Classical Music & Opera

Sphinx Organization’s Honors Concert 2020

• The Sphinx Competition is a national competition offering young Black and Latinx classical string players a chance to compete under the guidance of an internationally renowned panel of judges, and to perform with and receive mentorship from established professional musicians. The Sphinx Competition is held every year in Detroit, Michigan. Three AFO Musicians have competed and placed in the competitions over the years, including Brendon Elliot, violin; Michael Casimir, Viola; and Dana Kelly, Viola. CLICK HERE to watch the Honors Concert of the 23rd Annual Sphinx Competition junior division recorded Feb 7, 2020.
  
  

SoNA plays Fanfare for the Common Man

• Not many pieces evoke such a sense of timeless patriotism as Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man. The fanfare was inspired by a speech by Vice President Henry A. Wallace, meant to rally Americans and celebrate the common man in the midst of World War II. Premiered in March of 1943, Fanfare for the Common Man was a celebration not only of the heroic military efforts of the time, but also the crucial everyday contributions to the war effort.
• SoNA celebrates this hard-won right to vote by performing this iconic, patriotic piece and inviting SoNA friends and family to make a digital cameo! Members of our community sent us selfies showing their commitment to voting, and we included them in THIS VIDEO PERFORMANCE. To learn more about your polling place and how to vote, visit vote.org.
  
  

Music from Arx Duo

• Garrett Arney and Mari Yoshinaga, Principal Percussion and Timpani with the Artosphere Festival Orchestra and resident chamber ensemble are Arx Duo and are dedicated to the creation and presentation of new music, Their mission is to foster audiences that are imaginative and open-minded through engagement and creation of art; forming intrinsic values that further connect people. Arney and Yoshinaga are two of the leading pioneers within the percussion chamber music community. Together, they have had premiere performances throughout the globe, conducted workshops on three continents, working with a variety of composers and artists to bring new creations to audiences everywhere, Their Carnegie Hall debut was scheduled for April 2020. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN & LEARN MORE.
  
  

Content from America's most popular classical music radio program

• American Public Media's Performance Today is America's most popular classical music radio program and a winner of the 2014 Gabriel Award for artistic achievement. The show is broadcast on hundreds of public radio stations across the country. Performance Today features live concert recordings that can't be heard anywhere else, highlights from new album releases, and in-studio performances and interviews. Performance Today is based at the APM studios in St. Paul, Minn., but is frequently on the road, with special programs broadcast from festivals and public radio stations around the country. Artosphere Festival Orchestra performances have been featured over 60 times, and AFO musicians have been featured countless more. ENJOY ACCESS TO THE MUSIC HERE.
  
  

Opera Fayetteville launches virtual Postcard project

• Opera Fayetteville is a young opera company dedicated to featuring up-and-coming professional singers in high-caliber productions of contemporary, English-language operas. Their performances are held in Walton Arts Center's Starr Theater each Spring. In this Postcard from Opera Fayetteville, Soprano Alba Franco-Cancél sings "Free to Live" from Hector Armienta's 2008 opera "La Llorona." Postcards from Opera Fayetteville offers music from some of their favorite artists while our stages are dark. LEARN MORE ABOUT OPERA FAYETTEVILLE HERE.
  
  

Music from Time For Three

• Defying convention and boundaries, Time For Three stands at the busy intersection of Americana, modern pop, and classical music. To experience Time For Three (TF3) live is to hear the various eras, styles, and traditions of Western music fold in on themselves and emerge anew. Bonded by an uncommon blend of their instruments fused together with their voices, Charles Yang (violin, vocals), Nicolas “Nick” Kendall (violin, vocals), and Ranaan Meyer (double bass, vocals), have found a unique voice of expression to share with the world. Time for Three were featured performing with the Artosphere Festival Orchestra and on the 10x10 Arts Series. Find out more about TF3 HERE ON THEIR WEBSITE and watch them at HERE ON THEIR YOUTUBE CHANNEL.
  
  

Music from Seraph Brass

• Winners of the 2019 American Prize in Chamber Music, Seraph Brass is a dynamic ensemble drawing from a roster of America’s top female brass players. Performing primarily as a quintet/sextet, the group also performs as a larger 10-piece ensemble. Committed to engaging audiences with captivating programming, Seraph Brass presents a diverse body of repertoire that includes original transcriptions, newly commissioned works and well-known classics. Seraph released their debut studio album, Asteria, on Summit Records in January 2018, winning a Silver Medal Global Music Award. Seraph Brass is in residency at Walton Art Center as musicians in the Artosphere Festival Orchestra and as a featured Brass Chamber Ensemble. WATCH AND LISTEN TO SERAPH BRASS HERE.
  
  

Music from Trillium Salon Series

• Catch rarely heard music by composer Florence Price and from Kronos Quartet’s 50 for the Future project in Trillium Salon's next episode featuring violinist Er-Gene Kahng and friends this Saturday, Aug. 1, 7pm. WATCH HERE AUG. 1 and LEARN ABOUT TRILLIUM HERE.
  
