in the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall.  The program will begin with a classical guitar duo performing works from the English Renaissance, followed by two pieces by Spain’s most celebrated composers, Isaac Albeniz and Enrique Granados. Then a trio will perform two of J.S. Bach’s Sinfonias.

The second half of the concert will be performed by the student jazz guitar ensemble, with the addition of electric bass and percussion accompaniment. This ensemble will perform three compositions by UALR professor and director of guitar studies Michael Carenbauer.

UALR’s  Gospel Chorale will hold a concert Tuesday, Nov. 24 at 7:30 in Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall.
Admission to all three concerts is free and open to the public. For more information, contact the music department at 569-3294.

UALR’s Department of Music will host the Central Arkansas Choral Directors Association’s All-Region Choir Clinic on Saturday, Nov. 21 providing a day of choral workshops that will culminate in a 6p.m. free public performance at Robinson Auditorium with members of the Arkansas Symphony.

An estimated 520 of Central Arkansas’ best young singers previously selected by audition from 77 junior and senior high schools will be on the UALR campus from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. rehearsing in four different choirs – junior treble and mixed choirs and senior treble and mixed choirs. They move to Robinson Auditorium for on-stage rehearsals from 3 to 5 p.m. to prepare for the public performance at 6 p.m.

Directing the choirs will be Bevan Keating and Kira Keating from UALR in Little Rock, Gaye McClure from Southside High School in Fort Smith and Angela Weaver from Southside Senior High School in Batesville.

Performance selections will be challenging and varied, ranging from Joseph Haydn’s Te Deum, accompanied by Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, and Leonard Bernstein’s Candide to spirituals and folk tunes such as Joshua Fit de Battle of Jericho and Home on the Range.

Students performing in these All-Region Choirs are now eligible to audition for the All-State Choir on Feb. 5, 2010 in Jonesboro.

For more information, contact Susan Belcher of the UALR Music Department at 501-569-3294 or sbbelcher@ualr.edu.

UALR’s Department of Theatre Arts and Dance inaugurates a new annual arts series this season with “Dance Harvest” featuring original student choreography at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, Nov. 19 to 22, at the University Theatre in the Center for Performing Arts.

Tickets to the “Dance Harvest” are $7 for general admission and $5 for students and seniors. For reservations, call 501-569-3456.

Scheduled as the first in an annual series, the works in progress created and performed by UALR students include all styles of dance and music.

“The production is a product of the new bachelor’s of fine arts degree in dance performance launched this semester,” said Jay Raphael, chair of the Theatre Arts and Dance Department.

UALR is the only institution of higher education in the state of Arkansas offering this program. In addition, a full range of dance technique and choreography classes are available in the department to all University students. For more information, visit the department Web site at www.ualr.edu/theatre/dance.

The Three Kings pay a visit to Little Rock when UALR Opera Theatre presents Gian-Carlo Menotti’s beloved Christmas Opera “Amahl and the Night Visitors,” Dec. 4, 5, and 6, in Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall at UALR.

“Amahl and the Night Visitors” will be presented at 3 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 5 and 6. Tickets are $15 for general admission and $5 for children and students. UALR students are admitted free with prior reservations.

A special premiere performance at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 4, will benefit a UALR endowment honoring Mary Worthen, a longtime supporter of UALR. Tickets are $50, including a champagne reception following the performance.

For ticket information, contact the UALR Music Box Office at 501-569-8993.

Menotti’s opera premiered Christmas Eve 1951 on NBC television network, and became an instant holiday classic, with the most number of annual performances of any opera in America.

The familiar opera relates the story of a poor crippled boy whose life is miraculously changed when the Three Kings visit his village on thier quest for the Christ child. Menotti chose this subject because of his boyhood experiences in Italy, where children wait for gifts brought by the Three Kings, not Santa Claus.

UALR Opera Theatre’s cast features Memory Apata of Maumelle and Laura Johnson of Little Rock alternating in the role of Amahl; Regina Gallucci of Benton and Satia Spencer of DeWitt as his mother; and Luke Angelo of Little Rock, Jeremy Kinchen of Pine Bluff, and Phillip Murray of Little Rock as the Three Kings. Kevin Ezell of White Hall sings the role of their Page.

Edward Craft directs, and Dr. Bevan Keating conducts the soloists, chorus, and chamber orchestra.

The UALR Community Chorus kicks off its season on Thursday, November 12, with a performance of Joseph Haydn’s Te Deum. The performance will take place at 7:30 p.m. in Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall in UALR’s Fine Arts Building.

