MUSIC
Fiddle & Clog
Clogging virtuoso and Grand Master Fiddle Champion April Verch and multi-instrumentalist Cody Walters headline Fiddle & Clog, 7 p.m. Saturday at the Ozark Folk Center State Park, 1302 Park St., Mountain View. Young Mountain View area performers in the Music Roots Program will open the show. Sponsor is Stone Bank. Tickets are $15, $6 for children 6-12 in advance, $2 more at the door. Visit OzarkFolkCenter.Ticketleap.com. The Music Roots Program teaches traditional string band instruments, including banjo, fiddle, guitar, mountain dulcimer and upright bass, to public school and home-schooled children in Stone County beginning in the fourth grade.
One piano, four hands
The Bax-Chung Duo — pianists Alessio Bax and Lucille Chung — perform a program for one piano, four hands, 7 p.m. Thursday at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, 600 Museum Way, Bentonville. The concert is part of the museum’s Van Cliburn Concert Series, and uses a Steinway once owned by legendary pianist Van Cliburn. As part of its Arkansas Live initiative, Arkansas PBS will livestream the concert at myarkansaspbs.org/arkansaslive.
The program: an arrangement by G. Kurtág of the first movement of the Organ Sonata No. 1 in E-flat, BWV 525, by J.S. Bach and a sonatina from “Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit,” from Bach’s “Actus Tragicus” cantata, BWV 106; Five Pieces for Piano Four-Hands by Georgi Ligeti; Fantasy for Piano 4 Hands in f minor, D. 940, by Franz Schubert; arrangements of “Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune,” “La fille aux cheveux de lin” and “La plus que lente” by Claude Debussy; and the duo’s arrangement of three Tangos by Astor Piazzolla. Tickets are $45, $36 for museum members, $10 for students & teachers. Visit crystalbridges.org/calendar/van-cliburn-bax-chung-duo.
THEATER
‘Matilda’ musical
Benton’s Young Players stage “Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical” (music and lyrics by Tim Minchin, book by Dennis Kelly, based on the classic by Roald Dahl), 7 p.m. Thursday and Saturday and Sept. 13 and 15 and 2 p.m. Sunday and Sept. 15 at the Royal Theatre, 111 N. Market St., Benton. The central character is a little girl (Spencer Forga and Callie Crow are splitting the role) with prodigious wit, intelligence and psychokinetic powers who forges a bond with her sweet teacher (Jenna Thaxton) at a new school with a cruel and brutal headmistress (Justin Pike). The show effects include water-based haze and strobe lighting. Sponsor is Everett Buick GMC. Tickets are $20; $15 for senior citizens 60-plus, members of the military and college students with valid ID; $10 for K-12 students. Visit theroyalplayers.ticketleap.com; for more information, call (501) 315-5483.
Off to see ‘The Wizard’
Jonesboro’s Foundation of Arts stages the musical “The Wizard of Oz” (music and lyrics by Harold Arlen and E.Y. “Yip” Harburg, adapted for the stage by John Kane for the Royal Shakespeare Company from the 1939 film and the classic by L. Frank Baum), 7 p.m. Friday-Saturday and Sept. 13 and 14, 2 p.m. Sunday and Sept. 15 at the Forum Theater, 115 E. Monroe Ave., Jonesboro. Tickets are $22-$24; $20-$22 for children 3-12, senior citizens 65 and older, military and students, faculty and staff at Arkansas State University; for Saturday’s performance, wear red shoes, buy one ticket, get one free; and the Sept. 14 show is “pay what you can.” Call (870) 935-2726 or visit foajonesboro.org.
“Capital Shadow Play” by Sean LeCrone and “Leaves Two” by Shirley Anderson are part of “Between Two Worlds: Abstract and Realism Together,” on display through Sept. 27 at the Art Group Gallery in Little Rock. (Special to the Democrat-Gazette)
ART
Abstract and realism
“Between Two Worlds: Abstract and Realism Together,” pastel abstracts by Shirley Anderson and realistic landscapes, figures and cityscapes by Sean LeCrone, opens with a 5-8 p.m. reception Thursday at the Art Group Gallery, in the Pleasant Ridge Town Center, 11525 Cantrell Road, Little Rock. The exhibition will be up through Sept. 27. Gallery hours are 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 1-5 p.m. Sunday, or by appointment. Admission is free. Call (501) 690-2193 or visit artgrouparkansas.com.