  

Music from the Aeolus Quartet

• Aeolus Quartet has performed at Artosphere Festival and the quartet's members have performed as Principal Strings of AFO. Praised by the Baltimore Sun for combining “smoothly meshed technique with a sense of spontaneity and discovery,” the Aeolus Quartet is committed to presenting both time-seasoned masterworks and new cutting-edge works to widely diverse audiences with equal freshness, dedication, and fervor. Formed in 2008, the Quartet is comprised of violinists Nicholas Tavani and Rachel Shapiro, violist Caitlin Lynch, and cellist Alan Richardson. The Aeolus Quartet has been awarded prizes at nearly every major competition in the United States and performed across the globe with showings "worthy of a major-league quartet" (Scott Cantrell, Dallas Morning News). Mark Satola of the Cleveland Plain Dealer writes, “The quartet has a rich and warm tone combined with precise ensemble playing (that managed also to come across as fluid and natural), and an impressive musical intelligence guided every technical and dramatic turn.” They were the 2013-2015 Graduate Resident String Quartet at the Julliard School, and they currently make their home in New York City. WATCH HERE & LISTEN TO AEOLUS QUARTET HERE.
  
  

Music from Aizuri Quartet

• Aizuri Quartet has performed at Artosphere Festival and it members have performed as members of AFO. Praised by The Washington Post for “captivating” performances that draw from its notable “meld of intellect, technique and emotions,” the Aizuri Quartet was awarded the Grand Prize and the CAG Management Prize at the 2018 M-Prize Chamber Arts Competition, along with top prizes at the 2017 Osaka International Chamber Music Competition in Japan, and the 2015 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition in London. The Quartet’s debut album, Blueprinting, featuring new works written for the Aizuri Quartet by five American composers, was released by New Amsterdam Records and nominated for a 2019 GRAMMY Award. WATCH HERE & LISTEN TO AIZURI QUARTET HERE.
  
  

Music from violinist Benjamin Beilman

• American violinist Benjamin Beilman is winning plaudits across the globe for his compelling and impassioned performances, his deep rich tone and searing lyricism. The Scotsman has described him as “a remarkable talent, delivering playing of rare insight and generosity, as captivating as it is gloriously entertaining” and the New York Times has praised his “handsome technique, burnished sound, and quiet confidence [which] showed why he has come so far so fast”. Benjamin is has been a soloist and orchestra member of the Artosphere Festival Orchestra. WATCH BENJAMIN HERE.
  
  

Music from pianist Andrew Tyson

• Both an AFO and SoNA Piano Soloist, Andrew Tyson helped Walton Arts Center select our new Concert Steinway and debuted the instrument to Walton Arts Center patrons. Hailed by BBC Radio 3 as “a real poet of the piano,” this American pianist is emerging as a distinctive and important new musical voice. In summer 2015, he was awarded First Prize at the Géza Anda Competition in Zürich, as well as the Mozart and Audience Prizes. These victories have resulted in numerous performances throughout Europe under the auspices of the Géza Anda Foundation. WATCH & LISTEN TO ANDREW HERE.

 

Dover Quartet YouTube page

• Dover Quartet is the resident quartet for Artosphere Festival and its members serve as Principal Strings of AFO. The phenomenal Dover Quartet catapulted to international stardom following a stunning sweep of the 2013 Banff Competition, at which they won every prize. Named the Cleveland Quartet Award-winner, and honored with the coveted Avery Fisher Career Grant, the Dover has become one of the most in-demand ensembles in the world. The Quartet’s rise from noteworthy young ensemble to the top of their field has been “practically meteoric” (Strings). With its burnished warmth, incisive rhythms, and instinctual unanimity, the Quartet’s distinctive sound has helped confirm its status as “the young American string quartet of the moment” (New Yorker). The Dover serves as the quartet-in-residence for the Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University, Chamber Music Northwest, Artosphere, the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival, and Peoples’ Symphony in New York, and continues in its role as the first-ever quartet-in-residence for the Kennedy Center. CHECK OUT THEIR YOUTUBE PAGE HERE.

 

The Boston Pops pays tribute to first responders

• The Boston Pops Orchestra, under the direction of Keith Lockhart, performs a musical video tribute, Summon the Heroes—featuring the work originally composed by John Williams for the 1996 Olympic Games—as a tribute to today’s first responders who are providing critical and needed services during the Covid-19 epidemic. John Williams joins the virtual tribute with a musical and spoken introduction taped from his home studio in Los Angeles. WATCH THE TRIBUTE HERE.

Hear “Old MacDonald” in the form of Beethoven

• Polish Canadian pianist Daniel Vnukowski has reworked the classic nursery rhyme in the style of Beethoven - WATCH IT HERE. Be sure to check out his YOUTUBE CHANNEL as well as his FACEBOOK PAGE for more of his classical work.