The Community Chorus will be joined by the UALR Concert Choir and the UALR Chamber Choir for this concert. The Chamber Choir will sing several advanced a capella works from a variety of genres, and the Concert Choir will perform J.S. Bach’s Motet No. 1, Sing to the Lord a New Song (Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied) in the original German.

General admission is $5. To reserve tickets, call the UALR Music Department box office at (501) 569-8993, or visit the UALR Music Department office in Room 151 of the Fine Arts Building.

UALR faculty, students, and staff are admitted free of charge, but must present their UALR ID at the Music Department office during normal business hours when reserving tickets.

Founded by Dr. Bevan Keating in 2004, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Community Chorus is comprised of over 90 members drawn from UALR students, faculty, and staff, as well as members of the greater Little Rock community. The chorus is open to singers at all levels of musical ability who wish to participate in choral masterpieces accompanied by professional musicians.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity to be involved in a large singing group, to sing great works that are only possible with a chorus of our size,” UALR Community Chorus president Tracy Johnson said.

The Community Chorus season will continue with a performance on December 11 of George Frideric Handel’s Messiah, a special concert during which the audience will be invited to sing the major choruses along with the choir. The season will conclude April 3, 2010, with a performance of Felix Mendelssohn’s Elijah. Both performances will take place at Second Presbyterian Church in west Little Rock.

UALR German Studies will present a symposium, workshop for teachers, and feature films with the theme “Perspective, Progress, and Promise” celebrating the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the German reunification.

Dr. Susanne Wagner, assistant professor of German studies at UALR who organized the series, said the fall of the wall on Nov. 9, 1989, and consecutively the German reunification on Oct. 3, 1990, were monumental turning points in history.

“The fall also signified the end of the political-ideological conflict between the East and West,” she said. “While this historical moment represented many ‘ends,’ it also allowed for the emergence of new beginnings — the beginning of the 21^st century, spreading of democracy, and the opening of world financial markets. It also increased political stability and broke down barriers between people — freedom of commerce, freedom of mobility, and political freedom.”

The symposium is from noon to 2 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 3, in Room 103 of the Donald W. Reynolds Center for Business and Economic Development at University Avenue and 28^th Street at UALR.

Symposium panelists and other speakers representing education, the business community, and government agencies will discuss the fall of the Berlin Wall and how German reunification impacted the global community to include business and industry.

Panel participants include Dr. Andrew Drummond, assistant professor of political science; Thorsten Gottfried, who works in the German consulate general’s legal department in Houston; Dr. Peter Höyng, chair and professor of German Studies at Emory University; Lenka Horakova, UALR alumna who works at the Arkansas Economic Development Commission as global project manager for Europe; Dr. Rolf T. Wigand, professor of information science and management at UALR; and Rob Lentz, vice president of Acxiom Corporation. Dr. Stephen Farrelly, assistant professor of philosophy at UALR, will provide a brief keynote presentation.

The symposium is open to the public. Parking is available in Lot 13 across from the Reynolds Center.

The German Studies program will also present a workshop, “Teaching the Wall,” for current and prospective teachers of German. “This workshop will expose teachers to both the historic existence of the wall and how its fall has been represented in texts, music, and films,” said Wagner. “Hands-on exercises will also demonstrate meanings of the wall that go beyond modern day Berlin.”

Conducted by Höyng, the workshop is scheduled from 2 to 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 2, in the Stabler Hall Language Lab on the UALR campus.

Additionally, three films related to the subject will be shown beginning at 7:30 p.m. in Stabler Hall Room 303. “The Tunnel” is scheduled for Oct. 27 followed by “The Promise” on Nov. 3 and “Good Bye Lenin!” Nov. 10.

For more information, contact Wagner at (501) 569-8038 or smwagner1@ualr.edu.

Thomas Kaiser, a UALR history professor, will present “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you: Re-thinking political conspiracy in early modern history” as part of the Evenings with History Series at 7:30 p.m. November 3 at the Ottenheimer Auditorium in the Historic Arkansas Museum at 200 E. Third Street in Little Rock.

In a celebrated essay entitled “The Paranoid Style of America Politics” the historian Richard Hofstadter explained the occasional American belief in political conspiracy as the product of psycho-pathology. Since Hofstadter’s essay appeared, scholars have discovered that belief in political conspiracies was far more common during the early modern period (1500-1800) than Hofstadter recognized. Did such belief indicate that politicians like the American and French Revolutionaries were mentally unbalanced, or was conspiracy belief perfectly “normal” given the structure of early modern politics? Based on a book co-edited and in part written by the presenter, this talk reviews the historical controversies surrounding this question in an effort to resolve it.