‘Protege Project’
Art by Roy Malachi Clark, Kevin Cole, Joseph Norman and Robert Rich — students of late University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff art professor Tarrence D. Corbin — is featured in the “Tarrence D. Corbin Protégé Project,” on display through Sept. 14 at Hearne Fine Art, 1001 Wright Ave., Little Rock. The four will take part in an artists’ talk at 5 p.m. Thursday at the gallery. A reception for the exhibition will take place at 5 p.m. Friday. Admission is free. Visit hearnefineart.com.
“Checkmate,” oil on canvas by Robert Rich, from his “His Story” series, is part of the “Tarrence D. Corbin Protégé Project” exhibit at Hearne Fine Art in Little Rock. (Special to the Democrat-Gazette/Robert Rich, Hearne Fine Art)
‘Science of Conservation’
“Derek Slagle: Science of Conservation,” photographs largely focused on conservation and sustainability by Derek Slagle, the director of the School of Public Affairs at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, opens with a 5 p.m. reception Thursday in the Focus Gallery in the Windgate Center of Art+Design at UALR, 2801 S. University Ave., Little Rock. The exhibition is up through Sept. 27. Gallery hours: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday-Sunday. Admission is free. Call (501) 916-5101.
Paintings and sculpture
Abstract paintings by Donnie Copeland and sculpture by Michael Warrick are on display starting with a 5-9 p.m. opening Hot Springs Gallery Walk reception Friday at Justus Fine Art Gallery, 827A Central Ave., Hot Springs. The exhibition will remain up through Sept 30. Gallery hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesday-Saturday and by appointment. Admission is free. Call (501) 321-2335 or visit justusfineart.com.
Art League exhibition
The 2024 Pine Bluff Art League Annual Exhibition, works from members of the Pine Bluff Art League, opens Thursday with a 5-7 p.m. reception in the International Paper Gallery at the Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas, 701 S. Main St., Pine Bluff. The juror, Little Rock artist and educator Margo Duvall, will award best-in-show, first-, second- and third-place prizes and honorable mention at 6 p.m. Pieces from the exhibition, up through Oct. 28, will be for sale. Admission is free. Exhibition sponsor is Pine Bluff Sand & Gravel Co. Visit artx3.org/exhibitions/2024-pine- bluff-art-league-exhibition.
ETC.
Library anniversary
The Central Arkansas Library System marks the 50th anniversary of the John Gould Fletcher Library, 823 N. Buchanan St., 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, with indoor and outdoor activities, including yard games, a bounce house, a selfie station and a bubble machine. Free refreshments include hot dogs, drinks, cake and iced treats from Le Pops. The Rackensack Folklore Society performs at noon. Admission is free. Visit cals.org.
Attendees can also speak with Be Mighty coordinators and participate in the “Hunger CAN’t Wait” food drive, which offers incentives for supporting Little Free Pantries, and can connect with the Community Resources team and enjoy craft stations for making friendship bracelets, buttons and spin art.
The library, established in 1974, is named for Fletcher, a Little Rock poet who won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1937. It moved into a new, much larger building behind the original location in 1996.
TICKETS
Tiny Desk showcase
Sonder Ponder from Conway, Auralai from Bella Vista and Mr. Orange from Rogers perform for Little Rock Public Radio’s Tiny Desk Contest 2024 Arkansas Showcase, 6 p.m. Oct. 5 at The Hall, 721 W. Ninth St., Little Rock. Tickets are $30 ($15 standing room), $75 for private mezzanine seating (and cash bar), $150 for a table of four. Visit tinyurl.com/583rfvyn or ualrpublicradio.org/arkansas-tiny-desk-2024.
Democrat-Gazette reporter Sean Clancy contributed to this roundup.
