What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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MAY 22-28, 2022 WHAT'S UP! 7 FAQ A Reedy Celebration WHEN — 6 p.m. May 26 WHERE — Contemporary Art Gallery at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art COST — Free (admission to 'The Dirty South," $12) INFO — trilliumsalonseries.com; crystalbridges.org FYI Arkansas Connections • Scott Joplin, also known as the "King of Ragtime," was born in 1867 (or 1868) in Texas, but grew up in Texarkana. His opera, "Tree- monisha," is set in the plantation area of Rondo in Miller County. He left Texarkana at age 17 and went on to sell millions of copies of his "Maple Leaf Rag," which allowed him to become a composer and teacher. Joplin died in 1917. • William Grant Still was born in Mississippi but raised in Little Rock. His Afro-American Symphony was the first symphony composed by an African-Amer- ican that was performed by a major orchestra. In his lifetime he composed nearly 200 works. Still also received the William E. Harmon Award for Distinguished Achievement among Negroes in Music in 1928; the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1934, 1935 and 1938; the Julius Rosenwald Foundation Fellowship in 1939 and 1940; and a Freedoms Foundation Award in 1953. • Florence Price was a composer born in Little Rock in 1887. Her "Symphony in E Minor" was the first composition by a Black female composer to be performed by a major American symphony orchestra. She studied at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston and was the head of the music department at Clark University. She returned to Arkan- sas in 1912 to start a family and teach music but was denied entry into the Arkansas State Music Teachers Association because of her race. Eventually she and her family moved to Chicago to escape worsening racial condi- tions in 1920s Arkansas. Music+Art=Connection C4 adds voice to 'The Dirty South' exhibit MONICA HOOPER NWA Democrat-Gazette T he bottom line for Trillium, and basically anything I do musically, is to highlight diverse perspectives, underrepresented communities and people, and types of people," says Katy Henriksen, founder of the music series that returns with a performance at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. "The whole idea behind the Crystal Bridges partnership is having performances actually in the gallery as opposed to in any kind of concert hall or set up where people can interact with the art and the music at the same time and we can all like connect through art and music." C4 Clarinet Quartet will perform "A Reedy Celebration of Black Composers" at 5 p.m. May 26. Manchusa Loungsangroong of the clarinet ensemble says the performance is inspired by the current special exhibit, "The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture, and the Sonic Impulse." The combination of art and music is a natural pairing to both Deborah Shaw (from left), Sarah Reed, Manchusa Loungsangroong and Janice Bengtson of C4 Clarinet Quartet will present "A Reedy Celebration of Black Composers" at 5 p.m. May 26 at Crystal Bridges Museum. Part of the Trillium Salon Presents series, the concert was inspired by "The Dirty South," exhibit which explores the relationship between music and visual art in Black southern expression from 1920-2020. See C4 Page 38 BENTONVILLE May brings perspective to his music A fter a professor called his work "cartoon music," William A.R. May was ready to quit composing. But within a year he found himself participating in the Brevard Music Festival, "and this was without having had much teaching or training formally in composition at that point. The very next year, I won second place in the national competition, you know, with one of the very first pieces of music that I wrote when I was in college," he says. The composition will be performed at the concert by C4 Clarinet Quartet on May 26. Born in 1988 into a musical family, May began studying music before the age of 10. But discouragement was never far away. In eighth grade, during a discussion in a state history class, he says a teacher "told me, flat footed, that a Black man would not be able to hope to have a career in music, or the arts, professionally," he says. He pressed ahead despite taking what she said to heart. "I should mention, there was no perspective among Black communities for professional, classical music composers who are African-American, there just was none of that at the time," he adds. May earned a bachelor's degree in music from Columbus State University and later a master's degree in composition from Georgia State University, but he decided to take a job as a teacher. "Every year I worked in education or worked with young people was great; I came to love it and appreciate it," he says. "[But] the reason why May See May Page 38