Opera America’s online streaming options

• With the goal of increasing the quality and appreciation of US opera, Opera America has provided services and education to opera artists and audiences for 50 years. To ensure opera is still available to enthusiasts as live seasons and performances are cancelled, Opera America has assembled an index of online opera streaming options. The index, which includes 100+ individual resources for streaming opera content, is organized by US/foreign-based, live vs "on demand," lecture vs video/performance vs both offerings, etc. It includes not only full operas, but also dress rehearsals, recitals, interviews, lectures, ballet performances, and other 'behind-the-scenes' content. VIEW STREAMING OPTIONS HERE.
  

VOCES8’s official YouTube Channel

• The British vocal ensemble VOCES8 is proud to inspire people through music and share the joy of singing. Browse their YouTube Page to find some of the brilliant a cappella. WATCH HERE.

Music from vocal ensemble Apollo5’s YouTube Channel

• The critically acclaimed British vocal ensemble Apollo5 is based in London at the VOCES8 Centre and is part of the VOCES8 Foundation - their aim is to inspire people through music with an innovative education outreach program alongside a busy schedule of concert performances around the world. BROWSE THEIR YOUTUBE VIDEOS HERE to experience this up in coming British vocal ensemble.

 

Yo-Yo Ma on YouTube

• Check out Yo-Yo Ma's official YouTube channel HERE - we especially like HIS VERSION OF DVOŘÁK'S "GOING HOME”

 

AFO performs La Strada

• Ten years ago, the Artosphere Festival Orchestra (AFO) with Corrado Rovaris as Music Director debuted at Walton Arts Center. Since then, AFO has been a fixture on the 10X10 Arts Series.  This performance, recorded in the AFO's first season, features an excerpt from Ballet Suite from La Strada written by film score composer, Nino Rota (most known for his scores to The Godfather movies), that was first heard in the 1954 Italian drama La Strada directed by Italian film director, Federico Fellini. This piece was voted the all-time favorite piece of music to perform by the musicians of the Artosphere Festival Orchestra and was scheduled to be performed again this season. WATCH THIS AMAZING AFO PERFORMANCE HERE.

 

SoNA's virtual performance of Boléro by Maurice Ravel

• With these words in our hearts, we, at the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas (SoNA), want to continue to bring great music to life for you during these unusual days. We look forward to being with you in person again, but for now, please enjoy this very special performance of Maurice Ravel's Boléro, made by our musicians at home. As always, thank you for your commitment to and support of SoNA. Learn more at sonamusic.org. CLICK HERE TO WATCH.

Cantus’ COVID-19 Sessions

• As one of the nation’s few full-time vocal ensembles, Cantus has grown in prominence with its distinctive approach to creating music. Working without a conductor, the members of Cantus rehearse and perform as chamber musicians, each contributing to the entirety of the artistic process. Cantus was part of Walton Arts Center’s 2012 10x10 Arts Series and performed "All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914." CLICK HERE TO WATCH.

 

FREE performances from the Metropolitan Opera

• The Metropolitan Opera is streaming a new opera each night at 6:30 pm for free. The schedule includes full performances with subtitles from the past 14 years of the Met’s Live in HD series. YOU CAN WATCH HERE or on the Met Opera on Demand apps for Apple, Amazon and Roku devices and Samsung Smart TV.

Daily choral movements from Voices of Ascension

• In this time of social distancing, Voices of Ascension, based in New York City, shares a choral movement every day. These sacred choral works are sublime, regardless of one's religious affiliation. Dennis Keene Artistic Director, says, “It is ironic that in a time of unprecedented stress and anxiety, when we need music more than ever, we must forgo all concerts. Audiences and musicians crave the spiritual sustenance which music can deliver like nothing else. Someday, when we all get through this, we will begin our live concerts again with more passion than ever before.” CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE.

League of American Orchestras' new website

• The League of American Orchestras has created a new website with great online content! You'll find content—web streams, rich archival recordings, and educational resources—from more than 100 orchestras, venues, and soloists who are members and friends of the League. CHECK OUT ALL THE CONTENT HERE.

Archival content from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

• The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center offers daily "lunchtime" releases of archival audio & video. Weekly themed playlists include "Stories & Legends", "Nature", "The Power of Music" and more. WATCH & LISTEN HERE.

Paris National Opera's orchestral and choral music

• In this downtime of the performances at the Paris National Opera, members from the institution's three artistic bodies, the Orchestra, the Choirs and the Ballet wanted to thank in their own way all those who are today on the front line in the fight against the pandemic. These spontaneous initiatives are the fruit of their desire to express their deep gratitude and support to all those who work with dedication and courage to protect us. WATCH THE ORCHESTRA HERE and the WATCH THE CHOIR HERE.

Celebrities share their favorite music with The New York Times

• The New York Times asked Patti Smith, John Turturro, Renée Fleming and others to pick the music that moves them. LISTEN TO THEIR CHOICES HERE.

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