The Evenings with History Series is sponsored by The University History Institute, which is a nonprofit organization of private citizens interested in history and supporting UALR.

An individual can subscribe to the series for $50 annually, which includes admission to all six lectures. A joint subscription to the series, at $90 annually, offers savings of $10 to couples and friends.

At $250 annually, a Fellow of the Institute receives the previous benefits, plus an invitation to special presentations for fellows exclusively. This often includes a private evening with noted authors. The institute also offers a life membership at $1,000 that can be paid in installments. Subscriptions and donations to the institute are tax deductible as allowed by law.

Subscribers to the series help support historical research. Presenters donate their time, and the University History Institute uses all proceeds from the series to encourage research at UALR. In recent years, annual institute grants, made possible by the “Evenings with History” series, have made major purchases of historical research materials for UALR.

For subscription information, contact the History Department at (501) 569-3235.

The Arkansas Arts Council recognized David H. Clemons and Mia Hall, both UALR art professors, at its annual Governor’s Arts Awards ceremony Oct. 6 at the Hot Springs Convention Center. Clemons and Hall received Individual Artist Fellowships from the Arts Council for their work in contemporary and traditional crafts.

This year, the Arkansas Arts Council awarded nine artist fellowships worth $4,000 each. The fellowship awards are unconditional awards that recognize individual artistic ability. The three categories were contemporary and traditional crafts, short stories and film and video.

Clemons is an adjunct professor at UALR and has been a freelance illustrator for more than 20 years. Clemons classifies himself primarily as a metal smith with work entrenched in techniques and materials that are reminiscent of the Arts and Crafts Movement. Clemons earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in metalsmithing from San Diego State University and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in studio arts from the University of Texas at Austin. In addition, he also studied biology, art, and illustration at Tulane University in New Orleans.

Hall is an assistant professor and coordinator of the furniture design program at UALR. A woodworking artist, Hall earned her bachelor’s degree and a Master of Fine Arts degree in furniture design and woodworking from San Diego State University. She has served as an adjunct faculty member at San Diego City College and San Diego State University. Hall’s work has recently been displayed in an invitational exhibition at the Historic Arkansas Museum in Little Rock, a traveling exhibition in Pennsylvania and a White House Christmas Tree exhibition.

The Arkansas Arts Council was established in 1966 to enable the state of Arkansas to receive funds from the National Endowment for the Arts.

The UALR Middle Eastern Studies Program is inviting students and faculty to apply for Middle Eastern Studies grants to support their activities and scholarships.

The grants will pay up to $3,000 and will be reviewed on a competitive basis by the Middle Eastern Studies Committee. Part-time adjunct faculty at UALR may apply for small grants up to $500. Awarded grants must be used within the 2010 calendar year.

Applicants are encouraged to think creatively about the activities for which the grants could pay.  Any academic project related to any aspect of the Middle East or Middle Eastern Studies is applicable. Scholars from all academic disciplines are encouraged to apply.

Faculty and students can find more information, project ideas, and how to apply at the Middle Eastern studies website. For more information, contact Dr. Krista Lewis at 569-8322 or kxlewis@ualr.edu.

UALR’s Percussion Ensemble will present a concert featuring arrangements by the group Bela Fleck and reprising a show of songs by the Oxford-based alternative band Radiohead at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29, at the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall in the Fine Arts Building.

The concert will benefit the ensemble’s annual tour and help raise funds to offer the first percussion ensemble camp for high school students in the state in June.

Tickets are $10. Call (501) 569-3294 to reserve tickets. Tickets also will be available at the door starting at 6:30 p.m. on the evening of the show.

The program will include selections from five of Radiohead’s seven studio albums. Selections include “There There,” “15 Step,” “Morning Bell,” “I Might Be Wrong,”  “Idioteque,” “Optimistic,” “Kid A,” and “Fade Out.”

“These new and original arrangements attempt to capture both the unique falsetto sound of Thom Yorke’s vocals as well as the beat heavy influences on Radiohead’s music, such as ‘Massive Attack’ and ‘Aphex Twin’,” said Charles Law, director of the ensemble.

The music is arranged for an array of instruments including two vibraphones, marimbas, bells, chimes, drum set, timpani, bass, as well as an assortment of electronic equipment and various percussion instruments.

Celebrating 10-plus years, the high-energy UALR Percussion Ensemble has performed throughout the Midwest and the South presenting concerts and clinics for students of all ages.

For the past three years, the group has worked with the International House of Blues Foundation in New Orleans, performing for inner-city and at-risk youth as well performing at the House of Blues Club itself. The group explores a wide range of repertoire representing the most current and recognized composers of the time.