What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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OctOber 23-29, 2022 What's up! 3 Faq Symphony of Northwest Arkansas: 'Imagine Big' WHEN — 7:30 p.m. Oct. 29 WHERE — Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville COST — $36 & up INFO — sonamusic.org or 443-5600 BONUS — Ticketholders are invited to come at 6:30 p.m. for a pre-show Creative Conversation with SoNA Music Director Paul Haas and Prin- cipal Tuba Ryan Robinson. 'Go BIG or Go HOME' soNa opens with eclectic Jessica Meyer BECCA MARTIN-BROWN NWA Democrat-Gazette G o BIG or Go HOME." That's the title of a composition by Jessica Meyer, one of the most-performed orchestral composers of her generation. It blends, she promises, "hints of funk, bluegrass, and Latin … driven by groove, virtuosity, and moments of improvisation." It might also be the motto for the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas' 2022-23 season, which opens Oct. 29. The concert, titled "Imagine Big," includes not only Meyer's adaptation of the last movement of her string quartet "Get into the NOW" but also Dmitri Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 1 featuring cellist Julian Schwarz and Modest Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition." "This season we 'imagine big' and present music that reflects our bold vision for our orchestra and the wide possibilities of orchestral music," says SoNA Music Director Paul Haas. "We represent the past and present of our artform through time-honored works by Shostakovich and Mussorgsky, and so much more. We also show the powerful future of our artform through works by contemporary visionaries like Jessica Meyer, and through collaborations with guest artists like Julian Schwarz that also point to our artform's bright future." The performance is the first of six on this year's slate, an increase of one over the usual number. The addition, a Battle of the Bands April 8, brings SoNA and the Fayetteville Jazz Collective together, alternating between pieces played by the jazz band, pieces played by the orchestra, and then pieces played together, for "an evening of genre-defying music that will be enjoyed by a wide variety of music lovers." "After hearing from many audience and community members and carefully considering feedback — we heard the strong desire for additional non-classical, 'pops' concerts," says D. Riley Nicholson, SoNA's executive director. "This FAyeTTeville Asked what it's like to hear her work performed — with the suggestion that it might "feel like flying and having a baby and performing as an actor all at the same time" — Jessica Meyer says "that pretty much sums it up … though, I don't need to do the childbirth part again! My favorite part is being in the audience and feeling them get sucked in and be present with the sounds on the stage and the emotions they convey. If they are yelling or crying by the end, I know that I have done my job." (courtesy photo/bill struhs for Jessica Meyer) "This season we 'imagine big' and present music that reflects our bold vision for our orchestra and the wide possibilities of orchestral music," says soNa Music Director paul haas. (courtesy photo/soNa) See SoNa Page 4